By: Diane Benjamin FYI: The Council that hired Tim Gleason and that mayor are long gone. Gleason was hired to revitalize downtown because he revitalized Decatur’s (sort of). After 5:00 very little happens in the closed up downtown businesses. It is nothing like Bloomington’s downtown that exists for lawyers, people accused of crimes, homeless people, […]
By: Diane Benjamin Dennis Grundler showed how a candidate forum should be run today! The audience submitted questions to him in writing and then he asked them. MANY more topics were covered this way with close to zero waste of time. This way is much more informative than most debates where one person creates questions […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Unit 5 School Board did nothing to control costs, they just want you to pay more. They are putting the exact same referendum back on the April ballot. That is the same referendum that was defeated in November. The only way it passes in April is if supporters vote and you […]
By: Diane Benjamin WGLT employee RC McBride chaired the Vote YES for Unit 5 group that failed to get the referendum passed in November. That should convince you WGLT actively tried to convince you to vote YES, RC is the General Manager. On January 19th WGLT did a story detailing draconian cuts that would happen […]
By: Diane Benjamin 1) ISU has announced the speaker for their annual MLK Cultural Dinner: Yusef Salaam. He was one of the five convicted of a rape and murder in New York City decades ago. After many years in prison all 5 were exonerated thanks to DNA technology that wasn’t available in 1989. Read more […]
By: Diane Benjamin I looked at the City website last night and no agenda was posted for the “special meeting”. It did announce the Committee of the Whole meeting was cancelled. No wonder nobody showed up for Public Comment! The “Special Meeting” agenda is posted now. Meetings that just happened are erased only to reappear […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Arena was renamed in 2017 when Grossinger Motors agreed to pay naming rights. See this story: https://blnnews.com/2017/06/23/arena-name-change/ The naming rights expired June 30, 2022. Grossinger Motors doesn’t even exist anymore so obviously they didn’t renew the naming rights. I would have to file a FOIA to see if they even paid […]
By: Diane Benjamin On November 1st Dave Koehler spoke to the West Side Neighbors group. He spilled the beans on why Amendment 1 is on the ballot. It is to make sure Illinois can never be a Right To Work state. Public Sector unions in Illinois fund democrats, this amendment assures the union money never […]
By: Diane Benjamin Think of anything you have ever received free. Advertising magnets? Pencils? Ink pens? How much value did they have? Probably not much. JB wants to give away college education Who is going to pay these salaries? That would be every taxpayer in Illinois who already paid for their college education or never […]
From Truth in Accounting – each of you owes $49,500 because the wrong Constitutional Amendment is on the ballot. Fixing unfunded pension liability isn’t as important as giving unions more taxing power. Vote NO to Amendment 1 and NO to the people who did this to you:
By: Diane Benjamin See Unit 5’s state report card here: https://www.illinoisreportcard.com/District.aspx?source=trends&Districtid=17064005026 Graduation rate is 90% 35% need Community College remediation 30% of 8th Graders pass Algebra 1 26% are chronically truant (90% graduate?) Unit 5 is currently spending $12,000 per student. Unit 5 now wants a tax increase expected to raise $20,000,000. h/t a reader: […]
By: Diane Benjamin Nothing is new here. Normal has a long record of disregarding the wishes of citizens. I can’t possibly remember everything, but start with the most recent and work back. All of the below have stories on BlnNews.com, use Search if you want more information. A. Normal ignored the rights of citizens in […]
By: Diane Benjamin The new restaurant was announced on Facebook: How much is Normal rebating? Since nothing happens in Uptown without incentives look for food and beverage tax rebates and maybe some free parking for customers in the garage. Review this story for details of what Normal wanted in this space back in 2016: https://blnnews.com/2022/04/19/kevin-mccarthy-re-writing-history/ […]
By: Diane Benjamin EDC director Patrick Hoban showed up at the Bloomington City Council meeting to push for the $750,000 downtown study. He claimed downtown is the heart of the City (heard that before?) and he has studies that claim the Return on Investment is between 100 and 500%. He also claimed we don’t need […]
By: Diane Benjamin FYI: Committee of the Whole meeting information from 8/15/2022 is missing from the City website. Tonight: https://d3n9y02raazwpg.cloudfront.net/cityblm/5a24c4d2-a62d-11ec-8a90-0050569183fa-36dc0a47-f3e1-4a7f-ab53-55227cac04fe-1660859356.pdf The mayor continues to reappoint the same people to Boards and Commissions, tonight the Transportation Commission. As a comment here stated – Renner is still running the City. Spending more of the free money that […]
By: Diane Benjamin Note to Jamie Mathy: Future Councils are not bound by actions of past Councils. The Tari Renner “ramp” pension funding plan means zero if it can’t be afforded. Tari knew he wouldn’t be around to find at least $10 million more a year in the future. Renner already locked the Council into […]
By: Diane Benjamin 1) I’m collecting signs gas stations have on their pumps to comply with Pritzker’s demand people know he delayed the $.02 increase until after the election. Thorton’s at Route 9 and Hershey just has the Pritzker verbiage. Correction: This is at the Exxon Mobile station off 74 in Downs. The reader who […]
By: Diane Benjamin At last night’s Council meeting the Kevin McCarthy had to point out the Town paid off an $8 million bond from 2012. Wonderful, but how much debt is left? As of 3/31/2021 the Town reported $81,345,000 to the Comptroller’s Office: We won’t know the exact number until the 3/31/2022 reports are released, […]
By: Diane Benjamin https://www.normalil.gov/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/4310 It would be nice if a Trustee asked if the Town was reimbursed by the show: It would also be nice if a Trustee asked why Uptown Circle wasn’t built ADA compliant the first time: This one is on the Omnibus Agenda, unless somebody pulls it questions won’t be asked. Gala […]
By: Diane Benjamin One Public Comment was exceptional last night. Gary Lambert speaks pretty often, always showing lots of common sense. Gary responded to something Mayor Mboka wrote in the Pantagraph wanting the State to quite keeping more of the local tax money than they used to. Gary threw that letter back in his face […]
By: Diane Benjamin Stan Nord quit attending 2 on 1 meetings with Pam Reece and staff because they aren’t held to get his opinion. They are held to tell the Council what the plans are and get their official head nods. Funny how CITIZENS paying the bills aren’t privy to the same information. The 2 […]
By: Diane Benjamin Is Uptown a success? The successful buildings on the circle so far are government owned, Children’s Discovery Museum and Amtrak/Town offices. The third building still has an empty first floor and the taxpayers are renting the entire second floor for the Town. (Remember when the Council told Pam it was a high […]
By: Diane Benjamin Roser is the chair of the Unit 5 School Board. Before Public comment she read HER list of rules which is immaterial since the law provides citizens Free Speech. Hear her rules at 1:23:00. Next review this story, Urbana wouldn’t have settled the case before going to court if they thought they […]
By: Diane Benjamin Last week I was at the Tri-Valley High School. They recently finished a renovation that included a new library. I was shocked to see what was missing: BOOKS. The library had some books but not shelf-covered walls normally associated with a library. My tour guide told me the kids don’t read books […]
By: Diane Benjamin https://www.cityblm.org/home/showpublisheddocument/27183 I finally got tired of waiting for the BCPA to publish event reports. I filed a FOIA for them today. From Bills and Payroll: BCPA shows: What is the Coliseum still costing you? Only INTEREST is being paid on Monday. Maybe the financial statements will have more details. Below are bond […]
By: Diane Benjamin So far I haven’t commented on the financial statements Normal released a few weeks ago. It is much easier to show you facts when the Illinois Comptroller gets around to posting the information in a way it is easier to understand. They finally did today. Debt: Look at the Original Issue Amount […]
By: Diane Benjamin This meeting will take more than one story, it was another 2 hour assemblage. The expansion to the library has been taking shape for years, it will not be stopped by this Council. Tari Renner made sure the library stayed downtown, he appointed people to the Library Board who believed it should […]
By: Diane Benjamin Most of what you need to know about the passage of accepting all the grant money is in the underpass vote. Koos, McCarthy, Smith, and Cummings were enthusiastic Yes votes. Nord voted No, Preston and Lorenz squeaked out Yes votes after uncomfortable pauses. Watch just the vote here: What else you need […]
By: Diane Benjamin Every municipality is required by law to have an ethics ordinance, Normal doesn’t have one. Details in this story: https://blnnews.com/2017/01/31/ethics-law-everybody-ignores/ Of course, in Illinois laws are immaterial. Last night Normal held a Special Meeting to accuse Stan Nord of disrespecting Pam Reece because he stands up for citizens. Unfortunately Stan has no […]
By: Diane Benjamin Keep in mind many of Normal’s professional staff don’t live in Normal: https://blnnews.com/2020/12/14/guess-where-town-of-normal-employees-dont-live/ They have no reason to keep taxes low, make the roads drivable, or the water drinkable. The Council will be meeting at 5:15 to hear the status of the underpass project. Public opinion is immaterial. The fanciest properties will […]
By: Diane Benjamin The biggest reason people refuse to call themselves Republican is because the Republic Party is the do-nothing party when they have the reins of power. DC Republicans voted dozens of times to end Obamacare when their votes were meaningless. When they actually were able to end this healthcare disaster and replace it […]
A reader just emailed this information: Nicor natural gas: Price per therm: May 2020 – .26 May 2021 – .53 By: Diane Benjamin If you heat your house with propane: For the 2019-2020 heating season the price per gallon was $1.399 For the 2020-2021 heating season the price per gallon was $1.259 Of course that […]
By: Diane Benjamin h/t a reader I wonder if Kathleen Lorenz thinks this makes the “professional staff” that can’t be questioned look good? That “professional staff” creates the budget, did they skip funding pensions? I wonder what will happen if Stan Nord mentions this at a meeting! I can predict: Link to the Bloomington data: […]
By: Diane Benjamin h/t a reader Stay tuned, Normal is next. Wirepoints.org analyzed the pensions funding for 175 Illinois communities. Lots of other information is also included. Bloomington received a “D” rating. The results prove how much government has grown in 19 years and how the increased revenue wasn’t used for essential items like funding […]
By: Diane Benjamin Bloomington Agenda for 4/12/21: http://bloomingtonil.iqm2.com/Citizens/FileOpen.aspx?Type=1&ID=1108&Inline=True The Council will approve a gargantuan budget of $251,735,690 for the year starting May 1st. See PDF page 469. The City has been stockpiling money in funds like water and motor fuel tax. Next year is when a lot of it is getting spent. The General Fund […]
By: Diane Benjamin From the PAC website: https://www.responsiblecities.com/ Gee, it sounds like this group wants the best candidates for the entire community. They don’t. Chris Koos and Kevin McCarthy have recently stated they were elected by the citizens of Normal and they don’t care about Bloomington. They want to run water pipes on top of […]
By: Diane Benjamin Last night’s Bloomington council meeting: Tari Renner and the Clerk had to be reminded Public Comment was skipped. I hope the next mayor can read and follow an agenda, Tari can’t (numerous examples from recent meetings). See around 49:00. There was only one Public Comment. Ward 3 candidate Willie Holton Halbert took […]
By: Diane Benjamin Stan Nord was on Cities 92.9 this morning talking about Mayor Chris Koos attempting to silence him Monday night. Listen at the top of the 8:00 hour: https://www.cities929.com/scott-robbins/ It wouldn’t be possible to locate all of the taxpayer fleeces I’ve written about under Chris Koos, but here’s a few: Normal lost $330,000 […]
By: Diane Benjamin After years of discussing what to do with O’Neil pool City Manager Gleason wants to have a vote next Monday to proceed with the plan presented last night. Even though the two west side aldermen didn’t bother to show up to hear about the project, full steam ahead! The current skate park […]
By: Diane Benjamin Chemberly Cummings is the perfect Trustee for the establishment in Normal. She believes her job is to rubberstamp staff recommendations. Listen to her Saturday interview – start at 38:30 – https://www.cities929.com/steve-suess-podcast/ She, and all the other Trustees except Stan Nord, think they hire “professional staff” who are experts in their fields, so […]
BlnNews 