Category: Hales

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

UPDATE: Downtown Signage voting

As of 5:15 pm 10/19/17 a WHOOPING 386 people have voted out of 78,000.  Impressive response! ________________________________________________ By:  Diane Benjamin The City of Bloomington has presented the latest versions of signage for downtown.  You can see the new offerings and vote here:  http://www.cityblm.org/government/boards-commissions/downtown-signage-committee/2017-downtown-bloomington-wayfinding The committee gave up on a logo after their last attempt failed miserably, […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Did Hales change personalities?

By:  Diane Benjamin I thought for a minute somebody had kidnapped David Hales and replaced him with a conservative.  He actually said the Council must lean how to say NO.  He said the City can’t maintain what we have now, but people keep talking about building new things. Library David? Aquatics center?  Sports complex?  Public […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Wiping the smirk off Renner’s face!

By:  Diane Benjamin I will get to the rest of the Committee of the Whole meeting later.  For now enjoy the ONLY public comment last night:  Angela Scott – just hit play:    

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Guest Editorial!

By:  Angela Scott An open letter to Bloomington City Council and Mayor Renner. Here are a few quotes from the Mayor’s comments last week.Tari stated, “Frankly here at the local level and I’m talking about more than words” and goes on to imply there have been physical altercations. He also stated, “Frivolous complaints and multiple […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Monday: Funding Gap! Ha Ha

By:  Diane Benjamin It’s way past time for adults to be running the City of Bloomington!  We are tired of the lies and the abuse of taxpayers by pretending the city doesn’t have enough money because taxpayers aren’t paying enough. End the charade.  Cancel the court jesters.  It’s OVER! They just don’t know it yet.  […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

What David Hales never checked-CIAM

By:  Diane Benjamin The 10 year agreement with CIAM to manage the Coliseum contained numerous paragraphs granting the City rights to everything happening at the Coliseum.  Tari Renner, David Hales, and the Council either never read the agreement or are lying because they failed to protect taxpayers from John Butler and company. See the agreement […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Award Winning Aldermen comments

By:  Diane Benjamin From time to time even I am shocked by what comes out of the mouths of Aldermen during a City Council meeting.  I’m awarding TWO “Seriously?” awards from last night’s party.  Since the Special Meeting started at 5:00, I bet food was served.  It used to be announced, but it wasn’t listed […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Magnificent Monday!

By:  Diane Benjamin The most interesting parts of tonight’s festivities by the Bloomington City Council won’t be the Council business at 7:00.  The pre-meeting David Sage led discussion of Renner’s PCard usage will be enlightening.  I wonder if anybody will ask why Tari still has a PCard? Will Sage ask Tari how this PCard lunch […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Road design: Run by Idiots!

By:  Diane Benjamin Before the headline – a commercial: If you have never attended the annual Evergreen Cemetery Walk you have one last chance tomorrow This year all the actors are portraying characters from WWI and McLean County.  Details here:  http://www.mchistory.org/learn/programs/cemwalk.php After I went on the walk this morning, I had one stop to make.  I […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

No Vote? No Rush!

By:  Diane Benjamin Maybe some members of the Bloomington City Council finally realized their fearless leader has been abusing his government credit card.  We’ve listened to Mayor Renner spew his “there are no free lunches” for years in order to raise taxes while he was dining on the backs of taxpayers.  The Japan trip finally […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Monday: More Sick Leave Buy Back

By:  Diane Benjamin From Bills and Payroll for Monday night:  http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=14766 Below are payments to employees labeled Sick Leave Buy Back (SLBB).  I don’t know what MO before the first one stands for.  We won’t know what penalties the City will be forced to pay (for not changing this policy that allows pension spiking) until they […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

WGLT does journalism – mostly

By:  Diane Benjamin Yesterday WGLT published a comprehensive story about the Coliseum.  Ryan Denham  proved journalism isn’t dead in Bloomington-Normal yet.  Read the story here:      http://wglt.org/post/how-coliseum-blind-spot-tripped-bloomington-city-leaders I do have some comments and things I would have written differently: To much emphasis was put on the “bad contract”.  The contract had plenty of statements allowing […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Tari clamps down on Open House

By:  Diane Benjamin I hope we’ve heard the end of Tari’s pre-public comment speech he’s been using for over 4 years.  His new Open House policy ends the open and transparent Mayor persona. I wonder if the Mayor will close the fish pool doors for those making appointments? I wonder if the public can sit […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Joliet reports while the Pantagraph refuses!

By:  Diane Benjamin The Joliet Herald News was attacked by the City of Joliet for reporting the truth about their new City Manager:  David Hales. The Herald isn’t cowering in a corner, they are putting the facts in front of the citizens.  They are probably getting a tons of reads, people want real news – […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

The day CIAM quit

By:  Diane Benjamin This is the Pantagraph story announcing CIAM (John Butler) would not be renewing the contract to manage the Coliseum:  http://www.pantagraph.com/entertainment/u-s-cellular-coliseum-to-receive-new-management/article_194a2f7c-d482-5d82-8885-7e5eafddb2b4.html That was March 8, 2016.  Tari Renner is quoted saying CIAM might get a short-term contract to help with the transition – maybe 30-60-or 90 days.  Obviously Renner had no urgency to remove […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

VenuWorks and the BCPA

By:  Diane Benjamin These are a few of the past payments to VenuWorks for managing the BCPA after Tina died: See anything strange? I’ll wait. Still waiting . . . . Okay, according to the dead tree, the City wants to contract with VenuWorks to manage the BCPA for a flat fee of $3000 a […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Coliseum: Smoking Gun

By:  Diane Benjamin Official Misconduct? Flash back to April 14, 2014 The meeting minutes provide a little information, the video below provides much more.  Minutes 4/14/14 Alderwoman Judy Stearns knew concessions were not audited at the Coliseum.  She knew other problems existed and she wanted answers.  Changing hockey from professional to junior was the perfect time […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

What REAL Journalism looks like

By:  Diane Benjamin Real journalism isn’t dead yet!  The Joliet Herald News just proved it with this story:  http://www.theherald-news.com/lists/2017/09/29/da82d31d3ccc4697970889c2a58349a5/index.xml?page=1 This paper isn’t done writing because my interview is not in this story! See this story for context if you missed it this morning:  https://blnnews.com/2017/09/29/hales-if-a-perfect-fit-for-joliet/ Some tasty bits: “That’s the guy you want,” Regis said. “If somebody commits […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Update: Arraignment Day!

I was asked by the Sheriff’s department to take the pictures down because they have rules!  Media must be credentialed through a lady at the Pantagraph.  Of course the Pantagraph doesn’t consider me real media, so I was never informed of this credentialing process.   A report is being written and sent to the State’s Attorney […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Know something about CIAM or Coliseum?

The Illinois State Police are still investigating! If you have information applicable to the case call them. 815-844-1500 Follow the prompts to Investigations – Leave a message I’m posting this at their request! . . .  

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Hales if a perfect fit for Joliet!

By:  Diane Benjamin I didn’t think it was possible to find people with even less desire to serve the people they are supposed to represent than the local propagandists.  But, they do exist – in Joliet. Speaking with no facts is acceptable operating procedure. Believing every word uttered by people playing CYA is required.  Then, […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Remember When . . .

By:  Diane Benjamin Remember when Tari had to have a hotel downtown to “benefit the Coliseum”? Remember when he said over and over developers were lining up to get projects started downtown? Today Tari’s Downtown Task Force has the brilliant idea of moving the library and creating a bus transfer station. Neither will be private […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

ISP Proving Integrity: Renner

By:  Diane Benjamin I filed a FOIA request with the Illinois State Police for the investigative documents pertaining to the Renner/Japan/PCard investigation in the purchase of Margot Erhlich’s ticket.  I just received a denial: _______________________________________________________________________ 09/28/2017 . Bloomington Normal News Ms. Diane Benjamin . Re: FOIR #17-2327 . Dear Ms. Benjamin: . Thank you for […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Renner: I’m ill with type A

By:  Diane Benjamin Yep, Tari was on time out.  “Medical related” meant he can’t handle his type A personality.    See the interview he did with WMDB yesterday:  http://www.centralillinoisproud.com/news/local-news/exclusive-bloomington-mayor-tari-renner-opens-up-about-leave-of-absence/819831555 Tari was never on medial leave, he never quit being mayor!  Tari claims he only took a couple of weeks off,  that explains a lot about why […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Will Joliet dump Hales?

By:  Diane Benjamin Bloomington ignored what Bend Oregon said about David Hales, I wonder if Joliet will make the same mistake? See this link: http://www.theherald-news.com/2017/09/27/joliets-new-city-manager-leaves-behind-brewing-financial-scandal/at26tcc/ This media source and City employees appear to be as clueless as ours! Quotes: “If there’s a pending criminal investigation, I don’t know who knew,” O’Dekirk said. “I don’t think […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

More City/Media Jocularity!

By:  Diane Benjamin Today the dead tree, as Ben Yount calls it, stated the City hired the Bronner Group back in 2015 to audit the Coliseum. Instead of “there’s an app for that”, my new saying is “I’ve got a story for that”. From September 17, 2015:  https://blnnews.com/2015/09/17/bronner-group-getting-your-money/ Bronner “discounted” their rate to $145 per hour!  […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

The CLUELESS are ruling!

By:  Diane Benjamin Attn:  Council If your information on ANY topic, especially the Coliseum, is from David Hales or Tari Renner you are getting “Fake News”. Jamie Mathy is quoted in today’s paper saying the Management Agreement with CIAM “literally forbid the city from having access to the raw numbers”.  SOURCE Jamie, why did the City […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

It takes guts!

By:  Diane Benjamin Your elected aldermen in Bloomington really have guts!  On the same day they found out at least $1 Million was stolen from you – they voted to slap higher sewer and storm water rates on the victims of their ineptness!  Yes, that would be Bloomington taxpayers. The conversation was really amusing.  Scott […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

MY Coliseum timeline

By:  Diane Benjamin Below are some of the stories I’ve written about the Coliseum.   Some are opinions, some questions, and some proven facts.  This isn’t everything, but it’s enough to prove the 5 Coliseum employees would NOT be under indictment of I hadn’t started investigating in 2013! Each link has a quote from the […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

UPDATE: David Hales needs fired today!

Listen to the interview here:  http://www.wjbc.com/2017/09/26/bloomington-officials-react-to-alleged-arena-fraud/ ________________________________________________ By:  Diane Benjamin Of course the Council will do nothing to David Hales for extreme S-t-r-e-t-c-h-i-n-g of the truth this morning on WJBC. Of course Scott Laughlin didn’t know enough facts to confront him. When a podcast is created I will add it to this story. Hales wasted […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Spin machine is spinning!

By:  Diane Benjamin Celebrate!  Tari is returning from his “medical related” leave October 1st.  Just like everything the City of Bloomington does, his return will have NO Transparency.  Does he still have his government credit card?  If he does, Freedom of Information Act requests are about to spike! Remember the citizen survey a few weeks […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Audits? The Coliseum was audited!

By:  Diane Benjamin The oldest story I wrote about the Coliseum is from December 2013:  https://blnnews.com/2013/12/11/coliseum-bleeding-bloomington-taxpayers/ But, look at this story from February 2014:  https://blnnews.com/2014/02/06/is-coliseum-management-giving-bloomington-their-share/ First lines of the story: Operations of the Coliseum are extremely complicated.  Management hired by the City is operating some functions without any over-sight or accountability.  The taxpayers deserve to […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Victory for taxpayers!

By:  Diane Benjamin I knew the lies were going to be instant! The City of Bloomington did NOT uncover the fraud at the Coliseum.  They were warned many times.  David Hales did not do his job – I hope Joliet is thrilled with their choice for City Manager. The fraud could not have happened if […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

More on Bloomington Roads

By:  Diane Benjamin If I hadn’t been out of town this weekend, I would have written A LOT more on the Pantagraph story that attempted to make you believe the Bloomington roads are getting better.  It’s really difficult to compose story on a cell phone, so I left a lot of details to readers:  https://blnnews.com/2017/09/24/more-pantagraph-conspires-with-city/ […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

More Pantagraph conspires with City

By. Diane Benjamin Today the Pantagraph lauded the $3.8 million Bloomington is spending on streets.  Seems like rewriting history so people think the streets are getting better is the goal of both Bloomington and the so called press. Why?  Because both want downtown spending, not silly things citizens want like the roads fixed! See their […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

MONDAY: Let’s Tax

By:  Diane Benjamin Illinois increased income taxes again! The stack of unpaid bills increased! Since Illinois has “been there-done that”, and the unpaid stack still got bigger, that’s proof government doesn’t exist for anybody but itself. Monday Bloomington will do the same! PDF page 281.  The City needs $136 Million over the next 20 years […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

UPDATE: August PCard!

A. Aldag is either a current or former IWU student of Renners.  So, what’s the public purpose here Tari? https://www.iwu.edu/news/2015/aldag-surveys-foreign-investments-in-DC-internship.html _____________________________________ By:  Diane Benjamin PCard spending starts on PDF page 124:  http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=14720 This is Tari’s “business lunch” as caught by a reader on 8/9 at Rosie’s.  Tari is in the shadows.  Maybe this explain why […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Hales leaves, nothing will change

By:  Diane Benjamin The City Manager is the only employee of the City Council.  When David Hales leaves, another guy just like him will magically appear.  The voters elected a progressive left-wing mayor and compliant Council, so citizens shouldn’t expect a sudden lurch to fiscal responsibility.  Your taxes will continue to rise because  the guy […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

“Creating congestion” is working!

By:  Diane Benjamin Jim Karch knew. The Planning Commission knew. The Council knew. Putting bike lanes on E Washington was going to create congestion.  All of the above wanted congestion because you drive too fast. Yes – your government attacked your ability to drive safely because they wanted to. From a reader: Don’t know if […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

You can afford it!

By:  Diane Benjamin The Council is going to vote next Monday to raise your sewer and storm water rates much faster than originally presented.  After all, this Council is fixing what previous Councils ignored – essential services.  Even though voting on items not on the agenda isn’t allowed, the council took a “straw poll” on […]