Looks like the Council vote is Tuesday: http://www.theherald-news.com/2017/09/15/joliet-council-could-vote-tuesday-on-city-manager-contract/alcxm1o/ https://patch.com/illinois/joliet/new-joliet-city-manager-could-be-bloomingtons-david-hales Should I disable comments so readers don’t ruin anything?
By: Diane Benjamin When the Pantagraph appears to do a study of anything, it usually means Bloomington is up to something and using them to gauge public opinion. Today it was legal expenses and justifying the outrageous amount the City sends to Springfield every month while telling you not to buy on the internet – […]
By: Diane Benjamin Remember this story: https://blnnews.com/2017/09/13/it-keeps-getting-funnier/ Just who was this day for? The kids are in school. People are at work, so did they expect the downtown lawyers and staff to love the idea of losing parking spots? Should San Francisco stay in California? I wonder if Bloomington is trying to compete with Uptown […]
By: Diane Benjamin It looks like Bloomington has to be destroyed by government spending before people realize local elections matter. Or, maybe only the people who can’t move will be left paying the bills which are about to get much bigger. Monday night the Bloomington will see the results of doing “Wants” before Needs. MANY […]
By: Diane Benjamin Tari’s Downtown Task Force mostly consists of people who had their hand out for your money and Council people dying to give them more. The entire rest of Bloomington has no representation. Maybe that’s why moving the library and adding a bus transfer point got shredded at the meeting Monday night. See […]
By: Diane Benjamin Below are excerpts from an email I received yesterday from a current State Farm employee: So…the story about State Farm. There are a lot of management level employees in our IT shop. Percentages of people whose jobs will move or be eliminated range from about 20% to 50% depending on the area […]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE September 13, 2017 Contact: Katie Simpson, City of Bloomington Planner, 309-434-2341 Tricia Stiller, Downtown Bloomington, 309-829-9599 PARKING DAY COMES TO DOWNTOWN BLOOMINGTON BLOOMINGTON, IL– On Friday, September 15, in cities around the globe including right here in Downtown Bloomington, artists, activists and citizens will transform parking spaces into temporary public parks […]
A reader sent me this: https://atlanta.curbed.com/2017/9/7/16264644/state-farm-atlanta-perimeter-dunwoody-development-construction He added this: It looks like we are headed for a chalk outline of BN taxpayer… See this story too: From a SF Employee ________________________________________________ By: Diane Benjamin State Farm announced to their employees they will be moving 7% of IT out of Bloomington and cutting management company wide […]
By: Diane Benjamin Watching the Council spin themselves into the ground felt a lot longer than 23 minutes! Most of the conversation was on whether to build a metal retaining wall or concrete so the City Hall annex can be demolished. The difference in price was around $61,000. The Council was handed some revised numbers […]
Correction: Karen Schmidt did report that Diana Hauman was sick By: Diane Benjamin Alderman Hauman and Mayor Renner were both absent last night. Not a word was spoken about either. That means 20% of the people you elected were missing. Progressives evidently don’t think they have any responsibility to citizens. Of course watching them in […]
By: Diane Benjamin When you pick progressives to run your City you will pay more in taxes. You picked their vision to “keep moving Bloomington forward”. Fiscal responsibility and Needs before Wants aren’t ever discussed. Send this article to the local leftists so they know what progress looks like: Why Are Liberal Cities So Unaffordable Alderman […]
By: Diane Benjamin I’ve written MANY times about the joke that is Bloomington’s Enterprise Funds: Garbage, Water, Sewer, Storm Water, and Grossinger Motors Arena. All of these funds are expected to have positive balances, except the Arena of course that probably never will. If the others don’t have enough money in them – your taxes […]
By: Diane Benjamin Monday is RAISE your TAXES day! The fund balances aren’t enough! You must pay. Be compliant, stay home, cuss at the Council from the safety of your couch. Or, you could quit eating out as much and paying the outrageous food and beverage taxes. Or, you could buy more on-line and save those […]
By: Diane Benjamin I did finally receive my FOIA for the General Ledger entries to the Sister Cities accounts. Travel expenses is sometimes in “Travel” and sometimes in “Community Relations”. The accounts are full of transfers and memo entries that make it difficult to determine what is happening. The Sister Cities program is supported by […]
By: Diane Benjamin Thanks to a reader, the tree the Bloomington City Council is fretting over is this one: The property owner wants it cut down. The Council spent over 15 minutes last Monday discussing changes to the “Shade Tree” ordinance. A vote on the changes will take place at a future meeting.
By: Diane Benjamin Last Monday the Council was worried about old trees growing on City property that residents want gone. I wish they had cared before they planted trees on East College. They looked adorably cute when they were first planted – right below power lines. Not so cute anymore after getting chopped to keep […]
By: Diane Benjamin Deficits are just fine with the Bloomington City Council because they can tax you. It doesn’t matter if you can’t afford it, they have needs – you have the money. Only David Sage realized that last night – years late, but better late than never. He voted against hiring the Downtown Bloomington […]
IWU website says Renner is on sabbatical https://php.iwu.edu/directory/employees.php?netid=trenner This Press release was just issued: From: Nora Dukowitz <ndukowitz@cityblm.org> Date: Mon, Aug 28, 2017 at 3:51 PM Subject: Press Statement from Mayor Renner To: Media, Please see below for a press statement issued by Mayor Tari Renner: “I have informed the City Manager and the Mayor Pro-tem […]
By: Diane Benjamin Downtown Bloomington is going to get more of your money tonight: Just at this one meeting the History Museum gets $145,000 (https://blnnews.com/2017/08/27/bloomington-supports-friends-with-your-money/ ) and the DBA doesn’t need to support itself. You get 2 new employees with gold-plated benefits and pensions! Another $289,305 sucked out of your wallet! See the DBA […]
By: Diane Benjamin From Monday’s bills and Payroll: http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=14534 Some of the more interesting spending: 1) Every non-profit in Bloomington needs to get their share of the free taxpayer money Bloomington hands out to their friends – this time the McLean County History Museum. It helps if you can claim you create Economic Activity: 2) […]
By: Diane Benjamin Former Central Illinois Arena Management (CIAM) head, John Butler, might be back at the former Coliseum with the Bloomington Thunder hockey team. Even though the State Police investigation hasn’t wrapped up yet (as far as we know), an investor in the Thunder has purchased a majority interest in the Peoria Rivermen where […]
By: Diane Benjamin Source: http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=14181 The 2017 year ended for the City of Bloomington last April 30th. We are most likely MONTHS away from seeing real financial statements, late is what governments do and the private sector would never tolerate. I did find a glimpse into what they will say – see the link above. […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Bloomington City Council meeting last night was conducted without the mayor and without any accusations against citizens like “crazy”, “nasty”, and “small vocal minority”. Renner did hold another edition of his media blitz earlier in the day, but Karen Schmidt only announced he wasn’t there. According to media reports of the […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Bloomington City Council is meeting tonight, but nothing is on the agenda about the Renner media blitz spreading misinformation. The only people discussing enforcement of the law will be citizens – should they choose to make public comment. The meeting begins tonight at 5:30. If the City Council wants to hold […]
By: Diane Benjamin Gas in Decatur today $2.11. Gas in Bloomington today $2.25. _____________________________ A complaint was filed against Tari Renner for violating the garbage can ordinance: https://blnnews.com/2017/08/06/do-laws-codes-regulations-matter/ It was filed by a Bloomington resident who has recently been hassled by the City. The resident filed a FOIA request for the letter sent to Renner’s address, […]
By: Diane Benjamin The City of Bloomington can’t legally withhold documents that existed before the State Police announced their investigation, but they are trying to keep me from finding the truth anyway. Did they really think I wouldn’t write about it? I filed a FOIA request for the all General Ledger Accounts pertaining to Sister […]
By: Diane Benjamin Illinois Law requires every level of government adopt an Ethics Ordinance. Even though it has been brought to Bloomington’s attention, they do not have an ethic ordinance on their website. When asked who the Ethics Officer is – I believe we were told David Hales. I did find this on the City […]
By: Diane Benjamin No, transparency doesn’t exist in Bloomington! This FOIA request was made on July 31st. I did receive the information on the dinner at Lucca Grill, I have not received the names of the people money was paid to IACE Travel for. A second request on August 10th and a third request on […]
By: Diane Benjamin From last Monday night at City Hall: The Bloomington City Council wouldn’t need to meet at 5:00 pm if they weren’t trying to control every aspect of your life. Meetings would be a lot shorter! You wouldn’t need to feed them either. Monday was pizza, I wonder where the leftovers went? Does […]
By: Diane Benjamin Since last night Tari called comments made by citizens about the Japan trip lies, I have no problem calling his statement lies. Just hit play below to hear him. First, he claims the Chief Legal Officer said he did nothing wrong. Who is the Chief Legal Officer Tari? Jeff Jurgens or somebody […]
By: Diane Benjamin Of course this is on the Consent Agenda – No discussion required! The Council is being asked to codify discrimination in the City Code. It will be legal to prosecute anyone that isn’t a non-profit and government-funded. In other words, Connect Transit can have electronic signs, but only them. Nobody else can […]
By: Diane Benjamin “Resistance to tyrants is obedience to God.” –Thomas Jefferson “Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is argument of tyrants. It is the creed of slaves.” –William Pitt in the House of Commons November 18, 1783 Just this year the City of Bloomington created a Transportation Committee, a […]
By: Diane Benjamin Normal came really close to ending their tyranny when Chris Koos was almost defeated in April. Renner didn’t get Modified Wards, but now that he’s reelected, nothing is going to stand in his way. The Council certainly won’t – gee they approved his girlfriend’s ticket to Japan! No, nobody is looking out […]
By: Diane Benjamin We have no idea how many people went on the Japan trip. We’ve heard numbers as low as 19 to over 35. The names of those on this trip have not been produced under FOIA. We have no idea who paid and what the total cost was – other than the bills […]
By: Diane Benjamin Not only illegal, it’s breaks the City PCard policy. AND – more than one City employee (which Tari is) broke the policy. Note the date – May 12th. From documents obtained by FOIA, this purchase was on the PCard held by Beth Oakley, Executive Assistant to somebody. She violated State law and […]
By: Diane Benjamin The conversation below is from Mayor Tari Renner Facebook page. Krista Vogel Cardona was Renner’s campaign manager twice and the daughter of Steve Vogel. John Kraft is one of the Edgar County Watchdogs. The two names I redacted are private citizens and not the same person. If you have a Facebook account, […]
By: Diane Benjamin Another extension by the City of Bloomington: Maybe the people the City hires just get paid a lot but aren’t very smart. Maybe somebody at the City is micromanaging everything that happens – even following the law! Link to the FOIA law: http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/ilcs3.asp?ActID=85&ChapterID=2 There are no exceptions for redacting who got their […]
By: Diane Benjamin The following FOIA request was due today. How difficult is it to look up who paid the City? Browse the General Ledger! Remember, Tari claimed from Japan that I was lying and he was going to sue me for stating the truth – the City paid for his girlfriend’s ticket: Got […]
By: Diane Benjamin I hope Tari’s handpicked stacked Downtown Bloomington Committee is having fun dreaming of how to spend your money. At the end of this month they will enlighten the public with ideas for getting people downtown. Just because somebody builds it, it doesn’t mean anybody will come. How many decades has taxpayer money […]
By: Anonymous All over Bloomington-Normal, no one is talking about the worst kept secret. It seems almost everyone knows, but no one is talking. State Farm is planning to downsize, likely before year-end. This is no secret. In fact, it’s echoing throughout the halls of the insurance giant, as well as the local business community […]
