By: Diane Benjamin It is likely your public school didn’t tell you the Pilgrims tried socialism/collectivism and found out it didn’t work. https://www.aier.org/article/the-pilgrims-tried-socialism-and-it-failed/ McLean County used to be a beacon of freedom, after the November elections the county will probably have a County Board control by socialists/collectivists, also called Democrats. Lucky you! Your tax dollars […]
By: Diane Benjamin I’m starting with an easy part of the FOIA I finally received yesterday. Evidently no one in legal at the City of Bloomington knows tax returns for non-profits are public information. Every FOIA the City of Bloomington responds to is reviewed by the legal department. They shouldn’t complain about how much FOIA […]
By: Diane Benjamin Pritzker signed the bill eliminating the 1% grocery tax. Showing the ridiculousness of Illinois, that 1% was collected by the State but went to local governments. He wasn’t working for the little guy by giving away tax money the State never kept. Pritzker quote for the story below: . Did Pritzker spew […]
By: Diane Benjamin One item the Bloomington Council passed Monday night was setting priorities for local housing. Go to 1:54:50 to see the slide recapping the plan. It doesn’t include interest rate buydowns. City Manager Jeff Jurgens introduced the resolution, unfortunately the slides with statistics he presented are not on video. Jurgens stated Illinois is […]
This is who Bloomington hired as new Deputy City Manager: More details from the Watchdogs: https://edgarcountywatchdogs.com/2012/06/money-generation-a-family-affair/?highlight=McLaughlin
Update: Hendricks announced his run for mayor today! 😉 By: Diane Benjamin Just hit Play below to hear the intro by City Manager Jeff Jurgens to the proposed Project Labor Agreement ordinance. He is followed by two alderman happy to see this brought to Council. The two are Tom Crumpler and Cody Hendricks. Jurgens stated […]
By: Diane Benjamin Did the wind last night affect the downtown campers? Did garbage blow everywhere? Was refuge provided to the people living in tents? If you are in the area please let me know! The Bloomington Council held a Committee of the Whole meeting last night. The first Public Comment was by Surena Fish […]
By: Diane Benjamin As of right now these are the only reports posted: https://www.bloomingtonil.gov/government/advanced-components/documents/-folder-2104#docan2735_6873_64 A WWE show happened on June 22nd. Accounting must be too difficult for the staff to create a report and post it. I’m dying to see how they explain this: Did this show make money? Is a loss why the event […]
By: Diane Benjamin The part of Constitution Trail where tent city is located now looks more like a garbage dump. Homeless people don’t trash their home, these people don’t care because they are mentally ill. More downtown business owners need to speak up, I hear stories of threats and crimes happening. Stay silent – lose […]
By: Diane Benjamin Various people have sent pictures of tents along Constitution Trail but they were taken from a vehicle and difficult to see. Since I was in town today I went to take my own. The trail from Lincoln street east of Evergreen cemetery appears to stop/start there. No sidewalks or parking so I […]
By: Diane Benjamin The actual City Council meeting was only about 30 minutes long. The video is about 43 minutes because the City plays commercials before and after now. Surena Fish spoke at Public Comment. The downtown business owners held a meeting last night with the Bloomington police concerning the problems with vagrants downtown. Listen […]
By: Diane Benjamin 3 people showed up for Public Comment at the June Connect Transit meeting. No, none of them were there to mention the taxpayers abuse by their ridiculous losses. Just May was almost $1.5 million. All 3 speakers were employees of Connect. They can barely be seen because most of the screen is […]
By: Diane Benjamin See this WGLT story: https://www.wglt.org/local-news/2024-06-17/bloomington-mayor-enthused-about-housing-symposium-results 1st Excerpt: . Public-Private partnerships leave PUBLIC holding the bag. If you didn’t read this story a couple days ago, you need to: https://blnnews.com/2015/07/23/bloomington-developer-gets-freebies/ Snyder Development partnered with Bloomington and didn’t pay, I still haven’t heard if they ever paid. That means all other taxpayers paid more […]
By: Diane Benjamin I FOIA’s 2 things from the City of Bloomington: The City can’t find Gleason’s letter, they want another 5 days: Part 2 of your request, which includes “Copy of Gleason’s Letter of Intent to work with Vieweg Real Estate”, requires additional time to complete a thorough department search. I have attached a […]
By: Diane Benjamin There was only one Public Comment – Marty Seigel. She spoke about local zoning policy. She is against the local “pack’m and stack’m” policy that has been promoted across the country for at least a decade. There is no proof housing becomes more affordable by encouraging developers to build infill apartment buildings. […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Bloomington City Council did vote to buy the former Owens Nursery location but not before Alderman Sheila Montney revealed what Tim Gleason did. In January he made a verbal agreement with a realtor in Decatur to look for somewhere to relocate Public Works. He sent an email to the Council in […]
By: Diane Benjamin I saw two payments on Bloomington’s last Bills and Payroll I wanted to know more about, so I filed a FOIA. No event reports are on the City website for either of the events even though one took place in early May and the other took place in April. https://www.bloomingtonil.gov/government/advanced-components/documents/-folder-2104#docan2735_6873_64 The lack […]
By: Diane Benjamin City Manager Jeff Jurgens showed this slide at the last council meeting. All of these groups are working on a solution to the tent city. Jurgens stated more organizations might be added: From Public Commenters at meetings the problem isn’t homelessness. The people living in tents downtown aren’t allowed in shelters because […]
By: Diane Benjamin Bloomington Agenda: https://d3n9y02raazwpg.cloudfront.net/cityblm/f7056f24-5bbe-11ee-ae13-0050569183fa-791fe512-602c-4d20-98c8-ecdbbed39134-1716574900.pdf There are two annexation Public Hearings for land on W Washington. On the regular agenda is approving the annexations. I have no idea why a solar farm wants to be inside the City limits. https://d2kbkoa27fdvtw.cloudfront.net/cityblm/2216655a5d132afd5554038e390ffa4c0.pdf Road resurfacings for next year won’t be bid since the City thinks only Rowe […]
