By: Diane Benjamin Of course everything passed. Of course the outgoing members of the Council received plaques and praise. Only two items of note: This video is a part of a Public Comment by Jackie Beyer. She watched a bid opening for the downtown streetscape. It came in much higher than projected – 63% higher. […]
By: Diane Benjamin Tonight’s agenda: 4/4/2025 The agenda omits penalties for Cody Hendricks and Jenna Kearns’ flagrant City Code violations (details: https://blnnews.com/2025/03/25/cody-hendricks-chief-cheater/). In two years, Bloomington’s consolidated elections will become fully partisan due to this lack of accountability. Worse, residents will question why they must follow City Code when elected officials don’t. This ‘rules for […]
By: Diane Benjamin How many water projects are you paying for because these people aren’t paying? As of 3/27/2025 Bloomington had $1,723,690 in past due water bills. This information was received by FOIA. The top offenders are below – there are interesting names among them. See if you can find them. At least one person […]
By: Diane Benjamin Bloomington: https://results.enr.clarityelections.com/IL/Bloomington/123382/web.345435/#/summary Dan Brady received 2,411 more votes than Cody Hendricks and 4,830 more than the current mayor. Uncontested Ward 3 candidate, Sheila Montney, received more votes that the total who bothered to vote in Ward 1. That Ward is stuck with Jenna Kearns for 4 more years. She won by 227 […]
By: Diane Benjamin The back side of Cody Hendricks’ illegal mailer bashed Dan Brady. It claimed Brady supports Trump’s extreme MAGA agenda. That means Cody must stands for waste, fraud, and abuse of your money. He must also support keeping criminal aliens roaming the streets. Americans without TDS don’t support either. We know Cody has […]
By: Diane Benjamin Both Cody Hendricks and Tom Crumpler were absent last night from the City Council meeting. Cody did post a campaign video of himself downtown talking about making it great. Since he wasn’t wearing a coat he didn’t film it yesterday. Below are Cody’s latest campaign contributions. If you look at all his […]
By: Diane Benjamin The 2 videos below are from the GOP candidate forum held January 18th. These are the question and answer session for the Bloomington mayoral candidates. All of the videos can be found here: https://www.mcleancountyrepublicans.org/meet_the_mayoral_candidates Chemberly Harris and Kathleen Lorenz videos are also on that link. Chris Koos was out of town that […]
By: Diane Benjamin It should be a short meeting. That gives them time to explain why Friday night’s Bison game was cancelled because of ice problems. I’m pretty sure the people who had the job of making sure the ice was ready are still employed. LOTS of people who expected to see a game didn’t. […]
By: Diane Benjamin I’ve written many times about the left governing on feelings while the right uses facts. Here’s another case: https://wirepoints.org/homelessness-could-no-longer-be-a-crime-under-a-new-plan-filed-in-springfield-wand-decatur/ An Illinois Democrat wants to legalize homeless people and allow them to camp on public property. It will be wonderful to see Bloomington’s new $28 million library turned into a homeless camp and […]
By: Diane Benjamin The same far left cabal voters soundly defeated 4 years ago just regrouped as different people. Cody Hendricks is no different than Jackie Gunderson. Abby Scott is no different than Jenn Carrillo and Jeff Crabill. If socialists/Marxists are supporting you, it’s not a stretch to see you are one too. Abby Scott […]
By: Diane Benjamin AOC and Bernie Sanders are progressives. Basically anyone who wants to use government to shape the future the way they want it to be is progressive. If you don’t agree with that vision you are ignored. Defund the Police was progressive. https://www.25newsnow.com/2025/01/22/bloomington-normal-mayors-fail-win-unions-backing-reelection The local unions refused to endorse Chris Koos as they’ve […]
By: Diane BenjaminAlderman Donna Boelen resigned from the Bloomington City Council yesterday. People paying attention to meetings know she has been participating remotely for quite awhile. The reason given was illness. I hope now she can recover from whatever is ailing her. Her voice will be missed. See this story: https://www.25newsnow.com/2024/12/23/bloomington-city-councils-senior-member-resigns-with-2-years-left-her-term/ Excerpt: Ward 2 residents […]
I give up trying to figure out when candidates need to file. If you are running in Bloomington ask BEC, otherwise ask the County Clerk! Some filing dates seem to have been changed. It almost like outsiders need to stay off the ballot. By: Diane Benjamin If anyone wants to try to abolish the Bloomington […]
By: Diane Benjamin Tonight’s agenda: https://d3n9y02raazwpg.cloudfront.net/cityblm/f7280584-5bbe-11ee-ae13-0050569183fa-d854eb82-3702-4140-9de6-ac3a8e3f379d-1726858367.pdf Word Salad #1: Word Salad #2: Note: Both of these items are on the Consent Agenda and won’t be discussed unless an alderman pulls them for discussion. The first one authorizes the City to issue bonds for the water projects your water bill will triple to cover. The second […]
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By: Diane Benjamin Remember this meeting? . Don’t look for video because the library has no way of broadcasting or taping meetings. Expect more meetings to be held there when transparency isn’t wanted. If you just want the basics about this meeting, read any media recap like this one: https://www.wglt.org/local-news/2024-08-29/police-leaders-field-questions-from-the-public-on-hiring-accountability?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=facebook If you want more keep […]
By: Diane Benjamin The meeting wasn’t as long as the video shows. It includes close to 14 minutes of commercials before the meetings starts. If you want to know about upcoming events, watch them. 4 people spoke at Public Comment, 3 wanting the Council to go with Mboka’s Liquor Commission recommendation to deny the Liquor […]
By: Diane Benjamin Bloomington agenda for tonight: https://d3n9y02raazwpg.cloudfront.net/cityblm/f71aedd4-5bbe-11ee-ae13-0050569183fa-d854eb82-3702-4140-9de6-ac3a8e3f379d-1723138430.pdf Only 1 item is on the regular agenda: https://d2kbkoa27fdvtw.cloudfront.net/cityblm/05f44e6d7c7828b2db62b47b19b7427d0.pdf Big government means big bureaucracy. Bloomington’s staff is MUCH bigger than just a few years ago. Something isn’t working right because this item hires a consultant to fix the organizational structure. Below is what they want the consultant […]
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 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 Below are the tents right next to Constitution Trail and Evergreen Cemetery – h/t a reader. I’m told the tents under the bridge have disappeared! More pics from the original tent city:
By: Diane Benjamin From 2015: https://blnnews.com/2015/08/04/more-ineptness/ That story has details of how much taxpayer money was wasted on the water tower Bloomington built in northeast Normal. It has never been used. This is where it is: . This water tower is never mentioned. According to WGLT, Bloomington broke ground on a new tower in south […]
By: Diane Benjamin Follow-up to this story: https://blnnews.com/2024/06/19/foia-fail/ That story shows I requested two things: The emails were all redacted, at the time of that story they were still looking for Gleason’s letter. Yesterday they denied Part 2 because: Unfortunately, the City was unable to find the document requested after an extensive search. Did Tim […]
By: Diane Benjamin Below is a slide showing topics for discussion: 33% of the Council was not at this meeting: Danenberger, Hendricks, and Lee didn’t show up. How can any decisions be made with 3 of the 9 wards not represented? This discussion reinforced why I hate meetings. I didn’t see anything decided, just bloviating. […]
By: Diane Benjamin Both were memorialized on a Facebook page created by Bloomington Fire Department employees. This is not an official government page, just firefighters sick of cockroaches where they live while on duty. They named the latest 2 Pablo and Tyrone: . . Someone created this page because of an infestation, I’m sure these […]
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 Tonight’s agenda: https://d3n9y02raazwpg.cloudfront.net/cityblm/f7099398-5bbe-11ee-ae13-0050569183fa-791fe512-602c-4d20-98c8-ecdbbed39134-1717791762.pdf Since the City is flush with cash they are paying $5,425,000 from the General Fund to create a new Public Works Campus. The cash is available for a variety of reasons: All tax increases by government need to be opposed because they NEVER go away. Even if they say […]
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 Below are the only roads in the 2024 Resurfacing plan: https://www.bloomingtonil.gov/departments/public-works/bloomington-streets#ad-image-1 On the left side is the rating on the scale of 3 to 8. Total 6.11 miles! Fort Jesse is 3 lanes .45 x 3 = 1.35 lane miles Towanda is 5 lanes .3 x 5 = 1.5 lane miles Washington […]
By: Diane Benjamin Monday Bloomington Committee of the Whole: https://d2kbkoa27fdvtw.cloudfront.net/cityblm/71da98b657d141c8434a7276f3c1a7b60.pdf Panel Presentation and Discussion on Community Housing Needs , as requestedby the Administration Department. This is brought to you by the same mindset that build the Coliseum, bought the Consistory and refurbished it, build a never used water tower, and built a never used why […]
By: Diane Benjamin Part #5 will link to all previous stories: https://blnnews.com/2024/05/12/road-ratings-part-5/ The pic below shows all of the ratings of Bloomington roads. https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/36eea74c6ede4cd08e7d6ec03ed14246 All are rated between 3 and 8. The only roads I consider better than mediocre are light orange, yellow, and lime. The dark red (3’s) are the worst rated and the […]
By: Diane Benjamin Mayor Mwilambwe and alderman Cody Hendricks didn’t bother to attend last night. Public comment by a resident who lives close to the Tent City in downtown Bloomington: These illegal campers are terrorizing area residents and requiring many public safety resources. Welcome to socialism, the camp should have been disbanded the first day. […]
By: Diane Benjamin Monday was Tim Gleason’s last meeting so the Mayor had to do a list of his accomplishments. Mentioned was getting them through COVID which wasn’t difficult when the Feds threw many millions of dollars to them and tax receipts skyrocketed because of inflation. The new budget is spending LESS on roads than […]
By: Diane Benjamin Bloomington City Council last night: Occasional reminder that Ward 1 Alderman Kearns does not believe in Liberty and Justice for All. She never says the Pledge of Allegiance: Just an example of Mr. Giggles at work:
By: Diane Benjamin If you’ve ever watched a council meeting you know why I call him Mr. Giggles. Those giggles hide the fact that he’s a big government guy and pushes a progressive (communist) agenda. Can’t Bloomington do better? https://www.wglt.org/local-news/2024-04-15/mwilambwe-to-run-for-2nd-term-as-bloomington-mayor?fbclid=IwAR0pqO6wAXClBrJMohOXCUvF6sQlDT4B1FNa2HwPj3OwLAA2m1M6xwqZS5Y Mwilambwe to run for 2nd term as Bloomington mayor Excerpts: Mwilambwe said he wants to […]
By: Diane Benjamin Future council are NOT bound by the actions of this council. If they were this plan from 2013 would have already been a reality: . If you want people elected who actually care about the roads, start voting for them! A few things in that plan were done, like Way Finding signs, […]
The report finally got posted around 11:00am. Since it was beautiful yesterday I was outside and haven’t looked at it in depth. I will though. The email I received didn’t explain why it was late. By: Diane Benjamin I’ve got more to report from last night’s meeting but it will wait until tomorrow. Bills and […]
Is this why Tim Gleason is leaving? Tent City growing! H/T a reader
While the administration and City Council were enthralled last night with their glorious plans for downtown, real people live in the rest of the City. The $10 million budgeted for streets and sidewalks isn’t gloat worthy, that doesn’t stop them from doing it anyway. Is this sidewalk on the list? Seen on NextDoor
