Fly on the Wall: Underpass
If you thought Chris Koos would abandon the way-to-expensive underpass, you’d be wrong. The cost will be even higher.
Category: Pamela Reece
More on Normal’s Underpass
By: Diane Benjamin Yesterday’s story was updated with a few things I found in the FOIA request: https://blnnews.com/2026/03/06/normal-doesnt-have-an-underpass-contractor/ Did you know Normal originally stated taxpayers were funding 9% of the project and now it’s 37%? Click the above story! WGLT finally did their own underpass story. On Facebook it has over 100 comments, most want […]
Where’s the Contractor Normal?
By: Diane Benjamin I wonder if Chris Koos or Pam Reece has anything to announce at tonight’s meeting? It looks like a 10 minute meeting: https://www.normalil.gov/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/5523 Flashback to November 3, 2025 meeting: https://www.normalil.gov/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/5414 Underpass project cost: $40,300,920 PDF page 136: Clark Dietz was hired to oversee construction. PDF page 147: . It’s now March and […]
Where is the Underpass Normal?
By: Diane Benjamin November 3, 2025 meeting: https://www.normalil.gov/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/5414 On the agenda: . From PDF page 106 The bid is only 4 months away from 1 year old. Construction still hasn’t started. On the same page: Is Millstone Weber still going to do the work Normal? How are you planning on completing this massive project by […]
I Know Nobody Cares, but Connect Transit Losses GROW
By: Diane Benjamin Today’s agenda: https://connect-transit.com/file/4024/2026%2001%2027_BoT%20Meeting%20Packet.pdf The packet is for November and December. There isn’t near as much information in the packet as usual. Missing are reports from their consultants in Springfield and DC. $42,059 for what? . Ridership is up, so are the losses: . Flex is still up almost 9% fiscal year to […]
Where does Normal’s EMS Revenue Go?
By: Diane Benjamin Update to this story: https://blnnews.com/2025/12/10/how-much-does-normal-charge-hudson-lexington-and-towanda/ I asked the Town Clerk a simple question about the FOIA I filed: Security Key:2491BAE5 Reference Number:RR-1767-2025 Can you tell me what fund this revenue goes to? This is the response I received from Clerk, Angie Huonker: Hi Diane, The deposit account (001-0000-341.16-00) is the “Charge for […]
How much does Normal charge Hudson, Lexington, and Towanda?
By: Diane Benjamin I filed a FOIA request to find out how much revenue Normal received from providing fire related services to Hudson, Lexington, and Towanda. Remember, when Normal is running calls outside of Normal they aren’t available to run calls in Normal. The timeline for my FOIA was 1/1/2023 – 12/1/2025. That amounts to […]
Normal Fire Department – Part 2
By: Diane Benjamin Adding to this story: https://blnnews.com/2025/12/02/normal-fire-department-start-here/ The two calendars below have additional information. The RED Bloomington are mutual aid calls showing Bloomington responding to calls in Normal. When Bloomington is listed more than once it is because they ran calls more than once. . PDF page 210: https://www.normalil.gov/DocumentCenter/View/28107/Annual-Comprehensive-Financial-Report-for-the-fiscal-year-ending-March-31-2025—locked?bidId= This chart shows the number […]
Normal Fire Department: Start Here
Part 2: https://blnnews.com/2025/12/02/normal-fire-department-part-2/ By: Diane Benjamin Normal residents are concerned about the closing of the College Avenue fire station when they move to the new station east of Menards. That prompted me to look further into operations. This is going to take more than one story, so stay tuned. I sent a FOIA to Normal […]
Normal is a SMALL Town paying the City Manager Big City salary
By: Diane Benjamin I know most residents of Normal don’t care or they would quit electing the same people over and over, but just for the few who do care: https://www.25newsnow.com/2025/12/01/normal-city-manager-line-49-raise-topping-what-peoria-bloomington-managers-make Quotes: Normal Mayor Chris Koos is recommending a 4.9% pay raise for City Manager Pam Reece, which would lift her base salary above what […]
New Uptown TIF Proposal: What You Need to Know
By: Diane Benjamin WGLT story: https://www.wglt.org/local-news/2025-10-08/normal-looks-to-create-new-uptown-tif-to-spur-development?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=facebook 2024 Downtown Development TIF report: https://files.illinoiscomptroller.gov/LocGovTIF/FY2024/06409531/24TIF06409531Downtown_volpment_1.pdf PDF page 8 shows this TIF is underwater: ($47,720,848) Normal taxpayers are on the hook for expenses the TIF didn’t generate enough revenue to pay. Now Normal wants a new Uptown TIF and claims to have developers interested. The WGLT story did an […]
Normal: 50 FEET!
By: Diane Benjamin Normal’s Community Investment Plan: https://tongis.maps.arcgis.com/apps/dashboards/df07946434c947f7936743df5c4eb076 I have no plans to watch Normal’s meeting last night where the Community Investment Plan was passed. The underpass spending is much less than the bids received. Since Normal has no one with better ideology to vote for in the April 1st election, watching it to see […]
Was the Carden Springs deal legal?
By: Diane Benjamin In case you forgot, this development was opposed by area property owners because they feared it would devalue their property: https://blnnews.com/2022/07/31/north-normal-normal-and-barickman-want-to-devalue-your-property/ Normal resident Doug Fansler was concerned when the Town gave preferential treatment to a developer. See this WGLT story: https://www.wglt.org/local-news/2024-10-08/normal-council-amends-annexation-agreement-for-carden-springs-townhouse-project Carden Springs is being developed by Fairlawn Capital from Champaign. What […]
Two officers sued along with the Town of Normal in Federal Court
By: Diane Benjamin The lawsuit was filed in February of this year. On August 26th a Federal judge denied the motion to dismiss. . The video below details the case. The short version is the Plaintiff’s mother who lives in Normal called both the police and her son because she felt in danger from a […]
Normal and Common Sense are opposites
By: Diane Benjamin If plans to build a fancy underpass for 10’s of millions of dollars only for pedestrians while vehicles are forced to sit waiting from trains to clear the tracks on Linden and College doesn’t prove common sense doesn’t exist in Normal, keep reading. From NextDoor: . I’ve written numerous stories about Normal’s […]
Let’s see which local governments can’t live without the 1% Grocery tax
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 […]
Bloomington tonight: NEEDS
By: Diane Benjamin Tonight’s Agenda: https://d3n9y02raazwpg.cloudfront.net/cityblm/f70d9db5-5bbe-11ee-ae13-0050569183fa-791fe512-602c-4d20-98c8-ecdbbed39134-1719001395.pdf There is a public hearing on re-allocating federal money for a park: . This statement is in the attachment to this item. It shows a huge problem with government: Government “needs” are frequently not the “needs” people identify. Did you “need” a water park or just two new pools? […]
Trouble in Normal
B: Diane Benjamin In case you missed this story: https://www.wglt.org/local-news/2024-04-08/town-of-normal-and-firefighters-are-repairing-relationship-after-no-confidence-vote-in-chief Quote: In a September letter to the mayor and council obtained by WGLT under the Freedom of Information Act, the Local 2442 of the International Association of Firefighters union said 84% of membership voted no-confidence. The Town of Normal is now covering fire calls in […]
Justice for Alan Beaman tonight
By: Diane Benjamin If you forgot the details of this case, see this story: https://tinyurl.com/fkwse7hd Mr. Beaman lost at least 13 years of his life, of course the Town of Normal won’t admit the police blew the investigation. Jennifer Lockmiller’s killer is still free. He deserves at least this much money. From the documentation – […]
See a problem?
By: Diane Benjamin For the low price of $1100 a month you can rent this 2 bed 1 bath apartment in Normal. It comes complete with a PVC pipe sprinkler system that evidently passed inspection. This is part of the property ISU used to own on Shelburne. The two guys who bought the property must […]
FYI Normal
By: Daine VBenjamin Further proof nobody elected in Normal is looking out for you: The rent for the 2nd floor of 1 Uptown Circle keeps going up. This year the Town will throw away $455,147 because a big hole in Uptown needed filled. Nothing would have been built if Normal hadn’t made taxpayers responsible for paying for it […]
How much has Connect Transit paid Proterra?
By: Diane Benjamin All previous electric bus stories: https://blnnews.com/2024/01/30/3-more-shocking-emails-electric-buses/ https://blnnews.com/2024/01/30/foia-emails-from-rivian-to-connect-transit/ https://blnnews.com/2024/01/24/connect-transit-random-finds/ https://blnnews.com/2024/01/23/one-more-connect-transit-for-now/ https://blnnews.com/2024/01/23/proterra-is-solyndra/ From this story: How much of your money has been wasted on Proterra buses? Since ADHD is both a blessing and a curse, I could have missed some payments. Note, Proterra filed for bankruptcy in August of 2023. The oldest electric buses are two […]
One more Must See Connect Transit
By: Diane Benjamin I have not finished reading everything I received. There is likely more to report. Make sure you read to the bottom. Connect’s General Manager doesn’t want you to know any of this. Refer back to the HUGE November loss: https://blnnews.com/2024/01/23/connect-loses-more-than-the-coliseum/ Salaries were almost twice normal. I thought Connect had a hiring spree of drivers and were no longer […]
Proterra is Solyndra
By: Diane Benjamin The Connect Transit Board meets at 4:30 today. You can watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFica7k-pGY Will any of the below be discussed? 🤣😂 Remember when Solyndra was supposed to create a ton of solar panels, got tons of federal money, and then declared bankruptcy. Of course no one was ever held accountable, so this “making friends of government […]
Connect loses more than the Coliseum
By: Diane Benjamin November is a new record loss. See wages and stay tuned. This is going to take more than one story. I have proof the Proterra Electric buses are junk. Connect has 12. One might still be operating, the count of working electric buses changed weekly. It never went up – only down.  Many millions of your tax dollars were […]
Another: Notice anything Missing?
By: Diane Benjamin See this story: https://www.wglt.org/local-news/2024-01-05/reece-normal-has-a-lot-more-planned-for-2024 Normal City Manager Pam Reece talks about all the great things they are doing – except ONE. Here’s a hint: . When you someday sit in your car behind a train blocking the tracks while bikers and walkers freely navigate a path under the tracks that you can’t use, take […]
3 Things you need to know
By: Diane Benjamin 1) Jeff Fritzen’s case against the Town of Normal and High Haven for how the special use permit was approved got tossed out of court: https://www.25newsnow.com/2024/01/04/judge-throws-out-ex-normal-town-councilmans-cannabis-dispensary-lawsuit/?outputType=amp Hilarious quote from the judge: Judge Foley wrote: “Case law is clear that a home rule municipality is not bound by its own procedures, unless in doing so the […]
Invasion of privacy in Normal
By: Diane Benjamin In communist China every person is required to carry their phone at all times so the government can track them. Starting January 2nd Normal is doing the same thing if you park in one of their garages. When you enter your license plate will be read. They want you to enter your bank account or […]
Canceled – Normal’s Planning Commission
By: Diane Benjamin The Town needs more time to “convince” area single family home owners to stop objecting: Good thing it also gives the area homeowners more time to organize opposition!
Normal’s 4 Year tax history
By: Diane Benjamin The first thing to notice from the charts below is Normal doesn’t provide the detail Bloomington does. The first chart is from PDF page 28: https://www.normalil.gov/DocumentCenter/View/19327/Annual-Comprehensive-Financial-Report-21-FINAL-DOC?bidId= The second chart is from PDF page 26: https://www.normalil.gov/DocumentCenter/View/23148/Annual-Comprehensive-Financial-Report-23-FINAL-DOC Below is also a recap of a few. Normal revenue is up $29.5 million in 4 years. […]
Taxes are Theft, many criminals are elected
By: Diane Benjamin Every year Normal claims property taxes have to increase to fund pensions. Last night the Council did it again. Only one person showed up to speak at the Public Hearing. Meanwhile the Cost of Living here is rising dramatically because every unit of government sees $$$$ they can steal. https://www.bnbiz.org/coli
Everybody is raising property taxes – because they can
By: Diane Benjamin PDF page 3: https://www.normalil.gov/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/4825 Normal is required to hold a Public Hearing. The norm is nobody shows up to speak. Thus citizens get the government they deserve: After a few to none show up to protest this fleece, the Council will vote to approve taking more of your money.
Want to know a secret?
By: Diane Benjamin You already know it if you read this story: https://blnnews.com/2023/11/29/connect-transit-wants-you-to-love-them/ The whole messaging campaign is supposed to be a secret until they develop some slogan EVERYONE can repeat over and over and over. They want a planned rollout. I bet you can’t wait to see how they counter all the “disinformation”. (like […]
Is Normal getting paid to destroy quiet single family house neighborhoods?
By: Diane Benjamin See this link directly from the White House: https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2023/03/09/fact-sheet-president-bidens-budget-lowers-housing-costs-and-expands-access-to-affordable-rent-and-home-ownership/ One excerpt: Restrictive zoning means not allowing multi-family housing in established single-family neighborhoods. Biden is willing to pay LOCAL government for EQUITY. So how much is Normal planning to collect to change the zoning at Beech and Shelbourne? Since no one currently elected […]
Comptroller’s office finally tells the truth
By: Diane Benjamin More on these two stories: https://blnnews.com/2023/11/07/illinois-comptroller-must-have-decided-to-void-transparency/ https://blnnews.com/2023/11/09/comptrollers-office-responded-just-not-with-an-explanation/ As I stated in one of the stories above, government employees would rather talk to me over the phone instead of in writing. That eliminates the paper trail, the email below proves it: On November 9, 2023, at 3:41 PM, “Pallasch, Abdon” <abdon.m.pallasch@illinoiscomptroller.gov> wrote: Hmmm… […]
Comptroller’s office responded, just not with an explanation
By: Diane Benjamin Follow-up to this story: https://blnnews.com/2023/11/07/illinois-comptroller-must-have-decided-to-void-transparency/ I didn’t send that story to them, somebody must have or they found the “tag”. I received an email yesterday: . I didn’t use an email address because the on-line contact form doesn’t have one. See it here: https://illinoiscomptroller.gov/about/contact-us/phone-mailing-addresses I rarely make phone calls because I want […]
Illinois Comptroller must have decided to void transparency
By: Diane Benjamin The purpose of the Local Government Data on the Comptroller’s website is to present finances in a way citizens can understand. When the data isn’t available it should make everyone wonder why! Normal’s year end was last March 31st. The “landing page” for Normal has been updated to reflect the FY 2023 […]
Uptown TIF fallacy
By: Diane Benjamin Source: https://files.illinoiscomptroller.gov/LocGovTIF/FY2023/06409531/23TIF06409531Downtown_volpment_1.pdf Page 1 states the TIF was formed on 5/5/2003. Now see page 11. Why did the Town of Normal use 1999? The TIF wasn’t active in 1999, was this to make the return on investment look better? What private or public investment took place between 11/1/99 and 5/4/2003 that shouldn’t […]
Smart City: Normal Il
By: Diane Benjamin Another reader temporarily sucked me back into covering Normal. If you didn’t know Normal adapted Smart Cities a few years ago it is likely because they don’t want you to know. See this link: https://www.normalil.gov/DocumentCenter/View/19666/Smart-City-Report-January-2022 Smart Cities aren’t locally run, they take marching orders from international organizations that exist for government, not […]
Letter to the Editor the paper did print
Since most people never saw it, the writer asked me to print it too. LETTER: Chung, council ignore taxpayers Normal made two recent requests seeking public input regarding art and the proposed Vernon Avenue improvements. However, Normal only accepts input when it supports the proposed project as presented to gain public support for the projects. […]