By: Diane Benjamin Some local media have reported on the grand jury testimony which laid out the case against the 5 former Coliseum Managers. The City of Bloomington continues to claim they did not know about improprieties at the Coliseum until VenuWorks took over in July of 2016. The local media continues to let them […]
By: Diane Benjamin If you missed Tari’s State of the City address last Monday you can see my recap and listen to it here: https://blnnews.com/2019/01/15/taris-state-of-the-city/ Recycling his talking points, Tari once again proclaimed the Illinois Policy Institute “continues” to give the City an A+ transparency score. Disregarding IPI discontinued the program in 2014, their transparency […]
By: Diane Benjamin Hit play below to hear Tari’s message. He spoke for around 15 minutes even though he started his speech with it would be shorter than usual. He credits cuts for balancing the budget – solid waste finally balances. (They finally transferred all costs to taxpayers meaning you pay more now) He claims […]
By: Diane Benjamin http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=20759 Tari is giving his State of the City address – it will be a can’t miss event! Listen for “Right Fit” and “Structural Deficit”. Of course everything is rosy. Amelia (let’s move the library) Buragas is being reappointed to the B-N Economic Development Board. Rob (gas taxes don’t raise the price […]
These pics were posted on Facebook on the page for the Naked Magicians and labeled Bloomington-Normal 11/8/2018. Bars and taverns should now feel free to do lap dances, strip routines, whatever. The BCPA set the standard:
By: Diane Benjamin Joliet chose Bloomington’s City Manager. Bloomington had 3 candidates to replace him – all from Illinois. Bloomington chose Decatur’s City Manager. He then chose another guy from Decatur as an assistant. The Streator City Manager has now been chosen by Decatur. The Bloomington City Clerk came here from Arizona. She didn’t stay […]
By: Diane Benjamin The McLean County Chamber of Commerce has this cute map on their website: https://mcleancochamber.org/file/781/LegislativeUpdate18_FinalBOPI.pdf It claims Illinois isn’t in the top or bottom 10 states for Tax Climate. I wonder why people are fleeing Illinois then? The reason is because the Chamber is putting lipstick on a pig! They should have […]
By: Diane Benjamin As of 3/31/18 Normal had total debt of $89,823,286. $88,125,000 won’t be paid off until 2041. Interest rates range from 2.00% to 6.30%. Source As of 4/30/18 Bloomington had total debt of $242,010,034. $57,095,000 won’t be paid off until 2035. The interest rates aren’t listed. $173,646,119 is liabilities for pensions and associated […]
By: Diane Benjamin This Council meeting was shorter than Normal’s last night. The video is only 38 minutes long, but the meeting didn’t start at zero. The Council gushed over departing City Clerk Cherry Lawson. Keep in mind she has only been here since June of 2015. Taxpayers paid over $2600 to move her here […]
By: Diane Benjamin Proposed Zoning ordinance: http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=20438 Normally when changes are made to existing ordinances the original version is used as a baseline document. Parts are crossed out and the proposed changes are listed. This document is not presented like that. Therefore, it must be a total re-write of all zoning ordinances. Considering the document […]
Meet David Krupa and help him take out Mike Madigan’s General! I am sending this to my entire statewide email list and beyond. And I am asking all of you to send this guy $10 to keep his fight going against the Madigan Machine. See how to contribute below. Here is the headline of the recent John […]
By: Diane Benjamin Ever since Tari was first elected, a never-ending supply of Master Plans covering everything in Bloomington has been produced at great expense. In order to get Council support they were sold as “advisory”. They never were meant to be advisory, they are considered law. The hard-core leftist on the current Council frequently […]
By: Diane Benjamin History Review: Obama won the October 2009 Noble Peace Prize. He had been in office less than 9 months. During his 8 years (a short list): Russia seized Crimea Russia threatened Ukraine and shot down a passenger plane killing everyone on board North Korea developed long-range missiles China built islands for bases […]
By: Diane Benjamin When the Pantagraph didn’t need their huge building anymore they sold it. Anything happening there with the new buyers or is it just another empty downtown building? Since they realized they didn’t need that much space and probably couldn’t afford to keep what isn’t absolutely necessary, they moved to a small space. […]
By: Diane Benjamin The chart below is included in the Board Packet for the November meeting of the Bloomington Public Library Board. PDF page 14: http://www.bloomingtonlibrary.org/Assets/files/bpl_board/boardpackets/2018/2018.11bplboardpacket.pdf Circulation has been declining since 2013. “Active Users” isn’t defined, but the increase isn’t because they are checking out materials. This story recaps the facts available for October 2017, […]
By: Diane Benjamin Municipal elections are by law nonpartisan. The theory is party doesn’t matter, everyone wants to do what’s best for the City. Ask those who voted against the wishes of voters if they did that when they voted for the Coliseum. Ask the recent council members if taking $40 million+ more a year […]
By: Diane Benjamin Bills and Payroll The arena continues to fleece taxpayers: I wonder how many payments there will be? Legal Fees For October (the boot of government?): History Museum and Visitors Center: Following Normal’s lead, Bloomington will be taxing short-term rentals! All residents who rent their property will be required to register. If the website […]
By: Diane Benjamin Government does not create prosperity. Government can only function on money it steals from citizens. The pic below is from PDF page 194 of the Bloomington financial statements: http://www.cityblm.org/home/showdocument?id=20281 10 years ago 4 of the top 10 employers were government, in 2018 it is 5 of 10. The only government agency […]
By: Diane Benjamin Long time readers know the former Coliseum managers would issue their financial statements, and then the auditor would issue theirs. The media always reported the CIAM numbers but never the audited numbers. Audited losses were much higher! The media is continuing to report fake news because the audited number from VenuWorks aren’t […]
By: Diane Benjamin These three plan to run for the Bloomington City Council, obviously they aren’t running as non-partisan: To replace David Sage, another Cheri Bustos recruit – Georgeen Chissell. How much money will Chicago Democrats funnel to her? Trying to unseat Karen Schmidt – Jenn Carrillo (angry brown woman): […]
By: Diane Benjamin The local progressives are possessed with bringing in illegal aliens! The latest is Illinois State University: Since we have no borders, these people aren’t illegal, merely undocumented. Yes it was sponsored by ISU: One of the speakers is a candidate for the Bloomington City Council – a former illegal alien […]
By: Diane Benjamin I really hope the people who keep throwing money in have requested to see certified financial statements! Trust but verify! From an email yesterday:
I am feeling better than two weeks ago, still not back at full strength – but getting there. I’ve been struggling with something for quite awhile. As this site becomes more and more popular, the attacks are becoming more frequent. I’m an expert at seeing who wants information and who doesn’t care about facts. Arguing […]
By: Diane Benjamin One of the 5 charged in connection with the Coliseum pleaded guilty yesterday. See this Pantagraph story: https://www.pantagraph.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/guilty-former-bloomington-arena-official-gets-fine-probation-after-plea/article_00b6cb16-2aeb-5558-9614-2a50e543d503.html#tracking-source=home-top-story-2 One part of the story doesn’t make any sense: ________________________ I hope these numbers aren’t what the entire case against the five is based on. The commissions don’t make any sense either. According to […]
By: Diane Benjamin City Manager Tim Gleason was on WJBC this morning. The latest example of “leading from behind” is the new pension spiking policy. Non-union employee policy will change AFTER all the union contracts are changed – if they are changed. Those non-union employees are likely management. Instead of setting an example of putting taxpayers […]
By: Diane Benjamin The picture below is from October 20th – Flying Aces Hockey. The person who posted this to Facebook was playing a game, the beer won. The team has to pay $5,000 to the arena just to play there. Grossinger Motors Arena management makes money regardless of how many people show up. The […]
By: Diane Benjamin Remember when Nikita Richards campaigned during a church service? https://blnnews.com/2018/10/01/nikita-lying-in-church/ City of Refuge Church must have decided they messed up with Nikita, so the GOP was invited to speak at the church. Various dates were discussed and then all mysteriously cancelled. Four candidates where going to come BEFORE a service to […]
By: Diane Benjamin If you haven’t decided who to support in the McLean County Clerk’s race, this article in the paper should make it crystal clear: https://www.pantagraph.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/mclean-county-clerk-hopefuls-push-improvements-bemoan-bitter-race/article_b4244ca0-16a0-5910-8666-00349ca6c74e.html#tracking-source=home-top-story-2 If you live in the County (not Bloomington-Normal) are you under-served by the Clerk’s office? Nikita Richards thinks you are and plans to spend more money to serve […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Bloomington City Council will approve the “business license” at tonight’s meeting: The City claims the $50 is a one-time fee. It won’t be. Businesses are required to re-register every year. That means next year the City Manager will want “cost-recovery” again. Gleason will suddenly realize staff needs to […]
By: Diane Benjamin I reported in this story Heartland Community College pays the property taxes on the Corn Crib property: https://blnnews.com/2018/10/18/heartland-pays-property-tax-corn-crib/ I’ve been doing lots of research on where the Corn Crib originated. In case you missed the latest news, only college kids will play at the Crib in the future. Minor league baseball is […]
The City’s personal press is reporting Nikita has been cleared! When consultants are hired they always give the requested results. Congrats citizens! I wonder how they explain all these websites: https://blnnews.com/2018/10/12/gleason-cant-find-a-problem-with-nikita/ By: Diane Benjamin The ethics complaint filed with the City of Bloomington by Kevin Gerrard was never taken seriously. As this email proves, the […]
By: Diane Benjamin On Monday sources tell me Bloomington will announce the Water Department will be merged with Public Works. The current head of Public Works, Jim Karch, will be in charge of everything. The Water Department is holding many millions of dollars. $2.8 million has already been “borrowed” from this fund, $2.4 million went […]
By: Diane Benjamin Some years ago the City Council increased how much David Hales could spend without Council approval. That Council really didn’t want to do the job of citizen watchdogs, but then we knew that. Tim Gleason is bound by that $50,000 limit too. So how did the City write a check for $75,000 […]
By: Diane Benjamin During the discussion of business licenses alderman Joni Painter asked Economic Development guy Austin Grammer about the “One Stop Shop”. That was supposedly a program in development for more than two years to make it easy for investors to start businesses in Bloomington. Every Wednesday a large group of bureaucrats meet, investors […]
I deleted more Kavanaugh comics than I used!
By: Diane Benjamin Bills and Payroll: http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=20080 Celebrate: More employees getting a higher pension by spiking: SLBB is Sick Leave Buy Back – a penalty for allowing this will be coming I don’t know why they went to Indianapolis, the question is: Did they have to send FIVE? ↓ Agenda: http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=20090 Seriously? A liquor license for Game Time […]
By: Diane Benjamin The zoning changes Bloomington has been working on since 2016, and paid $125,000 to a consultant for, are being heard and voted on TONIGHT! No, tonight isn’t a regular meeting, it isn’t even a Committee of the Whole. It’s a Special meeting called only for the zoning changes. Two hours and twenty […]
By: Diane Benjamin One item on the agenda for last night’s Bloomington City Council meeting was originally on the consent agenda, but it was moved to the regular agenda prior to the meeting date. Why it was ever on the Consent Agenda, where an alderman would have to pull it for discussion, is a question […]
By: Diane Benjamin It looks like the Decatur newspaper actually investigates government, unlike the Pantagraph. Both are owned by Lee Enterprises. (Stock price $2.75 a share) It’s a long read, but it NEVER mentions Decatur’s former City Manager (and now Bloomington’s) Tim Gleason. Everything is blamed on the City Council. City Managers are hired to […]
By: Diane Benjamin Just a few choice picks from Bills and Payroll for approval on Monday: http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=20012 From previous story: https://blnnews.com/2018/09/20/international-infamy-bloomington/ Tim Gleason is going to the ICMA conference in Baltimore This looks like a FOIA: One month of legal cost sent to Springfield: . . . . . . . . . […]
