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Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

UPDATE Phones: Just ONE month

See this story too:  https://blnnews.com/2018/02/23/they-had-to-have-bought-all-new-phones/ _____________ Internet is provided from CIRBN and not included in the below.  CIRBN was paid on the last bills and payroll:  Library 420.33, City 2725.01   http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=15822 By:  Diane Benjamin http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=15938 I used to have to examine all the free lunches on PCards, those day are mostly over since Renner’s PCard got […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Sports complex imminent

By:  Diane Benjamin Quality of Life.  Economic driver. Government thinks they create prosperity, the opposite is true.  They redistribute your money to their preferred providers for services they want.  Essential services, like fixing the roads, are immaterial. The Normal Town Council unanimously agreed to spend $47,000 on a study that will say exactly what they […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Bloomington attacks the poor AGAIN

By:  Diane Benjamin The City of Bloomington will NEVER have enough of your money.  Complete control of the local economy means your money is theirs and they are free to take it at will.  Monday night they will discuss taking more for their vision.     http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=15904 Want your roads fixed? Even though Tari Renner and […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

The fix was in

By:  Diane Benjamin Tari was against privatizing garbage, so last night he changed the rules. An Executive Session (secret meeting) was part of the 5:00 meeting.  I don’t remember when the video has ever started before their secret meeting.  It did last night so an ASFME representative could inform the Council that privatizing garbage service […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

AFSCME needs to talk to State Farm employees

By:  Diane Benjamin Bloomington’s AFSCME Union is actively campaigning on Facebook for their jobs: Of course they are worried about losing jobs, so are State Farm employees.  The difference is SF employees can’t do a thing about it.  AFSCME gets pay, benefits, and pensions with taxpayer dollars, but they expect you to lobby for them! […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Bloomington (questionable) spending

By:  Diane Benjamin Monday’s Bills and Payroll:  http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=15550 More spiked pension expense: More Interest-Free loans? I don’t care how great the cause is, what statute allows the City to hand out your money to people they chose?  Most people call this vote-buying: More handouts:  I’m guessing the City if buying tickets to a Chamber event for […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Normal: questions, questions!

By:  Diane Benjamin Unless a lot of citizens show up for Public Comment, Tuesday’s meeting will last less than 15 minutes. Here’s some of the bills that will be approved: (click any pics to enlarge) http://www.normal.org/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/2827 More proof government exists for government employees: Don’t forget the $60 gift card employees received too! ________________________________________________________________________ I wonder […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Unit 5: You work for those paying the bills!

By:  Diane Benjamin The next School Board meeting is January 10th, 7:00 pm at Chiddix Junior High, 300 S Walnut St, in Normal.   Website See the Unit 5 Public Comment policy HERE Public Comment at every meeting of a Public Body is LAW.  It’s called the Open Meetings Act.  If you read Unit 5’s Public Comment policy […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Renner: I’m ill with type A

By:  Diane Benjamin Yep, Tari was on time out.  “Medical related” meant he can’t handle his type A personality.    See the interview he did with WMDB yesterday:  http://www.centralillinoisproud.com/news/local-news/exclusive-bloomington-mayor-tari-renner-opens-up-about-leave-of-absence/819831555 Tari was never on medial leave, he never quit being mayor!  Tari claims he only took a couple of weeks off,  that explains a lot about why […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Spin machine is spinning!

By:  Diane Benjamin Celebrate!  Tari is returning from his “medical related” leave October 1st.  Just like everything the City of Bloomington does, his return will have NO Transparency.  Does he still have his government credit card?  If he does, Freedom of Information Act requests are about to spike! Remember the citizen survey a few weeks […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Audits? The Coliseum was audited!

By:  Diane Benjamin The oldest story I wrote about the Coliseum is from December 2013:  https://blnnews.com/2013/12/11/coliseum-bleeding-bloomington-taxpayers/ But, look at this story from February 2014:  https://blnnews.com/2014/02/06/is-coliseum-management-giving-bloomington-their-share/ First lines of the story: Operations of the Coliseum are extremely complicated.  Management hired by the City is operating some functions without any over-sight or accountability.  The taxpayers deserve to […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

More on Bloomington Roads

By:  Diane Benjamin If I hadn’t been out of town this weekend, I would have written A LOT more on the Pantagraph story that attempted to make you believe the Bloomington roads are getting better.  It’s really difficult to compose story on a cell phone, so I left a lot of details to readers:  https://blnnews.com/2017/09/24/more-pantagraph-conspires-with-city/ […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

The Downtown Setup

By:  Diane Benjamin You already know that Tari Renner’s handpicked committee doesn’t represent the interest of anybody outside their tiny group who think downtown is the future.  (Decades of facts to the contrary are immaterial)   https://blnnews.com/2017/05/03/taris-downtown-task-force/ I know you don’t need proof, but: You can see what they have been up to here:  http://www.cityblm.org/government/advanced-components/documents/-folder-552 I […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Little of this and a little of that

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, […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Lack of Transparency continues

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 […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Ethics!

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 […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Do laws matter?

By:  Diane Benjamin I’m not celebrating the State Police investigating Tari Renner’s use of a City PCard for a personal purchase.  Being investigated is not the same as being prosecuted.  We will find out if laws still matter, sometimes it’s hard to tell.  Illinois Constitution: Government officials and employees aren’t allowed to read the law […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Failed Downtown Bloomington Assoc

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 […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Normal raising taxes on Monday!

By:  Diane Benjamin Of course, Normal is calling it “fee increases” or “user fee increases”.  Regardless of the terminology, Normal needs money and you have it until they take more of it. Standard procedure for sailing these past the Council is: Comparing rates with surrounding cities  (PDF page 167) Burying the Council docs with technical […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

UPDATE: PCard Fraud and CITY Policy

Tari Renner signed the form agreeing to comply with the PCard policy:  Renner PCard forms Is he going to turn in his PCard voluntarily since he has violated the policy numerous times?  Is the Council going to let him get by with it?  Are rules just for everybody but Tari? __________________________________________________ By: Diane Benjamin Did […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Reprobate Renner

By:  Diane Benjamin It’s time to review Tari Renner’s history as Mayor: Tari is the only mayor in Bloomington’s history censured for his foul language on this site.  See the comments to this story:  https://blnnews.com/2015/02/10/does-tari-know-that-judy-isnt-running/ Tari has an extensive history of attacking anyone who doesn’t agree with him – especially women.  See this story for […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

IML on what Tari did

By:  Diane Benjamin Previous stories: https://blnnews.com/2017/07/30/do-we-have-a-prosecutor/ https://blnnews.com/2017/07/31/tari-responds/ The City of Bloomington pays a small fortune to be members of the IML (Illinois Municipal League) and attend their conferences.  Tari and Jeff Jurgens even spoke last year about the “new media and watchdogs”.  I’m sure they have seen this the below.  It isn’t me accusing Tari […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Jewel No Longer

By:  Diane Benjamin Occasionally the Bloomington elected are still pretending Bloomington is the Jewel of the Midwest. Ask them why 56.72% of the students in District 87 qualify for free or reduced lunches?  https://www.cyberdriveillinois.com/departments/library/libraries/pdfs/il-nslp-eligibility.pdf What income qualifies? SOURCE Obviously way too many people in Bloomington aren’t able to participate in the Quality of Life they […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Year end Connect Transit $$$

By:  Diane Benjamin Connect Transit ended their Fiscal Year 6/30/2017 with ridership below last year and well short of their goal: Connect Transit competes with Uber and taxi service.  Your government is assaulting the private sector by redistributing your money to their preferred transportation provider.  I wonder who Connect Transit employees voted for? See page […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Per kid: Area school spending

By:  Diane Benjamin The Illinois Comptroller’s Office has lots of interesting information. Look at this site:  http://warehouse.illinoiscomptroller.com/ Virtually every level of Illinois government is required to complete information for this site.  Schools must not be required to provide much information. Cities, towns, villages, etc enter much more. I was looking at area schools and noticed […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Yes, there is Free Lunch and Travel

By:  Diane Benjamin From Bills and Payroll for Monday night:  http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=14312 Nothing is on the City Calendar for 6/23/17, was this a private party? This month’s eating and travelling at your expense: Why does Public Works need the Pantagraph and why is it cheaper for them than regular people? Even the police get fraudulent charges: […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Begging for more taxes!

By:  Diane Benjamin The Pantagraph filed this report from a meeting held last night between Parks officials and the public. http://www.pantagraph.com/news/local/bloomington-residents-urge-city-to-develop-parks/article_1a548766-9440-56e6-8d33-ddbe9d47f045.html First a quote from the article: Evidently Master Plans are only non-binding when they are created.  Once approved they are thrown in the face of citizens who object. Think Bike Lanes and Complete Streets. […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

UPDATE: King Tari and Liquor

Tari denied the Liquor license to Hucks.  From notes to Liquor Commission minutes, that makes them ineligible for video gaming which is also controlled by the Liquor Commission.   The two people Tari named as his assistants didn’t show for the third meeting in a row.  That make them ineligible to serve.  Since Tari is […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Bloomington is HORRIBLE!

By:  Diane Benjamin A long line of people participated in Public Comment last night for the Citizens Advisory Board.  According to most, racism is rampant among Bloomington Police officers. Evidently the BLACK Police Chief is racist too since he refuses to control the people under him. Some told tragic stories – like the lady with the […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

UPDATE: Small towns are the worst!

The subject of this story is also the President of the McLean County Mayors Association.  I hope he isn’t providing any advice to the other mayors. By:  Diane Benjamin Corruption in small towns rivals any found in large cities.  Dixon only had 15,000+ people and got taken for $50 Million by a trusted “public servant”. […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Liar Liar

By:  Diane Benjamin We have an A+ rating from the Illinois Policy Institute for transparency. – Tari Renner Did is more applicable Tari. Proof:  The Attorney General found Renner and the WHOLE Council guilty of violating the Open Meetings Act by discussing Metrozone in secret.  They were ordered to release the audio of the meeting […]