By: Diane Benjamin Every vote was 9-0 with virtual no discussion, so the Council part of the meeting was boring. Public comment was better. Note to City: The length of public comment isn’t 30 minutes – the time citizens spend talking is 30 minutes. The chair is capable of wasting the public’s time. First up […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Bills and Payroll the Council approved for payment last night have never been posted on the City website: http://www.cityblm.org/government/advanced-components/documents/-folder-500 I wonder if the council was given a paper version or if they just approved spending without knowing what the voted on? Keep in mind – these are the same people who […]
By: Diane Benjamin Anybody else noticed that people get stupider every year? Long gone are the days of citizens expected to take care of themselves. Government has usurped the right of self-determination by deciding it must act as parents to the population, the peasants aren’t capable themselves! The latest usurp: Illinois has a law going […]
By: Diane Benjamin Tomorrow the stacked Downtown Committee is holding a listening session – public comment at 5:15 in the Council Chambers. In case you forgot who is on this committee: https://blnnews.com/2017/05/03/taris-downtown-task-force/ Showing up and telling them downtown isn’t worth reinventing won’t help (The town moved east, but they haven’t noticed). The Committee has three […]
By: Diane Benjamin We wouldn’t be talking about bike lanes on busy streets if Bike Blono wasn’t pushing for them. Bike Blono members voted for and helped elect Tari Renner because he supports their agenda of promoting the use of bikes for all transportation. (Beats fixing the roads!) That brings me to the Planning Commission […]
By: Diane Benjamin The contract between the City of Bloomington and Grossinger Motors is in the packet for the City Council meeting Monday night: PDF page 115 http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=14175 The City will use up to $75,000 of their first payment to offset changing the signage. One problem – page 121: Since the document is a legal […]
By: Diane Benjamin Tari Renner and Chris Koos are lounging around Miami this weekend at your expense. Smart organizers would have held the twice a year US Conference of Mayors in Miami in the winter, but these are government people. I wonder if we will see photos of them on the beach? (eek!) All last […]
Update: The management announced today the naming rights have been sold – and for the same amount US Cellular was paying: $175,000 a year. It will be name Grossinger Motors Arena for at least 5 years. I haven’t heard who is paying for the new signs, letterhead, business cards, menus, etc. _____________________________________ By: Diane Benjamin […]
Note: A reader commented on the ISU student – Wes Ward (not Wood) By: Diane Benjamin I tried to watch the video of Monday’s Normal Town Council, but never made it past Public Comment. Marc Tiritilli is still the voice of reason and fiscal responsibility. I dare you to watch his comments without standing and […]
By: Diane Benjamin The entire Council came to last night’s Committee of the Whole meeting with plans to put citizens in charge of the police force – except David Sage. Maybe he didn’t get invited to the lunches and private meetings everybody on the Council obviously was treated to. I wonder if Chief Heffner already […]
By: Diane Benjamin Chuck Erickson was elected GOP chair in 2014 and re-elected in 2016. 75-100 people used to attend the monthly breakfast meetings BC (before Chuck). Today the breakfast had less than 30, according to an attendee, and most of them were elected members of the County Board. Sue Feldkamp, who ran for the […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Council meeting to discuss forming a citizens review board to oversee the police will be held in the Council Chambers – starting at around 6:15. http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=13151 It had previously been schedules for the Osborn room in the Police Station where live streaming doesn’t exist. The joint meeting of the Council and […]
By: Diane Benjamin It isn’t an accident the Bloomington City Council had relatively short meetings before the April election and now two-hour or more regular meetings will be the norm. Renner hid his agenda with talking points and now he’s ready to activate the plans he had safely tucked out of sight. Bike lanes of […]
By: Diane Benjamin Bloomington wouldn’t have a Bike Master Plan without Bike Blono. Bloomington wouldn’t have a Complete Streets plan without Bike Blono. Bike Blono had private meetings for months with Public Works to make lanes on Washington happen. (as stated by Michael Gorman of Bike Blono) Bikes have always been allowed on the roads, […]
By: Diane Benjamin Media did report Illinois universities had their credit ratings downgraded by Moody’s. Their details were sketchy though. Here’s the story: https://www.ilnews.org/news/economy/moody-s-downgrades-seven-of-illinois-public-universities-five-speculative/article_bd88b102-4d66-11e7-8a6d-af95b89dd478.html The University of Illinois’ new rating is A1 with a negative outlook. Read the story – this is because U of I is doing nothing to control costs and relies too […]
By: Diane Benjamin Renner didn’t ask to extend the time so everybody could speak, so everybody didn’t get to. Tari did make sure Mike McCurdy of Bike Blono, WGLT radio, and Connect Transit got to speak though. To hear all of the public comment – just hit play below. Then listen to the second Public […]
By: Diane Benjamin New Alderman Jamison Mathy didn’t show up last night for the Bloomington City Council meeting. As usual, nothing was said. Everybody acted like it’s perfectly normal for an elected representative to be a no-show. Unfortunately, his absence might have cost one family their property rights. (stay tuned) Alderman Diana Hauman didn’t show […]
by: Diane Benjamin This is a Bloomington road that school buses travel on. It’s also close to an apartment complex. (different section of the same road) The City budget only spends $3.8 million resurfacing roads when more than $9 million a year is needed just to keep the roads rated poor. Tonight the Council will […]
by: Diane Benjamin 1) Mayor Transparency is now not listing the cost of items on the agenda. See tonight’s agenda here: http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=13109. Go to page 114 to find out the Motor Fuel Tax is being raided to pay for street light electricity. This tax was passed as being for the streets – not lights: (Page […]
By: Diane Benjamin Only a tiny group of citizens want bike lanes. Tari Renner ran for office twice pledging to fix the roads. He obviously isn’t as serious as the people with damaged vehicles are. This is from 2015: http://www.cityblm.org/government/departments/public-works/streets-sidewalks/street-resurfacing The table shows how much money per year is required just to have TERRIBLE STREETS. […]
By: Diane Benjamin I saw this on the agenda for the Town of Normal last Monday: http://www.normal.org/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/2634 The document goes on to appoint the Deputy City Manager as representative to IMRF. The Town of Normal hasn’t paid the huge penalties Bloomington has from pension spiking. Bloomington has paid $1,877,252.40, in August of 2015 Normal had paid […]
By: Diane Benjamin The ruling by the Attorney General’s Public Access office against the City of Bloomington is completely meaningless. Read the entire ruling here: 17-004 The only penalty for the Bloomington City Council violating the Open Meetings Act by holding an illegal Executive Session is: The tape of the meeting must be released The […]
By: Diane Benjamin BN Advantage was formed in 2015. Their mission is to get all the players together for collaboration on economic development strategy. The Bloomington Council approved the formation in October 2015, see this doc: BN Advantage I’m sure other area governments passed the same type resolution. Temporarily forget the fact that government doesn’t […]
By: Diane Benjamin I wonder when Renner is going to take his comedy show on the road! Source: http://www.pantagraph.com/business/local/expert-communication-diversity-key-for-economic-development/article_145290bf-c5c5-50cd-9536-8b1b4c6e34bc.html Renner’s comments don’t deserve any respect. We know transparency is much less since Tari became mayor. We know anyone who challenges his beliefs are his enemy. (“Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.”) […]
Update: FOIA filed. Locust has to do with an ISU land swap from 2015. By: Diane Benjamin The video of last night’s Normal Town Council says it’s 10:23 minutes. The meeting doesn’t start until 6:48, so the actually meeting was less than 4 minutes. See the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PLNC0lO-kCBYjaSv4sZ4udZFRwMu8bwYGr&v=3XAyHvlFBKE Start the video around 6 minutes […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Village of Hudson failed to post the agenda for tonight’s meeting on their website 48 hours in advance. It was finally posted to the website sometime yesterday. Problem: The Agenda that was posted on the door of the Water Departments is different than the one now posted on the Village website!. […]
By: Diane Benjamin Follow-up to this story: https://blnnews.com/2017/06/02/b-n-is-getting-the-delphi-treatment/ (It won’t be the only one!) The Bloomington Normal Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB) is trying to get out of complying with the Open Meetings Act. What does the Open Meetings Act say? OMA applies to all “public bodies”: http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/ilcs3.asp?ActID=84&ChapterID=2 I’d love to know what grounds they […]
By: Diane Benjamin The pictures below were all taken on June 2, 2017 east of Ellsworth, Il. In case you don’t know, wind turbines must have a backup system (FOSSIL FUELS!) because turbines aren’t capable of producing steady electricity. The wind doesn’t always blow or it blows too hard. Meanwhile, fossils fuels pollute more because […]
By: Diane Benjamin The local area has THREE agencies coordinating economic development: B-N Convention and Visitors Bureau, BN Advantage, and the Economic Development Council. There is MUCH more to this story – but not today. The Bloomington Normal Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB) has another committee nobody has ever heard of: Sports Commission Board The Board […]
By: Diane Benjamin Mark Peterson – Normal’s City Manager – talked to WGLT yesterday: http://wglt.org/post/public-private-partnership-lacking-establish-sports-complex#stream/0 Peterson thinks taxpayers should pony up $20-$30 million for a sports complex! The total cost will be $50 million, but it’s not a Public-Private partnership. He doesn’t say where the rest of the money will come from or who will […]
By: Diane Benjamin The old type Bloomington City Manager reports with real usable information ceased to exist when Alderman Diana Hauman called their “printing” a waste of money. The last REAL report was April 2016. City manager David Hales still does a City Manager report on-line, but it has little useful data. The old reports […]
By: Diane Benjamin Evidently the media isn’t the least bit curious about Hudson’s mayor quitting right after he got elected. Jason Collins said he was quitting for personal reasons. It wasn’t easy to get a copy of the letter Collins sent to the Board, but I did receive a redacted version. This is what Section […]
By: Diane Benjamin The new City website isn’t fine. Last week the OLD website was back: https://blnnews.com/2017/05/26/not-up-in-smoke-its-the-cloud/ This morning this is what I got at cityblm.org It has been like this for hours. It can still be navigated, but is this what tax dollars paid for? (I just checked again, it may now be fixed. […]
By: Diane Benjamin Yesterday news reports stated the zoo increased the number of visitors from last year and revenues were up around $21,000. Good for them! One reason given was the new flamingo exhibit. Left out of all the good news stories is how much it cost to increase revenue and attendance. Just construction – […]
Lots of people asked me over the weekend about Andy (husband), so here’s the latest: He has been at home for a little less than 2 weeks. He needs little help getting around or taking care of himself, but he is still really tired. He isn’t capable of doing regular tasks yet. I know a […]
By: Diane Benjamin How much did the bike trail from Chenoa to Funks Grove cost? Good question – but I have no idea! Researching anything the County does is close to impossible. The County took the lead, but Bloomington, Normal, Chenoa, Lexington, McLean and Towanda all contributed. All County work is done in committees and then […]
By: Diane Benjamin Source: http://www.connect-transit.com/documents/05-30-2017%20Regular%20Board%20Meeting%20Binder1.pdf Tonight Connect Transit’s Board will discuss ending some unprofitable routes. Sorry, they don’t mean all of them since NONE of the them are profitable. They just want to get rid of the worst ones. One would think Connect is trying to reduce the massive operating losses, sorry again – that […]
By: Diane Benjamin On this Memorial Day weekend, we remember those who have fought and died for us. America began with a war for freedom and many wars have been fought since to protect it. We would not enjoy this legacy today without the sacrifices of those willing to lose their life in our defense. […]
The newer website is now back. The Council approved the website back in March of 2016: http://www.cityblm.org/home/showdocument?id=10583 ________________________________________________ By: Diane Benjamin I came across the name of the company I think the City of Bloomington hired to do their new website. I went to cityblm.org to research payments. Surprise – the new website was gone and […]
Evidently WJBC isn’t doing podcasts today – no Karch interview available. By: Diane Benjamin Kevin Lower ran for mayor on fixing the streets. Tari did too but, but unlike Lower – Tari wasn’t telling you the truth. This morning, Public Works director Jim Karch was on WJBC. The ONLY money Bloomington is spending on streets […]
