By: Diane Benjamin Every notice if a court rules in favor of leftists they and the media jump all over it celebrating, but if it goes against their narrative they ignore it? Bloomington will be meeting on-line again regardless of the ruling voiding Pritzker’s executive orders. Rulings that don’t fit the agenda can be discarded. […]
By: Diane Benjamin Bills and payroll 7-13-2020 A total of $12,599,344.25 will be approved tonight. Unlike Normal, payroll is actually listed. $5,216,642.14 of that amount is employees. $1,633,607.61 is Wire transfers listed at the end, not enough details is available to know what most of them are. I don’t remember the last time somebody asked about […]
By: Diane Benjamin Please share this story! I’ve been asking for this discussion for years, the next local election will FORCE it to happen. Why does local government exist and what powers should it have and NOT have? Obviously Bloomington screwed up big time when the Coliseum was built against the wishes of the citizens. […]
By: Diane Benjamin Other items from Monday’s meeting could be covered, but I won’t! Links to all previous stories are here: https://blnnews.com/2020/07/08/story-6-normal-monday/ Isaac Thorne and Julie Hile made a presentation. Start with this screen shot: Thorne proved Pritzker’s budget is a joke by relying on a $5 billion bailout from the Feds AND the citizens […]
By: Diane Benjamin h/t a reader Follow-up to this story: https://blnnews.com/2020/07/02/bloomington-5-years-and-no-news/ According to the reader: I was working around 807 N Main that you had in an article yesterday. There is no for sale sign on the property. The parking lot in the rear is being used for parking the vacuum trucks for the sewer […]
By: Diane Benjamin The only reason units of government have been allowed to meet on-line instead of in person is because of Gov. Pritzker’s Executive orders: https://www2.illinois.gov/Pages/government/execorders/executive-orders.aspx#y2020 Everything on that page was ruled illegal last Thursday! Pritzker’s authority to act like a dictator expired 30 days after his first proclamation. He made NO attempt to […]
The Clay County judge ruled today that any orders issued by Pritzker past the 30 days given to him by law are invalid! There are now no limitations on ANYONE in the State of Illinois. You are open, open, open. This applies to schools too – Illinois can not require masks. This also voids any […]
By: Diane Benjamin Bloomington bought this property almost 5 years ago just to control who built on it: The address is 807 N Main, the site of the old Mennonite hospital. In May of 2019 the Council voted to list it for sale with Coldwell Banker after they tried to sell it on a national […]
By: Diane Benjamin Long time readers will know I’ve mentioned numerous times your local representatives have never been allowed to discuss the role of government. Discussions of what should be funded and what shouldn’t has never taken place. Budgets are done by staff with a little Council input on big projects. They have never discussed […]
By: Diane Benjamin Unless the Bloomington City Council hasn’t recently left their homes, there is no reason they can’t meet in public. Tomorrow marks Phase 4 – 50 people in a room. Besides, there are several who should be wearing masks in public because they disgrace the office of alderman. Donna Boelen is behind the […]
By: Diane Benjamin The local elections next year could give the radicals complete control of Bloomington. Right now they have 2 out of 9 seats, 5 and the mayor up for election next April. The radicals will be running candidates, all they need is 3 more seats to turn the Bloomington into their Marxist utopia. […]
By: Diane Benjamin The City of Bloomington Council meeting will reconvene Wednesday at 7:30. Technical difficulties were experienced with the Live Stream. Instead of having the meeting anyway and posting video today, the meeting was rescheduled. That was a good thing because it allowed Jenn Carrillo and Jeff Crabill to comment on a Live event […]
By: Diane Benjamin http://bloomingtonil.iqm2.com/Citizens/FileOpen.aspx?Type=1&ID=1079&Inline=True The McLean County Regional Planning Commission is getting paid by Bloomington: Look at where most of their funding comes from. Who do you think they are really working for? Does the below apply to Vision Zero? Not when the contract says information is confidential! https://blnnews.com/2020/06/20/julie-hiles-contract/ End of an era for the […]
By: Diane Benjamin Normal paid the McLean County Regional Planning Commission $54,000 as their last meeting: https://blnnews.com/2020/06/13/normals-asininity/ I previously wrote about Julie Hile’s involvement with the MCRPC here: https://blnnews.com/2020/05/21/progressive-julie-hile/ I received a copy of the contract Hile signed with the MCRPC. See it here: Vision_Zero_Contract-HG-20190619_(Final_Executed)_redacted Excerpts: The contract was sign in July of 2019, so […]
By: Diane Benjamin 5:05 – Jon Reed was the only public comment. Others emailed the Council. I believe public comment isn’t for the Council – it is for the public. Citizens will never know what other citizens said by emailing. Get on the phone people! Jon did a great job taking down Jenn Carrillo (while […]
By: Diane Benjamin Maybe Jenn Carrillo can hop on her official Facebook page and deny she made this comment on my site: Doesn’t this sound just like her? America has survived for almost 244 years without socialism being “existentially necessary”. Have we lost the battle? Not as long as the 2nd Amendment exists. That’s why […]
By: Diane Benjamin Indiana is open. I know locals who have driven to the Beef House right across the border to sit down for a good meal. Iowa is open for full capacity in-restaurant dining. Wisconsin is open after their Supreme Court ruled the governor’s actions illegal. Illinois has Pritzker’s boot on everybody’s neck, he […]
By: Diane Benjamin The left is famous for “never enough”. Whatever goals they achieve they want more. The local police were supposedly so bad a civilian police review board (PSCRB) had to be established. It took forever before they investigated one complaint – they determined the police did nothing wrong. They had meetings, printed flyers […]
I redacted the name of the writer because this could have been written by any small business owner. Note the dates as you read each email. Large corporations allowed to stay open profited at the expense of your neighbors. Received by FOIA: Response from Stan Nord: Pam sent this to the Mayor and Council. The […]
By: Diane Benjamin Where is the violence across the country happening? Mostly Democrat run cities frequently with black mayors, black police chiefs, and other black officials. The violence has nothing to do with justice. Think WHITES aren’t victims of bad cops? See this video of police killing a WHITE handcuffed man who called them for […]
By: Diane Benjamin Bloomington and Normal are preparing for another night of violence. I know Decatur is busy boarding up their downtown. Social media claims Walmart in Pontiac was looted today. Jenn posted pretty much the same message on her Facebook page today as on this video, but you need to HEAR her say those […]
Below are the rules for restaurants and bars planning to open in Bloomington. They are REQUIRED to REGISTER with the City. Of course it includes threats too. At Monday’s meeting this wasn’t going to be rushed, evidently they changed their mind.
By: Diane Benjamin Last night’s Bloomington City Council meeting was over 3 hours, it included a Township meeting that started at 5:00. The longest discussion was about the Community Development Block Grant funds from the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Stop for a second and think about this program. The Feds take your money […]
By: Diane Benjamin Bills and Payroll for tonight: https://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=24570 Coliseum expenses: The first entry is for bills Bloomington paid that VenuWorks needs to reimburse – all the rest are coming out of taxpayers pockets: I don’t remember ever seeing a check written for loan payments, usually they do wire transfers: $795,000 was paid in principal […]
By: Diane Benjamin http://bloomingtonil.iqm2.com/Citizens/FileOpen.aspx?Type=1&ID=1075&Inline=True Delayed because of Memorial Day, tonight’s meeting starts with a Proclamation against gun violence: See the whole document Renner will probably read on PDF page 11. Note the last 3 words above. Gun violence isn’t caused by guns, the person holding the gun is the problem. We don’t value unborn life […]
By: Diane Benjamin The City of Bloomington has been paying VenuWorks $4,999.98 sporadically since 2016, payments are marked loan principle. This story says why: https://blnnews.com/2016/10/06/so-bloomington-claims/ The short version: VenuWorks paid John Butler (CIAM) for equipment at the Coliseum. The City is reimbursing them for that purchase. The total was $299,999, no interest, payments over 5 […]
By Diane Benjamin h/t a reader City councils are supposedly non-partisan. We all know they aren’t. Everybody needs to quit pretending many of the local elected aren’t playing party politics instead of what is best for it’s citizens. Bloomington’s mayor Tari Renner proves that point. I wonder if he is teaching this crap to his […]
By: Diane Benjamin If only they had spent a little more on consulting and architects for bus stops, they could have made it to $1,000,000 lost in ONE MONTH: Cost per trip is now a whooping $9.26, last April it was $3.30. Cost for Connect Mobility is far worse: $117.13 per rider. Last year it […]
By: Diane Benjamin Ever feel like government is conspiring behind your back to force their agenda on you? They are! Julie Hile is a progressive. She knows how you should live your life, your opinions are immaterial. All progressives want to reshape daily life to whatever their vision is. Hile has a long history of […]
By: Diane Benjamin h/t a reader Bloomington taxpayers are forced to pay the City for hauling garbage, recycling, and brush. There is no competition so service can be whatever the City decides it is, and they got the Council to pass automatic increases to spare the embarrassment of taking votes. The situation below is not […]
h/t a reader – taken today:
By: Diane Benjamin Tim Gleason started the meeting with a COVID update: The City has used $2 million of $4 million in excess reserves. They won’t have a clear picture of the hit to the budget until June or July. Police respond to all calls of violation of shelter in place. They attempt to gain […]
By: Diane Benjamin Dictator Pritzker is playing politics while Illinois burns. It is obvious now the shutdown in Illinois was never about bending the curve. It is about trashing the economy in hopes of a huge bailout while crushing small businesses and people deemed non-essential. Congratulation democrats – you elected a dictator. Proof: Raising taxes […]
By: Diane Benjamin Committee of Whole meeting 5/18 http://bloomingtonil.iqm2.com/Citizens/FileOpen.aspx?Type=1&ID=1076&Inline=True Alderman Mathy doesn’t understand people don’t want to pay for parking. That is why strip malls and other shopping options are where people go – not downtown. Mathy has 3 Council initiatives for the Council. They will vote Yes they want to hear more or NO […]
By: Diane Benjamin Executive Orders are not law. We don’t live in a dictatorship, the only power government has is what you let them get by with! The Illinois shutdown has morphed from “bending the curve” to tyranny. The Edgar County Watchdogs have been leading since March by simply reading the law. The State and […]
by: Diane Benjamin h/t a reader Remember back in 2017 when elected Council members in Bloomington were sworn in using an oath that didn’t mention the Constitution? https://blnnews.com/2017/12/07/illegal-oath-of-office/ After I pointed that out they were sworn in again using the legal oath. I was told at the time somebody just pulled an old oath […]
By: Diane Benjamin Nikita Richards, failed candidate for McLean County Clerk, was recently elected to lead the McLean County Democrats. When the economy was shut down we were told it was “to bend the curve”. The purpose was to prevent massive numbers of hospitalizations that would overwhelm the system. Overwhelming never came close to happening, […]
By: Diane Benjamin With threats from Pritzker, Koos, and Renner to call out law enforcement to keep people and businesses from exercising their Constitutional Rights, it is time to remember your oath of office. It wasn’t to Pritzker, Koos, or Renner. The only power government has is from the Consent of the Governed. See the […]
By: Diane Benjamin Somebody in this picture thinks the City of Bloomington should “gift” property to him/her. I’m watching. I know the City likes to pick winners and losers, but it is illegal to give away City property that has value. It obviously has value to the person wanting it. I received the email below […]
