Accident or the REAL Tari?
By: Diane Benjamin Last night – Bloomington City Council – extremely short clip: Where is the WOKE crowd?
Category: Renner
They’re back!
By: Diane Benjamin Bullies never go away unless they get squashed! The best defense against a bully is to take them on. Bullies are actually chickens with self esteem problems. Tonight they will be showing up at the Bloomington City Council meeting. First they have hold a little rally outside City Hall: Guess they don’t […]
The local good news and bad news
By: Diane Benjamin A reader sent this story: https://ussanews.com/News1/2020/10/11/these-are-the-us-cities-where-workers-make-the-most-relative-to-their-cost-of-living/ The story goes in numerous directions, but it starts with the fact that people who are capable of working remotely are leaving large metro areas. Why live in a shoebox in New York City when you can live for a lot less anywhere else in the […]
UPDATE: Another Coliseum case Tuesday
The case has been delayed until December. No reason given. By: Diane Benjamin Remember Bart Rogers? He was the number two guy at the Coliseum when CIAM managed it for 10 years. His jury trial is supposed to start on Tuesday, I doubt it will – a settlement is likely in the works. The 2018 […]
UPDATE: Why the left wants to defund police:
(see update below) This happened after 7:00 am this morning on the east side of Bloomington: Imagine how much damage they could cause without the fear of getting caught! The ideology of the left can be summed up in one word: HATE. We need the police to protect us from them, unless they would rather […]
Bloomington Monday 10/12/20
By: Diane Benjamin I hope Jenn Carrillo isn’t too upset the Council is meeting on COLUMBUS DAY. Agenda – pretty light: We get to hear a rousing report adopting the International Building Codes. Hopefully it will be a shortened version of the last Committee of the Whole where it was first presented. Otherwise: While Illinois […]
ISU: Job Opening #2
By: Diane Benjamin https://jobsearch.illinoisstate.edu/en-us/job/510294/associate-director-for-outreach-and-antiracism-education Have there been sightings of guys in white hoods on campus? Burning crosses? This is job opening #2 to convince students they are being discriminated against. #1: https://blnnews.com/2020/10/01/isu-is-hiring-head-divider/ Your dollars are being used to uncover racism where little to none exists. Americans are not racist! Democrats have to convince minorities it […]
Chateau Water bill
By: Diane Benjamin I think I got more questions yesterday about the closed Chateau water usage than about Bloomington supplying water to Rivian. You should be more concerned about Normal actually publishing plans to run THEIR water to Rivian. If you missed the story: https://blnnews.com/2020/09/28/see-if-you-can-spot-anything-strange/ Under FOIA I can’t ask questions, I can only request […]
Bloomington: You did this to yourself
By: Diane Benjamin The radicals are back demanding a Welcoming City Ordinance. Public comment was filled with people who think ICE needs permanently banned from doing their job in Bloomington. They held a mini-rally outside City Hall featuring a Chicago professor, your two radical aldermen, and Ward 5 Candidate Patrick Lawler. Since they all think […]
Is Normal abusing taxpayers?
By: Diane Benjamin See the previous story: https://blnnews.com/2020/09/28/see-if-you-can-spot-anything-strange/ That story shows the largest purchasers of Bloomington water. I see three locations in Normal that are getting water from the City of Bloomington: Rivian, Bromenn, and Firestone. All three have been buying water from Bloomington for a LONG time, Mitsubishi before Rivian. So why does Normal […]
Bloomington Monday night
By: Diane Benjamin The audit is done, not released though: Evidently the City doesn’t think they have to print the P-Card spending list anymore, just 1 big amount. Amazon purchases are listed without a descriptions – pages of them. Link to Bills and Payroll: https://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=25260 Agenda: http://bloomingtonil.iqm2.com/Citizens/FileOpen.aspx?Type=1&ID=1090&Inline=True Tari wants to re-appoint Rob Fazzini to the […]
Connect Transit SCORES!
By: Diane Benjamin https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nMCbsR02FZVZZcIO2k0rG8eyPHwSKrFI/view The Connect Transit Board met on September 22. Success! Over $1 million lost in August: A few of the listed expenses: Why does an “essential service” have to advertise? See PDF page 55 – they still think they can recruit more people to give up driving to ride the bus: What […]
Bloomington: Your Ward 5 candidates
By: Diane Benjamin Never let a good crisis go to waste. This was Twitter yesterday after the Breonna Taylor decision. A grand jury – CITIZENS called on to make decisions – agreed two of the officers should not be charged. The decisions were not made by the police, a State’s Attorney, or even the BLACK […]
And now for Bloomington last night
By: Diane Benjamin The building codes discussion wasn’t very interesting until they got to sprinklers retro-fitted in old buildings – mostly downtown. If more than 300 people attend events they might be requiring sprinklers within the next 3 years. Evidently they want to see a lot more empty buildings downtown! Even Jenn Carrillo knows that […]
Jenn is my Poster Child!
By: Diane Benjamin I remember years ago when I mentioned “limited government” some people didn’t understand what that means. Politicians are constantly claiming they will save us from whatever and they actually make the whatever worse. Just this week Minneapolis citizens and their leadership are wondering why the police don’t show up when called. Other […]
Bloomington last night – no Tari
By: Diane Benjamin The meeting lasted a little of an hour. Tari wasn’t there because the internet was out at his house. Mboka Mwilambwe acted as mayor. Tim Gleason was also absent, nobody said why. Maybe he didn’t want to be present when they voted on his contract extension and raise – without any discussion. […]
Bloomington going socialist
By: Diane Benjamin In case you forgot, Tari Renner endorsed Daniel Biss a committed socialist for governor. https://blnnews.com/2017/09/05/tari-still-supporting-biss/ Jenn Carrillo and Jeff Crabill are democrat socialists. Many of the rest lean left, some farther than others. Two socialist candidates have already announced they are running next April. It’s still really early but nobody in Bloomington […]
Bloomington Monday night
By: Diane Benjamin Monday: Bloomington Council meeting: http://bloomingtonil.iqm2.com/Citizens/FileOpen.aspx?Type=1&ID=1089&Inline=True Bloomington will get their own cannabis dispensary. It will be centrally located at GE Road and Veterans Parkway. It is owned by the same company that operates the one in north Normal. Likely it will draw customers from Bloomington and Normal. Sorry Normal. (Let the city wars […]
Connect Transit: This will be a campaign issue!
By: Diane Benjamin Connect Transit held a meeting on August 25th: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1EbHKo7ekQqGztDU9fvqRgbALV64ZfNI0/view This is how their year ended on June 30, 2020. (PDF page 8) The actual loss was slightly below the 12,000,000 budgeted: See PDF page 15: The budgeted loss for this year is 12,825,000. Connect is well on the way to meeting that […]
Nikita Richards should be fired today
By: Diane Benjamin Nikita Richards is not only the chair of the local Democrat Party, she is an employee of the City of Bloomington in Human Resources. Yesterday she posted this on Facebook: Nikita just alienated all 130 Bloomington police officers. Nikita accused every officer of being unprofessional at best and racist at worst. How […]
Cannabis windfall?
By: Diane Benjamin Remember when cannabis was legalized in Illinois? Remember how the point system was suppose to award licenses to those most affected by past drug enforcement policies? https://chicago.suntimes.com/cannabis/2019/10/1/20894020/pot-marijuana-cannabis-shop-dispensary-license-illinois If those “disproportionately” affected planned to profit they thought wrong. Meanwhile local money is spent in Normal, but where does it go? https://www.streetinsider.com/Globe+Newswire/Jushi+Holdings+Inc.+Reports+Second+Quarter+2020+Financial+Results/17293320.html Jushi Holdings […]
Left off Monday at Bloomington Council:
by: Diane Benjamin Normally the Finance Director presents a report monthly. Monday night City Manager Tim Gleason said it would be posted to the website. It is now: https://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=25082 Start with the bottom of page 3. The only reason Bloomington is not bleeding now is because they STOCKPILED your money. Under David Hales the number […]
Before you believe John Butler:
By: Diane Benjamin John Butler and his lawyers have been telling media John didn’t know his employees were stealing concession money. Evidently he’s such a great guy he agreed to a misdemeanor and paid $450,000 in restitution just because. That of course was after spending who knows how many thousands (hundreds of thousands?) on attorneys […]
John Butler – the Rest of the case
By: Diane Benjamin State’s Attorney Don Knapp just sent me the final documents. The City of Bloomington is getting $430,230. The Illinois Department of Revenue is getting $19,770. That’s where the $450,000 previously reported came from. Butler plead guilty to a Class A misdemeanor for manipulating concessions sales. BMI Concessions, operated by John Butler plead […]
Bloomington: Did the Council just screw you?
By: Diane Benjamin Tari Renner attended the Township meeting held before the Council met at 6:00, but then left claiming he had an appointment. Maybe he didn’t want to discuss a mandatory mask ordinance. Several on the Council would jump at the chance to enforce draconian rules when we know where all the new cases […]
UPDATE: Resign Tari Renner!
The video is from 8/14 – 9 days ago, not a few weeks ago Tari. Can we had liar to hypocrite. . . By: Diane Benjamin Bloomington’s Mayor Tari Renner is threatening to pull liquor licenses from any establishment that doesn’t follow the COVID rules. Since he isn’t complying, he needs to remove himself from […]
Carrillo promotes slavery
By: Diane Benjamin Below is a post by Jenn Carrillo on why people are shooting each other in her neighborhood – see WGLT story https://www.wglt.org/post/gunfire-hits-driver-vehicles-homes-3-shooting-incidents-bloomington The sad truth is Jenn doesn’t expect better behavior. She doesn’t expect citizens to be civil. Just because someone is poor it doesn’t mean they go around shooting each other, […]
When skin color is all that matters
By: Diane Benjamin If written many stories about the Art and Camille Taylor incident, they are all linked in this story along with the body cam videos: https://blnnews.com/2020/08/08/was-art-taylor-attempting-to-incite-something/ More information has been received by FOIA after an earlier FOIA obviously didn’t produce all of the documents involved. It was filed by John Boch. Start with […]
Bloomington Bozos
By: Diane Benjamin The Council met for a whopping 16 minutes last night, they didn’t have an Executive Session. Tim Gleason started the meeting with a COVID update. He claimed cases are up because people have been traveling now and are out and about more. He ignores the obvious: College kids are back and out […]
Cancel Culture hits Bloomington
By: Diane Benjamin The Bloomington City Council will meet on Monday with only 1 item on the agenda (besides approving minutes and hear how everything needs to stay locked down because 20 somethings can’t protect themselves from COVID) Has anyone ever celebrated Columbus Day? I wonder if Jenn knows her native language is Spanish because […]
Did Bloomington Fireman #6 get off?
By: Diane Benjamin The Bloomington Fire Department seems to be plagued with drinking problems. This one has been kept quiet, probably because he’s a Captain. See the previous stories here: https://blnnews.com/2019/11/04/bloomington-fireman-5-gets-off/ From the County Public Access system it appears he was picked up for DUI in February of this year: He finally was sentenced in […]
Renner and Koos: What do you stand for?
By: Diane Benjamin WEEK reported earlier this week DOZENS of Democrats have signed a letter calling on Speaker Mike Madigan to step down: https://week.com/2020/08/11/mclean-county-leaders-among-dozens-of-democrats-calling-for-speakers-madigans-ouster/ Locally these people signed: Notice who didn’t sign, other than the local Democrat Party Chair Nikita Richards? Tari Renner and Chris Koos Are they pro-corruption or just weenies? That brings me […]
Nazi mask cops on the loose!
By: Diane Benjamin McLean County Clerk Kathy Michael contacted me after she received a phone call from a reporter at WGLT. Knowing that it was likely Tari Renner who told Ryan Denham what to write, she wanted the truth out first. This saga starts with Bloomington City Manager Tim Gleason sending an email to Kathy […]
I predict Connect Transit will choose City Hall
By: Diane Benjamin One more thing from Monday’s Bloomington Council meeting – see 2:45, Tim Gleason’s COVID comments. The City will be implementing a Customer Service Hub at what Gleason calls the Arena, most call it the Coliseum. He claims it will be a one stop shop for citizens. All of these departments will be […]
Bloomington boring meeting except for . . . .
By: Diane Benjamin The entire meeting was only around an hour but then they spent almost 1 1/2 hours in Executive Session reviewing minutes they won’t release and talking personnel. Bloomington has been holding Executive Session minutes for decades, citizens aren’t allowed to see the glowing endorsements given to previous City Managers by their elected […]
Bloomington Tonight
By: Diane Benjamin Bloomington packet: http://bloomingtonil.iqm2.com/Citizens/FileOpen.aspx?Type=1&ID=1084&Inline=True O’Neil Pool demolished: If you have ever wondered why roads that look fine are being treated: Reclamite extends the useful life of roads. Maps of what roads will be treated are on PDF pages 127 – 128. PDF page 152 – Approval for a shopping center along E Empire […]
Jenn Carrillo is the Enemy Within
Socialism Kills! Obviously Carrillo was never taught history and doesn’t bother to learn. She is the enemy within. She and Jeff Carbill need to be marginalized by the other Bloomington City Council members. Congrats Bloomington: Two of her buddies are running next April. Capitalism is the fairest way to exchange goods and services and the […]
Was Art Taylor attempting to INCITE something?
By: Diane Benjamin Link to all previous stories: https://blnnews.com/2020/08/05/the-art-and-camille-taylor-police-reports/ The story above also has Art Taylor’s version of what happened on July 11th. Besides social media, who did he send it to? That answer was received in a FOIA filed by one of the “neighbors” with Trump signs in the yard. The email below is […]
Update: So is the Transfer Station a secret?
See response to FOIA below: By: Diane Benjamin First a side note to Tim. Since you have a FOIAable email address I’ll say thanks here. US Representative Rodney Davis was on Cities 92.9 this morning with Steve Suess. Davis was asked about the $8 million grant to Connect Transit for a downtown Bloomington transfer station. […]
This is what diversity looks like?!?
By: Diane Benjamin The Public Safety and Community Relations Board met yesterday. Since “diversity” has it’s roots in DIVIDE, this board is the perfect example of what that means: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nW-u2Zh6e8Y One white community member and THREE minority members. One member was absent, Jeff Woodard – also minority: Monday night Tari is making an appointment […]