By: Diane Benjamin Think Normal isn’t waging a war with Bloomington? Pam Reece sent a letter to Bloomington demanding remittance and answers for non-payment of sewer fees Bloomington has collected on Normal properties: If this doesn’t prove government isn’t efficient or capable, nothing will convince you. Since “at least” 2012 Normal thinks Bloomington has been […]
By: Diane Benjamin http://bloomingtonil.iqm2.com/Citizens/FileOpen.aspx?Type=1&ID=1107&Inline=True It will be fun to see if Jenn Carrillo’s head explodes: She has questioned all spending for the police in the past. A Public Hearing will be held on the budget. Likely few or nobody will make public comment. What you should know: The budget history: http://bloomingtonil.iqm2.com/Citizens/FileOpen.aspx?Type=1&ID=1063&Inline=True https://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=21525 Pre Tari: https://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=5010 […]
By: Diane Benjamin After years of discussing what to do with O’Neil pool City Manager Gleason wants to have a vote next Monday to proceed with the plan presented last night. Even though the two west side aldermen didn’t bother to show up to hear about the project, full steam ahead! The current skate park […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Bloomington City Council heard a presentation on O’Neil pool and park last night. Price tag is now $11.5-11.7 million. It is much more than replacing a pool. The two aldermen representing the west side were absent: Mollie Ward and Jenn Carrillo. Start with these few words we’ve heard before, much more […]
By: Diane Benjamin There has been a moratorium on evictions for around a year now. There are local landlords who haven’t received rent for that long. Even though assistance is available, some renters have decided to live for free instead instead of doing the paperwork. Worse, the City of Bloomington is attempting to collect past […]
By: Diane Benjamin Jenn Carrillo showed at the Bloomington Council meeting last night what a Council with her buddies on it would look like. Readers: The media isn’t going to tell citizens the truth or make much effort to get people to vote. You have to! The majority of the City does not even know […]
By: Diane Benjamin At the WGLT mayoral debate the good leftist host had to bring up systemic racism, that discussion kept him from asking about real issues. You are expected to believe minorities can not succeed because whites won’t let them. Obviously it’s a myth because their are countless successful minorities. Obviously it is a […]
By: Diane Benjamin I was sent the below by a reader: The City of Bloomington’s insurance company paid the legal fees for the Watchdogs FOIA lawsuit to get documents the City claimed didn’t exist. Note the legal fees to Loevy & Loevy were reported as an “accident”. Maybe it was an accident that an officer […]
Excerpt: BY KIRK ALLEN & JOHN KRAFT FEBRUARY 24, 2021 Bloomington, IL (ECWd) – After publishing this article, numerous outlets focused on the Mayor’s response to a public comment made during the last city council meeting. We will provide a video update to those comments in an upcoming article. The following day the city manager was […]
Tari Renner on WJBC this morning: https://post.futurimedia.com/wjbcam/playlist/26/listen-1273.html?cb=1614188824.212135&fbclid=IwAR2bkJ0Mt5rUvXFk1H0qILFjNK_Uzw9XZvqqh4fxq08IVJnyR54s8YyUZfs By: Diane Benjamin Numerous media outlet have covered Tari Renner’s rant at Monday’s City Council meeting. Not ONE has bothered to look at the evidence presented by the Edgar County Watchdogs. Not ONE has asked how the story got started. If any of you had bothered to investigate […]
By: Diane Benjamin I could write MANY stories about last night’s Bloomington Council meeting. I might write more, I might not. I didn’t want you to miss this graphic: Every citizen of Normal is in twice as much debt as those who live in Bloomington. That is why the end of the Uptown TIF is […]
By: Diane Benjamin It’s easy these days to figure out where people stand politically. The Constitution states we are created “Equal”, those who want to create victims demand “Equity”. Socialism and communism create “equity” by redistributing wealth, except for those in charge of course. Some will never have enough, those who worked hard for theirs […]
By: Diane Benjamin Last night Kirk Allen (Edgar County Watchdogs) couldn’t speak at Public Comment so I spoke instead. I wanted to make sure people and the City knew about the story they published yesterday. https://edgarcountywatchdogs.com/2021/02/city-of-bloomington-police-coverup-exposed-zero-reporting-from-media-even-after-being-provided-all-the-facts/ The story includes proof of a Bloomington cover-up by allowing an officer to resign instead of prosecuting him. The […]
Since the Bloomington City Council refuses to meet in person, the Edgar County Watchdogs did a story today. I can NOT get the link to post. Go to edgarcountywatchdogs.com to see the story. Right now it is at the top of their site. It would have been nice if they could have confronted Tari in […]
By: Diane Benjamin I wonder if Jenn thinks this is a winning strategy for her socialist buddies April 6th: Excerpt: These people are her hopes for being on the “new” council: I appreciate Jenn’s honesty for what the agenda will be. On-site consumption means a lot of revenue can be generated by parking surveillance 1/2 […]
Flying around I saw lots of angry citizens who couldn’t get out of their driveway for days, maybe still can’t. I see the trails in both cities got cleared before streets. Are both Normal and Bloomington using snow to fill the potholes? How much MOTOR FUEL TAX was used to clear the trail for bikes […]
By: Diane Benjamin Remember when Bloomington bought all new garbage trucks so they only needed one person instead of two? Remember when they bought “carts” so those trucks could pick them up automatically? Remember when that didn’t save enough money so a previous Council passed automatic fee increases to avoid ever having to vote on […]
By: Diane Benjamin 45:10 Jamie Mathy reported Tari Renner was absent because of emergency dental work. Mboka conducted the meeting as mayor pro-tem. Maybe Tari will recover enough to prosecute more local businesses today that dared to ignore Pritzker. They must not be the “right fit”, kneeling and losing your business is required for that. […]
By: Diane Benjamin On Monday’s agenda: http://bloomingtonil.iqm2.com/Citizens/FileOpen.aspx?Type=1&ID=1102&Inline=True Renner won’t be Mayor in just over 3 months. Why is he trying to enshrine Gleason until 2025? If the socialists take over the Council April 6th Tim won’t be nearly radical enough for them. I’m sure Gleason has a huge buyout in his contract to leave, David […]
By: Diane Benjamin The law was changed in 2012 to require additional contributions to IMRF retirement fund if employees received large payouts that increased their pension at retirement. (accelerated payments) That law was badly needed because cities and employees never contributed to the higher payouts. Since the spiking practice should now be over in Bloomington […]
By: Diane Benjamin https://www.wglt.org/post/final-coliseum-defendant-pleads-guilty-misdemeanor-agrees-restitution#stream/0 The last Coliseum theft case was settled last week. The two main culprits got off with misdemeanor convictions while 2 low level employees who couldn’t afford to pay lawyers for years now have felony convictions. All 4 received plea deals, another defendant had all charges dropped. The City of Bloomington received […]
By: Diane Benjamin Only one Public Comment is worth listening to. Go to 39:40. A guy is upset the Bloomington police post pictures of people of interest on social media hoping the public can help locate or identify the person. Worth listening to for another perspective. This re-zoning got sent back to the Planning Commission. […]
This is Kiplinger, not some conservative outlet trying to play politics: https://www.kiplinger.com/taxes/state-tax/601614/least-tax-friendly-states-for-middle-class-families?rid=EML-today&rmrecid=2482908579&utm_campaign=20210126-today&utm_medium=email&utm_source=today Before both Bloomington and Normal decide to raise property taxes, and Unit 5 does again – these were the rates: District 87: 5.144810 City of Bloomington: 1.090100 Unit 5: 5.355410 Town of Normal: 1.032630
By: Diane Benjamin On Bloomington’s agenda tonight Jenn Carrillo wants the Council to petition the Federal and State governments to replace Columbus Day in favor of Indigenous People’s Day. https://blnnews.com/2021/01/22/cancel-culture-back-at-bloomington-monday/ Evidently Jenn doesn’t know the entire month of November is Native American People’s month. Maybe she doesn’t know that’s another way of saying Indigenous People’s […]
By: Diane Benjamin Public comment was only people demanding illegal aliens get the full rights of citizens. At least one comment threatened the Council if they don’t pass a Welcoming Ordinance. Congrats residents! You are labeled racist, a xenophobe, and a white supremist if you don’t agree. One speaker claimed Illinois enacted Home Rule so […]
By: Dian e Benjamin Tari Renner has repeatedly said Bloomington cut staff. He doesn’t mention in 2013 they changed how employees are counted. See the footnote at the bottom of the employees list. What we do know is the budget vastly expanded since 2013 and the number of employees has crept up while the population […]
By: Diane Benjamin Not wanting to vote against the Welcoming America initiative, Jenn Carrillo and Jeff Crabill were MIA last night. Next week they will present their own Welcoming Ordinance, a parade of illegal immigration supporters will appear. Carrillo sent the below to the aldermen she thought she could influence. Her attempt failed, they all […]
By: Diane Benjamin The stats below are from the latest Bloomington financial statements: https://www.cityblm.org/home/showpublisheddocument?id=25360 PDF pages 197-198 Lots of other stats are included on the same pages. Below is how the City printed the information instead of going with landscape which would have made it easier to read. Traffic citations are way down. So are […]
By: Diane Benjamin https://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=25694 The cost of buying a page for the financial statements keeps going up. See the page on PDF page 14: https://www.cityblm.org/home/showpublisheddocument?id=25360 Why isn’t abolishing the Bloomington Election Commission back on the April ballot? When non-elected officials can’t be held accountable for screwing up elections they need to go. Besides, Bloomington doesn’t […]
By: Diane Benjamin Covid doesn’t exist at Walmart, Menards, Home Depot, and Lowe’s. It only spreads at establishments with a Liquor License where Tari Renner and Chris Koos can prosecute Pritzker edict non-compliance. If Pritzker’s edicts were law neither Bloomington or Normal would be prosecuting themselves, the State’s Attorney’s office would be filing charges. Tari […]
By: Diane Benjamin Part 1: https://blnnews.com/2020/12/29/normal-vengeance-part-1/ This snip is from the minutes of the September 8. 2020 minutes: https://normal.org/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/3759 Obviously Lorenz and McCarthy missed the graphic in Part 1 stating Normal’s priority is to run Water to Rivian. The minutes go on to state this $5,000,000 project would promote economic development, there is no mention […]
By: Diane Benjamin The video below was sent to me by a reader. The original post doesn’t say where this took place: https://www.bitchute.com/video/h491gFFllFBs/ The part you need to see is at 23:00. Business owners are meeting with the like-minded because they have had enough of government telling them when and how they can operate. The […]
A reader emailed me about sidewalks. The bigger these trees get the more destruction they will cause! By: Diane Benjamin In my quest to never cross Veterans Parkway unless there is no other choice, I frequently drive on Airport Road and then turn west on College. I have been driving the same route for many […]
By: Diane Benjamin When Republicans are caught doing stupid things they mostly resign and slink away never to be heard from again. When Democrats are caught they blame the messenger. https://www.pantagraph.com/news/local/public_safety/renner-wont-comment-on-video-showing-city-inspector-talking-about-tracy-drive-fire/article_60c4ed78-120b-5bdd-b4f1-9bb851cbde5c.html#tracking-source=home-top-story-1 Case in point is Democrat Mayor Tari Renner. He blames me for reporting but refuses to comment on what was said: Tari: I wasn’t […]
By: Diane Benjamin Follow-up to this story: https://blnnews.com/2020/12/19/oops-did-i-say-that/ A few people have wondered if the video in that story was taken out of context. If you want the 20 minutes before of ceiling shots, people cleaning their cameras, and others jumping in and out I can post it. The meeting was about to start when […]
By: Diane Benjamin Yes you did Gayle Price! This is what a public servant looks like for the City of Bloomington. Tracy Drive – take note. Don’t miss the snickers from some of the others. Administrative Court – 12/9/2020.
By: Diane Benjamin Before Covid restrictions put more businesses with video gaming out of business, the City is taking action. Not to help them stay in business, the Clerk will now allow other businesses to get on a wait list for new licenses. I found it hilarious that previously they thought this was too difficult. […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Bloomington City Council is meeting Monday night. The ICE hater s will be out in force because Donna Boelen’s council initiative is on the agenda. The far left doesn’t think laws are material to any conversation. http://bloomingtonil.iqm2.com/Citizens/FileOpen.aspx?Type=1&ID=1098&Inline=True At last Monday’s meeting the City auditor stated Bloomington is paying more than necessary […]
By: Diane Benjamin Even though the Financial Statements (CAFR) have been finished for at least a month, they were finally presented last night. The data was uploaded to the Comptroller’s site many weeks ago, why the City couldn’t take the time to release the data is a mystery. The auditor stated Bloomington is overpaying into […]
By: Diane Benjamin Veterans Parkway and Route 9: My FOIA Request: This statement was included: None of the documents I received have the name of who is inquiring with Prairie Signs to build these. Mostly what I received are drawings. Below is an example, it’s HUGE: Roads can’t get fixed, but you just might be […]
