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 […]
More information: https://blnnews.com/2020/12/07/due-process-normal/ By: Diane Benjamin https://normal.org/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/3828 At 6:15 tonight the “professional staff” will present options to the Council to retaliate legally against any business that is not kneeling to Pritzker’s Restore Illinois edicts. Since the legislature didn’t pass it, not complying isn’t against any laws and can’t be prosecuted. Pritzker can’t get compliance so […]
By: Diane Benjamin https://www.wglt.org/post/renner-calls-city-rejoin-metcom-system#stream/0 Tari Renner has been mayor for 7 1/2 years. On his way out he finally gets around to calling for Bloomington’s dispatch to return to METCOM! Leaving METCOMN was a boneheaded idea and should NEVER have happened. Think government works for you? Tari, you could have done something much earlier to […]
By: Diane Benjamin https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-SgGF0uzhIlXeWqdYlJ0blXEhDPLrrfh/view I could write the same story as every other month. Expenses for October were over $1,1 MILLION, Income was a little less than $59,000, meaning a loss for ONE MONTH of $973,317. No big deal since government keeps throwing them millions of dollars to them to run empty buses. Of course […]
By: Diane Benjamin Tari Renner started last night’s meeting with a Small Business Saturday proclamation. I wonder how he explains reports on social media of the POLICE being used to close down restaurants in town that refused to stop in-door dining. (Possibly more on that one in the future) Reports are the police told the […]
By: Diane Benjamin From Facebook: 1) The Dobskis should sue Jeff Crabill for defamation. Executive Order’s aren’t law Mr. Attorney. You should know that: 2) Quit being the SILENT MAJORITY! Hundreds of “them”, TENS of THOUSANDS of YOU!
By: Diane Benjamin Yesterday I got an email from a citizen after they saw leaves being collected in their neighborhood on Sunday. They wanted to know if staff was being paid overtime to do it. I’ve also had inquiries about staff emptying garbage cans on Sundays in parks. I asked Public Works about both. The […]
By: Diane Benjamin Tari Renner won’t be doing a proclamation tonight about being thankful this Thursday, but he will be doing one declaring November 28th Small Business Saturday. I wonder if bars and restaurants qualify? What small businesses haven’t been put out of business yet Tari? Some items on the Consent Agenda: Bloomington will authorize […]
By: Diane Benjamin Someday SLBB is going to end. It cost you MILLIONS because employees were allowed to spike their pensions which meant additional funds had to be paid into the retirement system. Add that to the MILLIONS spent on a never used fire station and more spent on a never used water tower. Add […]
By: Diane Benjamin I received a FOIA yesterday from the Town of Normal. This isn’t the only communication you need to see, but I will start here. I didn’t redact the senders information because she deserves praise for writing it. Her thoughts represent many.
By: Diane Benjamin The far left are the only voices being heard by the Council. Policy is therefore being run by them because few regular citizens bother to call in for public comment. There was another line of leftists that thought they would get a Welcoming Ordinance when that wasn’t what Donna Boelen’s initiative was. […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Financial Statements for Bloomington appeared on-line with no fanfare. Usually the auditor makes a presentation to the Council, I didn’t see that happen this year. https://www.cityblm.org/government/departments/finance/financial-statements The information is always moldy by the time they get around to putting it on their website. The year-end was 4/30/2020, more than 7 months […]
By: Diane Benjamin Meaning it is already a done deal, the Council will hear a presentation on expanding the library: http://bloomingtonil.iqm2.com/Citizens/FileOpen.aspx?Type=1&ID=1095&Inline=True I bet you didn’t know expanding the library will great a prosperous downtown – just like the Coliseum, the BCPA, resurfacing the roads, Wayfinding signs, the Visitor’s Center, and planters did. Long time readers […]
By: Diane Benjamin Bloomington can’t find a company to process payments closer than Kansas City, Mo? Buy local? Bloomington sends your tax dollars out of State on purpose. I remember hearing payments are outsourced to limited carpal tunnel claims. It also could be because of a huge embezzlement case years ago. The household billed below […]
By: Diane Benjamin Follow-up to this story: https://blnnews.com/2020/11/06/bloomington-monday-socialist–day/ When the far left wants to jam something down the throats of people they despise, what do they do? Attempt to rally the troops! It didn’t go too well for one of them who posted in a Facebook group where people actually don’t swallow cancel culture socialism. […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Cancel Culture led by socialist Jenn Carrillo made the agenda for Monday: http://bloomingtonil.iqm2.com/Citizens/FileOpen.aspx?Type=1&ID=1094&Inline=True Carrillo’s attempt to cancel Christopher Columbus from history will probably pass because some on the Council think her version of re-written history is trendy. Funny how countries around the world have celebrated Columbus Day for centuries: “It should […]
Is that the upper echelon of management at City of Bloomington in full panic mode? They just now found out there is an election next week? They just heard they should be prepared for chaos? Oops, this might be a secret. . . . . .
By: Diane Benjamin Below is the data reported to the Illinois Comptroller’s office by the City of Bloomington. Bloomington hasn’t released their 4/30/2020 financial statements to the public yet – just to the Comptroller who makes them available to everyone. 4/30/2020: 4/30/2019 Population dropped 632 in just one year. Meanwhile full-time employees increased by 7. […]
By: Diane Benjamin Bloomington City Manager Tim Gleason made it official last night: If you are white, don’t apply for a job with the City. Marin Luther King’s vision of a colorblind society is officially dead. Post COVID no money needs to be spent celebrating MLK Day ever again. Bloomington now has a Diversity and […]
By: Diane Benjamin https://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=25362 I thought there was a deadline for City of Bloomington employees to retire if they wanted to spike their pensions, but evidently it’s still happening: These two employees will receive much higher pension benefits merely because nobody at the City stopped them. This fleece has cost Bloomington taxpayers MILLIONS of dollars […]
By: Diane Benjamin $270,944,173 Again this year Bloomington’s finances are on the Illinois Comptroller’s site BEFORE the City gets around to releasing the CAFR (financial statements). The fiscal year ended 4/30/2020 – almost 6 months ago. Why rush? What do they show? Bond Debt: 47,780,000 IMRF pension debt: 12,821,451 Police Pension Debt: 77,693,023 Fire Pension […]
By: Diane Benjamin PDF page 21: Citizens can no longer know how employees with PCards spend your money. A list is no longer published. You won’t know who ate on your dime and who traveled and to where with your money. Remember when Tari proclaimed over and over “There are no free lunches” except he […]
Below is Tari’s announcement on the City of Bloomington website. Announcing a political decision on a taxpayer owned website? Renner forgot a few facts about his tenure as Mayor. The total budget when he took office was $167,000,000. https://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=2014 The total budget now is $230,320,572. https://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=24730 That is $63,320,572 spent by government instead of the […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Bloomington City Council had a short meeting, only around an hour. Did you miss Tim Gleason’s announcement Bloomington got named the happiest city in America? This is actually from five months ago, but here’s the announcement: https://www.zippia.com/advice/happiest-city-each-state/ Since the City is full of happy people and all the problems are fixed, […]
