By: Diane Benjamin If you haven’t heard, the trial for John Butler as a result from his time managing the Coliseum got delayed again. It will supposedly happen on August 10th. More event reports have been posted, all show a profit. See if you can figure out what is embarrassing about this one: VenuWorks is […]
By: Diane Benjamin Both Jamie Mathy and Kimberly Bray were absent. Jenn Carrillo called in because she was sick. Public Comment started with a guy representing the same group that presented in Normal demanding both cities create a climate change plan for extreme weather. See 5:35. He claimed Normal agreed to work with them, I […]
I posted a ton of stories, if you missed any: In order by top stories read, you might have missed the comments! https://blnnews.com/2020/03/03/4-from-decatur/ https://blnnews.com/2020/03/02/koos-doesnt-like-being-challenged/ https://blnnews.com/2020/03/04/jenn-carrillo-vrs-common-sense/ https://blnnews.com/2020/03/03/more-on-fritzens-retirement/ https://blnnews.com/2020/03/02/why-normals-agenda-needed-its-own-story/ https://blnnews.com/2020/03/05/kooss-bike-present/ https://blnnews.com/2020/03/04/cirbn-minutes-by-foia/
By: Diane Benjamin From the Consent Agenda: https://bloomingtonil.iqm2.com/Citizens/FileOpen.aspx?Type=1&ID=1063&Inline=True There is no such thing as 100% Green Energy – the label just makes it cost more. Read Book 1 of the budget here: https://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=24029 I wonder if Mike Matejka knows Jenn Carrillo attacks law enforcement for doing their job. Is that fine with Not In […]
A reader located the missing artist fees. The BCPA should know by now they will lose money paying more than $10,000 for an artist! Only 1 show made money! By: Diane Benjamin https://www.cityblm.org/government/advanced-components/documents/-folder-1784 A lot of reports were recently posted. None of them have the artist fee. I added a few that I could quickly […]
By: Diane Benjamin https://www.cityblm.org/government/advanced-components/documents/-folder-1817 4 ISU hockey events are also posted. Even with dismal attendance the profits were: $1,727.26, $2,269.16, $2,458.26, and $1,997.42. Most of the profit is from charging $2000 to play there. This year the City projected Arena: revenues of $4,883,795 expenses of $5,219,846 – for a loss of $336,051. For the year […]
By: Diane Benjamin Budget Book 1: https://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=24029 So far Bloomington has provided an overview of what the budget is, but more detail is needed. The above link is to Book 1. The chart below is the budget by department, it isn’t the entire budget. I highlighted some things that interested me. An analysis of the […]
By: Diane Benjamin This notice in the paper was sent by a reader: Tax Parcel 21-04-338-019 is this building – it is being foreclosed: The address is 102 N Main – across the street from the Law and Justice Center. The building was bought in 2008: It is listed for sale for $399,000: https://www.loopnet.com/Listing/102-N-Main-St-Bloomington-IL/17391294/ DFB […]
By: Diane Benjamin At last Monday’s Bloomington Council meeting the aldermen spent a lot of time grousing about spending $1,330,000 to extend the life of the Market Street garage. Meanwhile, also in the budget is $738,000 to study O’Neil Park. A comment was made about studies usually being about 10% of the eventual total cost. […]
By: Diane Benjamin Three people spoke at public comment in Bloomington last night, hear them beginning at 11:40. Gary Lambert spoke about credit card fees and the automatic increases to charges from Bloomington for services. He also mentioned the zoo snack bar, He would like to know how much money is being generated and if […]
By: Diane Benjamin February packet: https://www.connect-transit.com/documents/Februrary%202020%20CT%20Board%20Packet%20V2.pdf Let’s look at Connect Transit a different way. PDF page 22 claims in January Connect Transit had 204,683 fixed route passengers PDF page 8 says passenger fares were $52,882.80. The only way to have 204,683 riders is to have 75% of all riders not paying – either Medicaid, ISU, […]
By: Diane Benjamin Bills and Payroll: https://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=23995 Agenda: https://bloomingtonil.iqm2.com/Citizens/FileOpen.aspx?Type=1&ID=1059&Inline=True Congrats taxpayers! No employees are receiving Sick Leave Buy Back payments this time to spike their pensions. Don’t get excited though, you will be paying again: See PDF page 89 of the agenda. Denise Balagna will be receiving an extra $205.78 per month Joyce McKeon will […]
By: Diane Benjamin Total Budget 4/30/15 $180,426,393 Total Budget 4/30/22 $230,300,000 (proposed budget) SEVEN year increase of $49,873,607 (Total increase of 27.6%) Note below: The 2015 budget was a 6.5% increase over 2014. Source: https://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=7077 https://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=23979
By: Diane Benjamin Tim Gleason, City Manager, wants all residents to see the 2019 Year in Review: https://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=23981 It does have an impressive list of private sector investments. It doesn’t have a list of how many more could have been made but weren’t because they weren’t the “right fit”. Many listed are restaurants. How many […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Bloomington City Council meets tonight at 6:00, Normal meets at 7:00. Bloomington tonight: https://bloomingtonil.iqm2.com/Citizens/FileOpen.aspx?Type=1&ID=1055&Inline=True PDF page 19 Who decides what the “right” fit is and why does their opinion matter? I hope nobody still believes the Council does the budget. See PDF page 21: The Council gets 10 MINUTES to […]
By: Diane Benjamin I FOIA’d Bloomington for information on all new hires in the last three months. These are the full time employees hired: The reason I submitted the FOIA was because of a tip. Some of these people replace employees who retired, I don’t know how many. We already knew about the two hires […]
By: Diane Benjamin Nothing spectacular last night, lots of praise for downtown though. The actual meeting took less than 10 minutes, everything else was fluff. Get ready for a new O’Neil pool and fire station. It sounds like both will be in the budget
By: Diane Benjamin http://bloomingtonil.iqm2.com/Citizens/FileOpen.aspx?Type=1&ID=1057&Inline=True Bloomington’s future has revolved around restaurants and alcohol for quite awhile. The City loves the food and beverage taxes, a lot of people here like eating and drinking out. It’s a win-win except for the people locked in low wage jobs because few better exist. True to history, these items are on […]
By: Diane Benjamin When I talked to Randy Stein and Tim Irvin they provided more information I haven’t written yet. See this story: https://blnnews.com/2020/01/30/sewage-talk/ Randy told me at some point, nobody knows when, the IEPA is going to require updates to the plant on West Oakland. He has no idea what the exact cost will […]
By: Diane Benjamin https://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=23816 Celebrate! More pension spoking: Just a reminder of how much you pay for empty buses every month: Save these for when the reports gets posted, it will be a long time: Amelia Buragas isn’t on the Council – why is she getting a free trip from taxpayers? See PDF page 88 […]
By: Diane Benjamin Let’s play a game. Get a sheet of paper, draw a line down the middle. Label the left side “Great things done by government“, label the right side “Things government did and stuck me with the bill“. Go – start making your lists. Just the local issues will produce a long list […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Total Compensation report for 2019 isn’t posted yet, so the only salary available is from 2018: https://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=21565 2019 was more than likely higher. Karch now has a new job as Special Projects Manager. How much is he getting paid now? https://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=23785 The rumor is this job is merely a placeholder position […]
By: Diane Benjamin https://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=23761 Since the Executive Director’s comments are tiny:
By: Diane Benjamin Public comment only had two people, one was a member of the Connect Transit Working Group. See her comments at 13:30. She was excited about the upcoming report. It will be interesting to see how many members agree with her. Those who don’t agree need to issue their own report. She mentioned […]
By: Diane Benjamin https://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=23757 Since the City now has Jeff Jurgens as an employee, we will see if this disappears in the future: (he was their employee) Community Relations? did you get an invite to the feast: A future artist fee? This really needs a new name: Pantagraph scores again: This is just a members […]
By: Diane Benjamin Source: https://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=23753 Looks impressive, RIGHT? Not so fast, see below. The artist fees are blank again! (see previous stories) https://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=23691 Obviously this show lost money just like most of the others. See the event as promoted here: https://www.artsblooming.org/Home/Components/Calendar/Event/10963/710?curdate=12-13-2019&curm=12&cury=2019
By: Diane Benjamin On the November ballot will be an amendment to the Illinois Constitution to change income tax from a flat rate to a progressive tax. The State will quickly run out of high income people to tax – the middle class makes up the majority of taxpayers so that tax will hit them […]
In case you didn’t know: Get a preview here: https://bloomingtonil.iqm2.com/Citizens/FileOpen.aspx?Type=1&ID=1054&Inline=True
By: Diane Benjamin VenuWorks finally posted 2 hockey reports for the new league playing at the Coliseum. (Grossinger Motors Arena is too long folks) The memo states these are the top two teams in the League, a new one from here will be playing next year. I do not know why these two games were […]
By: Diane Benjamin Normal wants to build a far east fire station. Remember when the citizens just wanted it moved across the street? Of course Normal didn’t listen. https://blnnews.com/2019/01/23/normal-citizens-dont-fit-the-plan/ Bloomington wants a far north-east side fire station. Most people don’t know where Bloomington stops and Normal begins, but the two cities aren’t capable of working […]
By: Diane Benjamin On the front page of the City of Bloomington website is a link to the Downtown Bloomington website: cityblm.org The first time I clicked on it I got an error message, the second time the website came up: http://downtownbloomington.org/ Next I clicked on Explore Downtown – then Shop. The site has directory […]
By: Diane Benjamin Jamie Mathy urged citizens to look at the upcoming shows at the BCPA during Aldermen comments at last night’s Council meeting. He claimed a show that costs $100 in Chicago could be only $30 here. See upcoming events: https://www.artsblooming.org/events/calendar Meanwhile, the last event report posted for the BCPA was a show held […]
By: Diane Benjamin Bloomington Alderman Donna Boelen posted this video on Facebook yesterday. She is a advocate the Strong Towns philosophy. Keep in mind I can see how many people read a story. I can also see how many people CLICK on something I post. PLEASE watch this really short video, it sums up everything […]
By: Diane Benjamin Planning Commission: https://www.cityblm.org/government/advanced-components/documents/-folder-1682 According to the website, the Planning commission met on: December 11, 2019 November 13, 2019 October 9, 2019 One member missed all three meetings: Eric Penn Two members missed two out three: Kevin Suess and Megan McCann More meetings: September 11, 2019 – Joint meeting with the Zoning Board […]
By: Diane Benjamin No bills were approved at the last council meeting since it was held off-schedule for the holidays. Monday night $14,244,476.43 is up for approval. https://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=23691 As always, there was extensive travel. A lot of it is in the PCard spending, see PDF page 271 and following. 2020 starts where previous years […]
Caption this: Downtown Bloomington yesterday in front of the vacant Commerce Bank.
By: Diane Benjamin The chart below was compiled from these 3 links listed. This is strictly my opinion, but I lumped General Fund spending and Enterprise Fund spending together because things like garbage used to be in the General Fund but now it isn’t.. The Enterprise Funds are: PDF page 50: https://www.cityblm.org/home/showdocument?id=22149 All of these […]
By: Diane Benjamin I think there is consensus now on what is happening at the corner of Oakland and Veterans Parkway – where Hardies used to be. It sounds like a car wash wants to locate there. The Public Hearing is Wednesday: My thoughts: I’m happy somebody wants to do something with the property I […]
By: Diane Benjamin The charts below are from the Illinois Comptroller’s office – this is information Bloomington reported to them. Government Activity is the column to look at, especially liabilities due beyond one year. Since it is hard to read: Source: Liabilities 2018 – $221,260,896 2017 – $198,984,845 2016 – $216,297,608 What is this HUGE […]
