I wonder if Bloomington will mention this tonight?
h/t a reader Of course if the Council is still at the BCPA in October the public won’t be able to see the speaker(s) or presentation. Rejoice! Did the Water Park ever get finished?
Category: Tim Gleason
Truths we used to know, hook up the Uhaul
By: Diane Benjamin In case you missed this story in the media: https://www.thecentersquare.com/illinois/article_bc96b2e2-5338-11ee-a876-73caeb277433.html Clever Real Estate teamed up with moving company Allied Van Lines and found that Illinois has had more outbound moves than any other state in the past six months. Why would people continue to flee Illinois? The Bloomington City Council is encouraging out-migration. 5 of […]
New Alderman Jenna Kearns is Jenn Carrillo 2.0
By: Diane Benjamin Thanks to no one else running in Ward 1 last April a socialists walked on to the Bloomington City Council without a fight. Nice folks. You should know Jenna Kearns does not say the Pledge of Allegiance which means her oath of office to the Constitution of both the US and State […]
Chicken Time again in Bloomington
By: Diane Benjamin The Special Use Permit for chicken keeping on Durham Dr was back on the Consent Agenda: https://d2kbkoa27fdvtw.cloudfront.net/cityblm/a66201e455c5f8574bd36e9daacfb3d60.pdf Only one item was pulled from the Consent Agenda and this wasn’t it. When the vote was taken to approve the rest of the Consent Agenda, including the chickens, Donna Boelen and Sheila Montney voted […]
Tonight Gleason gets a raise
By: Diane Benjamin Unlike Normal that tried to hide Pam Reece’s raise on the Omnibus Agenda, Bloomington has Tim Gleason’s as the only item on the Regular Agenda: See the entire agenda here – should be a short meeting: https://d3n9y02raazwpg.cloudfront.net/cityblm/259d37a5-7d4f-11ed-9024-0050569183fa-791fe512-602c-4d20-98c8-ecdbbed39134-1694194607.pdf Still no report on the $750,000 downtown study last August that was projected to take […]
Update: Watch NONE of the Trustees gag tonight!
By: Diane Benjamin Population of Bloomington as of 7/1/2022: 78,864 https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/bloomingtoncityillinois/PST045222 Population of Normal as of 7/1/2022: 52,838 (Many ISU kids who don’t stay all year) https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/normaltownillinois,US/PST045222 Bloomington reported 645 Full Time employees to the Comptroller last year (They want many more) https://illinoiscomptroller.gov/constituent-services/local-government/local-government-warehouse/processsearchresults/?DisplayMode=GETAFR&AFRDesiredData=Population,%20EAV,%20and%20Employees&Code=064/025/30&CFY=2022&Menu=Yes&PrintIt=No Normal reported 369 Full Time employees https://illinoiscomptroller.gov/constituent-services/local-government/local-government-warehouse/processsearchresults/?DisplayMode=GETAFR&AFRDesiredData=Population,%20EAV,%20and%20Employees&Code=064/095/31&CFY=2022&Menu=Yes&PrintIt=No Bloomington population is 39.5% bigger […]
Sent by a Reader:
By: Diane Benjamin I’m told City employees: Illinois Law: Grass in the road makes slippery conditions for bikers and motorcycles! It also clogs the sewers.
Bloomington – 1st of 2
By: Diane Benjamin It is going to take more than 1 story to cover the Bloomington Council/Township meeting last night. In case you missed the update, the room in the Government Center will not be done as scheduled. It won’t be ready until October. Can the camera be any farther away from the stage? None […]
Did Connect Transit throw away $9 million?
By: Diane Benjamin I was shocked when Connect Transit picked Proterra as their electric bus supplier. It appears the Board members appointed by the mayors of Bloomington and Normal didn’t bother to do a simple Google search. Plenty of stories were easily available detailing the problems with these buses and cities that quit using them […]
FOIA lawsuits are an easy win Bloomington
By: Diane Benjamin The Bloomington police are still hiding information. Evidently they want sued. h/t a reader who lives by Constitution Trail This isn’t a one time occurence. Frequently a lot of grass is missed when Bloomington mows along the trail because the mower is too big. If the grass isn’t missed it gets scalped […]
Update to the Hershey Road island
By: Diane Benjamin First Story: https://blnnews.com/2023/08/12/more-lets-create-work-for-government-employees/ I really thought this was grass: I drove by again today. It isn’t grass. Very attractive! 😏 If they don’t quit stalling my FOIA, I will find more incompetence to reveal.
Why is Bloomington Meeting?
By: Diane Benjamin See the agenda on PDF page 4: https://d3n9y02raazwpg.cloudfront.net/cityblm/30d2fbb4-75a9-11ed-9024-0050569183fa-791fe512-602c-4d20-98c8-ecdbbed39134-1692292991.pdf Evidently this Committee of the Whole is Recognitions and an Executive Session. The last Live Stream from the temporary BCPA location only filmed the Council. Other speakers weren’t on camera because the angle never changed. Tonight’s accolades should be fun if none of the […]
More “Let’s create work for government employees”
By: Diane Benjamin Add the following to this story: https://blnnews.com/2023/06/15/maintenance-that-could-have-been-avoided/ Hershey road south of Ireland Grove road was down to 2 lanes for quite awhile. The City of Bloomington had to install this: Now some City employee gets to mow what looks like a crossing for a future trail extension. The concrete pad on the […]
20 Minute Bloomington Meeting
By: Diane Benjamin Mboka Mwilambwe wasn’t there – he’s out of the country. John Danenberger was AWOL. So was Cody Hendricks. Tim Gleason was MIA, of course he has TWO assistants, so Billy Tyus did his job. The only Public comment was Scott Stimeling who once again raged about fireworks. He seems to think whatever […]
What you need to know about Bloomington’s new commission
By: Diane Benjamin PDF page 320: https://d3n9y02raazwpg.cloudfront.net/cityblm/2593119f-7d4f-11ed-9024-0050569183fa-791fe512-602c-4d20-98c8-ecdbbed39134-1687541345.pdf The documentation starts off with a stretch of the truth: Additional discussion on the Initiative took place at the Committee of the Whole meeting onJune 19, 2023, at which time there was a consensus to bring a formal proposal forward at afuture meeting. Consensus isn’t a 5-4 vote […]
Also at Bloomington tonight
By: Diane Benjamin Mollie Ward’s initiative is back: Anybody want to guess how many of these “experts” will be FOID card and gun owners? Definition of expert is: People who claim some hidden talent not available to normal people. The Council will approve it and it will develop zero solutions because morality can’t be forced […]
Fishy Bloomington
By: Diane Benjamin See this item that is on the Consent Agenda. It won’t be discussed unless an alderman pulls it. The City plans to demolish a building damaged by fire – $99,900 of your money. The PIN number listed in the documentation is wrong. It needs to be corrected before the Council votes or […]
Problem Identified
By: Diane Benjamin https://www.bloomingtonil.gov/departments/police Quote: Simington is a graduate of the Northwestern University Center for Public Safety, School of Police Staff and Command. He also earned a bachelors degree in Criminal Justice and a masters degree in Public Administration from Governors State University. Simington holds a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the Workplace Certificate from […]
From Nextdoor
By: Diane Benjamin Copied from Nextdoor: Is anyone else concerned about the deteriorating condition of Walt Bitnerpark in eagle Crest East? The playground equipment needs painting, and the roofs are beginning to rot. It is only a matter of time until a child gets injured. Also, the shrubs at the entrance on Connie Kay Way, […]
Water Equity Bloomington?
By: Diane Benjamin The slide below was in the presentation by Public Works Monday night – see 42:00 What does “Improve Equity and Affordability” mean? It wasn’t discussed at the meeting. I really hope Bloomington won’t be discussing a two or three tiered rate structure for water depending on address or income. That isn’t “Equality” […]
Bloomington 6/19/23 Part 2
By: Diane Benjamin Celebrate now Bloomington – your water bills will increase. The City did a study and you just aren’t paying enough as compared to other area municipalities. See 43:30 on the video below. Water rates haven’t increased since 2012, everything else the City charges on your bill goes up 3% automatically every year. […]
Bloomington: 6/19/23 Part 1
By: Diane Benjamin This meeting lasted almost 1 1/2 hours, 4 people spoke at Public Comment. Mayor Mboka always reads a prepared statement before public comment. That statement is incorrect. Public Comment isn’t for the Council, it is for citizens. The Council regardly ignores what citizens say, that happened again last night via Mollie Ward. […]
Both Bloomington and Normal meeting on this Federal Holiday
By: Diane Benjamin Juneteenth must not be important enough to delay meetings 1 day. Bloomington Committee of the Whole: Agenda I wonder if anyone will mention the police gun safe giveaway that will rust guns? https://blnnews.com/2023/06/14/dont-store-guns-in-the-free-gun-safe-you-got-from-the-bloomington-il-police/ Minister Ward should already know why gun violence exists and is increasing. A commission won’t solve moral decay, kids […]
Bloomington Part 2
By: Diane Benjamin This was the vote on Tom Crumpler’s motion to add requirements to the agreement with the East Washington developers to pay prevailing wage: . This was the final vote on the project: . Danenberger and Hendricks flipped their votes. The Hendricks flip doesn’t make sense since he was bought by the communists […]
Bloomington Tonight: World Peace Week
By: Diane Benjamin We are close to a nuclear war in Ukraine, China wants Taiwan, Israel has to prevent Iran from finalizing nuclear missiles, our “institutions” buried the country in unpayable debt, and culture is on a race to the bottom, but Bloomington is proclaiming this World Peace Week and welcoming visitors from India. I […]
Bloomington Hiring
By: Diane Benjamin https://www.governmentjobs.com/careers/cityblm High paying jobs available! Maybe the pay scale is why the City has a problem getting police applicants. Is it a union thing to pay experienced officers the same as entry level? Other jobs are available too: https://www.bloomingtonil.gov/departments/human-resources/job-board
Former CII East Building wants exorbitant rent
By: Diane Benjamin h/t Kelby Cumpston for posting this on Facebook . Taxpayers are subsidizing this building by waiving the 6% Short Term Rental tax and providing 20 parking spaces in the garage across the street for 15 years (or 20 since the docs say both). https://blnnews.com/2022/04/24/69-million-for-water-projects-so-you-wont-notice-the-cii-east-giveaways/ It gets better! The same two guys behind […]
BCPA loses money, nobody should be surprised
By: Diane Benjamin Two new BCPA reports below – of course the Performance Fee aren’t included. Did they quit reporting attendance because it’s embarrassing? The performance fees are hard to decipher because they aren’t marked correctly on Bills and Payroll reports. There wasn’t an event on 4/23, did they mean 4/20? Then there are these […]
Is Public Works sending a message?
By: Diane Benjamin The streets and sidewalks presentation from Monday night is now online: https://www.bloomingtonil.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/29386 PDF page 2 states Bloomington has 842 Lane Miles (streets). Below is the same graphic I posted earlier, except this one is readable – PDF page 12: From 1995 to 2022 Bloomington resurfaced a total of 359.6 lane miles. 27 […]
Bloomington met – minus Gleason and Mboka
By: Diane Benjamin Since this Committee of the Whole wasn’t scheduled to set up future spending, the heavy hitters didn’t have to be there to cheerlead the agenda. The Police Department presented their annual report followed by the Fire Department. See the police presentation here: https://www.bloomingtonil.gov/home/showdocument?id=29357&t=638197614615245340 I did learn something new about guns. Criminals are […]
Congrats Bloomington!
By: Diane Benjamin What did Bloomington do right? The audio and video of the council meeting actually synced last night! Even with 3 proclamations the entire meeting was less than an hour. I don’t remember council approval for moving any offices to the government center, they just appeared there. If the HUB was approved I […]
Bloomington spending your money tonight
By: Diane Benjamin The new Bloomington website is an improvement over what they had. You can now click on agenda items and it will take you to the documentation which eliminates trying to locate a line item. Nobody bothered to write code however so clicking the “back” arrow takes you to where you were. You […]
Recap of Bloomington last night
By: Diane Benjamin 33:10 – Mayor Mwilambwe recognized the 4 aldermen that are leaving office April 30th. Mboka gave a short speech and presented each with a plaque. (Remember when Normal totally ignored Stan Nord’s 4 years?) Public comment starts at 44:00. Two speakers thanked their outgoing aldermen. Gary Lambert is a can’t miss at […]
Bloomington unloads Market Street Garage
By: Diane Benjamin The City of Bloomington has wanted to destroy the Market Street Garage since at least 2018. Remember when the Downtown Task Force recommended moving the library there? https://blnnews.com/2018/10/16/library-expansion-sinks-water-park-doesnt/ Tonight documents – PDF page 246: https://d3n9y02raazwpg.cloudfront.net/cityblm/258aad0d-7d4f-11ed-9024-0050569183fa-791fe512-602c-4d20-98c8-ecdbbed39134-1682127141.pdf The documentation doesn’t say why the old Pantagraph property didn’t work. It was February of 2021 when […]
Bloomington’s torturous meeting
By: Diane Benjamin I keep forgetting to mention the City has a new website. It is much more functional, content remains to be seen. The last one was impossible to search quickly for the information wanted. See 2:19:56. Bloomington already has it’s second Deputy City Manager. Corporate Council Jeff Jurgens is taking the job. Tim […]
Update: $10 Million won’t fix much in Bloomington
Roads resurfacing scheduled: https://www.bloomingtonil.gov/Home/Components/News/News/9524/1394?backlist=%2fdepartments%2fpublic-works%2fbloomington-streets Oakland isn’t one of them. by: Diane Benjamin Oakland and Macarthur are major roads, they both become one way streets in West Bloomington. Oakland is a disgusting mess of holes and patches long before it becomes one way. I drove the whole thing today and heading back East on Macarthur. It […]
No Water Park this year
By: Diane Benjamin Last nights meeting was over two hours long, it will take more than one story to cover. You will find out next week why the Water Park won’t open this year when 4 presentations will be heard at the Committee of the Whole. Grant Walsh revealed the Water Park during budget discussions: […]
Bloomington’s tonight fun
By: Diane Benjamin Tonight’s Agenda: https://d3n9y02raazwpg.cloudfront.net/cityblm/25885a08-7d4f-11ed-9024-0050569183fa-791fe512-602c-4d20-98c8-ecdbbed39134-1680815202.pdf PDF page 56: Police buying 3 drones. See this link recapping an early morning crime spree on 4/2/23: https://www.bloomingtonil.gov/Home/Components/News/News/9507/1394 At least drones are cheaper than a helicopter! PDF page 66: The Lake Bloomington Maintenance Facility burned down in March of 2019. Now 4 years later bids are being rejected […]
Bloomington festivities last night: Zoning doesn’t matter
By: Diane Benjamin Thank you Nick Becker for asking why the Bloomington Election Commission exists and why this redundancy needs to continue. See 1:57:45. Donna Boelen was acting mayor last night. She claimed she couldn’t vote, I remember other acting mayors voting in Bloomington. She is still an alderman so not voting meant her Ward […]
Normal still discussing eliminating the USE TAX + more
By: Diane Benjamin Two things in the budget you won’t know unless you watched last night. Chemberly Harris is getting $19,000 for her Youth On A Mission. Pam Reece has a $750,000 slush fund. Of course it’s for contingencies (wasn’t needed for the previous 2 years). https://www.normalil.gov/DocumentCenter/View/21181/Town-of-Normal-2022-23-to-2027-28-Five-Year-Operating-and-Capital-Investment-Budget PDF page 121 Nothing aggravates citizens more than […]