Thanks to Sonja Reece for posting pictures on her Facebook page – h/t a reader. (Pam’s mother-in-law) Pam Reece requires all employees to wear masks on Town property, the Council and staff weren’t masked at last Monday’s meeting on Town property. Karyn Smith flipped quickly to not representing citizens because she likes to party with […]
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By: Diane Benjamin See this story from earlier today is you missed it: https://blnnews.com/2021/08/19/mia-common-sense-in-normal/ Below is the text of an email from August 2020 to the Normal Town Council, the author was purposely redacted. This email had been sent to Town Planner Mercy Davidson in November of 2019. Date: Mon, Nov 18, 2019 at 8:54 […]
By: Diane Benjamin I have been working with a campaign to analyze how Mayor Koos, Kevin McCarthy, and Chemberly Cummings were reelected. It’s was pretty easy with lots of time and effort because the left knows one thing the right doesn’t: Getting elected is the only thing that matters. How you govern after an election […]
By: Diane Benjamin Instead of expecting people using Constitution Trail to STOP before crossing busy roads, Normal has put the below in the middle of some streets expecting vehicles traveling much faster to slam on their breaks for bikes and pedestrians: Normal has these on Raab, Shelbourne, Lincoln, Willow and Locust. People who don’t drive […]
By: Diane Benjamin I did not attend the meet-and-greet last Monday with the two Chief candidates. One person who did told me Jamal Simington, Illinois State Police, appeared as more of leader than Springfield Police Chief Kenny Winslow. City Manager Tim Gleason announced Monday night a special email address can be used for public comments: […]
By: Diane Benjamin If you’ve been dying to learn all about Bloomington’s sewer system, this meeting was for you. Of course being a civil engineer would have helped understand it. The meeting was 2 hours and 28 minutes long, most of it was the presentation. Mollie Ward’s Council initiative doesn’t happen until 2:09:55. According to […]
By: Diane Benjamin A number of area residents of One Normal Plaza appeared before the Council asking for just one thing: No alcohol in One Normal Plaza. They succeeded in getting this alcohol clause removed from the Planned Unit Development document: The vote was 5-2. Koos and McCarthy voted against them. Removing this clause was […]
By: Diane Benjamin 1) Bloomington met for 2 1/2 hours last night, Normal met for over 3. Take a break for other news, I sure need a break! I watch the meetings for those who can’t. Also, my inbox was in serious need of cleaning. 2) Remember Vision Zero? https://blnnews.com/2021/06/30/vision-zero/ The goal is to have zero traffic […]
By: Diane Benjamin Proving yet again facts can’t be discussed if Koos doesn’t like them, watch the discussion about this item: Koos interpreted Stan over and over, it has to be a secret that Normal is proving they refuse to work with Bloomington. Koos tried to kill Stan Nord’s comments about Normal installing fire hydrants […]
By: Diane Benjamin Chris Koos didn’t ask for nominations from the public before naming his good buddy Mike Matejka Normal’s citizen of the year. If that had been done he would have had to open up the party to everyone, instead it was by invitation only. In the many accolades to support why Matejka was […]
By: Diane Benjamin Packet: https://normal.org/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/4053 The government in the Town of Normal is not limited. Koos and company think they can create prosperity. Meanwhile the first floor of 1 Uptown Circle is STILL empty and the Trail East building will be a story shorter. I’m not going to blow everything disturbing on tonight’s agenda – […]
By: Diane Benjamin I’m losing track of how many meetings have been held to discuss the June flooding. Tonight is part 4? 5? Not sure! I hope everything that has already been discussed is skipped, presentations have a habit of showing the same slides over and over and then adding a couple new ones at […]
h/t a reader A citizen by Oakland school found the below taped to his front door. The problem was he was never notified a boil order existed – before it was lifted. Genius Bloomington!
By: Diane Benjamin Headline from the Pantagraph: h/t a reader So, a journalist from a country without any “freedom of the press” has partnered with the US government for almost 10 years to teach how to be a journalist and teach how to teach journalism I think we found the reason 95% of the media […]
By: Diane Benjamin One Normal Plaza zoning changes are coming to the Normal Town Council on Monday. Mercy is the Town planner. She is also listed as the petitioner for the changes. The biggest problem area residents have with the proposed changes is allowing alcohol in the park. The Planning Commission meeting was laughable because […]
By: Diane Benjamin Since the Illinois Attorney General can’t get his website functional, elected officials need a course in what is legal and what isn’t to discuss in private Executive Sessions. See AG’s website message here, evidently 6 months isn’t enough time to fix what his office failed to protect: https://illinoisattorneygeneral.gov/downformaintenancepacmessage.html The only elected official […]
By: Diane Benjamin Press Release: ATTENTION:We do not elect masters to tell us what to do. We elect those to represent us in service to The People, by The People, and for The People. We are not a democracy, we are a representative republic engaged in a democratic process in that it is The People’s […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Town of Normal loves to brag about their AAA credit rating, even though only Fitch has them AAA. Fitch is the smallest rating agency, so that’s like a kindergartener saying you are the best person ever. Recently Normal decided to finance a new fire vehicle instead of paying cash. The interest […]
By: Diane Benjamin What makes student successful? Commons sense tells you it’s parents who prioritize education. They tell their kids education is the path to success. They make sure their kids go to bed at a reasonable hour and get up ready for school. They make sure homework is done and they meet with teachers […]
By: Diane Benjamin Below is a a clip from the Normal Town Council meeting 8/2/21. Chris Koos thinks GIS could be wrong after Stan Nord produced a map clearly showing Rivian does not own all of the property adjacent to Electric Avenue. Why do taxpayers fund GIS if it isn’t accurate Chris? Why should anybody […]
By: Diane Benjamin Remember when the Attorney General’s Public Access office found Bloomington guilty of violating the Open Meetings Act concerning the Metro-Zone agreement with Normal? https://blnnews.com/2017/06/07/laws-are-immaterial/ That was in 2017. The City of Bloomington appealed the decision, the Circuit Court ruled in their favor, but the Appellate Court just reversed that decision: See the […]
By: Diane Benjamin Remember when Normal gave away Electric Avenue to Rivian? https://blnnews.com/2021/07/31/did-the-realtors-pac-get-their-moneys-worth/ Bloomington held a public hearing Monday on vacating an alley. This was included in the documentation: Bloomington followed the law by publishing legal notice of the public hearing: Did Normal follow the law? I filed this FOIA: Copy of the notice published […]
By: Diane Benjamin How about when a local devoted socialist is asked to write about it? Yes the socialists want to ban meat to save the planet. If you see Krystle or friends out eating meat, snap a pic. Here’s more proof Climate Change is a hoax from the Heartland Institute: (heartland.org) From a Press […]
By: Diane Benjamin A public hearing was also held and resulted in quite a bit of Council discussion: Brandon Gray isn’t interested in the alley if he has to pay for it. Public Works would like to pawn off maintenance to him and save themselves the expense. It sounds like they haven’t been maintaining it […]
By: Diane Benjamin Jenn Carrillo didn’t bother to attend. Other council members have forgotten how to talk INTO a microphone, at times voices were difficult to hear. A long line of people appeared again disappointed at the City’s reaction to the raw sewage in their basements. One thing is obvious: The City isn’t capable of […]
By: Diane Benjamin See this story and the one linked in the story: https://blnnews.com/2021/04/21/return-to-civility-by-normal/ It only took Normal City Manager Pam Reece many years to realize Bloomington was collecting sewer fees from Normal customers. They used to meet yearly to divvy up the proceeds. Evidently Normal’s then City Manager Mark Peterson stopped having time. Bloomington […]
By: Diane Benjamin Remember when Bloomington paid cash for a new ambulance and Normal bought the same but financed it? https://blnnews.com/2021/08/02/purchasing-bloomington-vrs-normal/ Normal claimed their savings could earn more money than the interest on the loan, but they forgot to put in the ordinance that equal cash is REQUIRED to remain in savings for the 10 […]
By: Diane Benjamin h/t a reader Below are three forms sent to parents who want to send their kids to Metcalf. Don’t comply, don’t come. ISU thinks parents aren’t intelligent enough to know life has risks. ISU thinks parents of kids who have to be apply to attend also aren’t intelligent to know when to […]
By: Diane Benjamin A reader from Bloomington sent me numerous emails he had sent to the City in 2011. Catch that date: 2011, as in 10 years ago. Start with this email sent to former Ward 7 alderman Steve Purcell: 10 years ago sewers were collapsing on West Chestnut. Sewage was in people’s basements. Another […]
By: Diane Benjamin I attended the Normal Planning Commission meeting last night. It was over 3 hours because MANY citizens did not want alcohol in the park. The video below is of Town Planner Mercy Davidson. She claims the Town Council brought this forward last year. Actually staff brought it forward and the bobbleheads said […]
By: Diane Benjamin Maybe Jeff Crabill is trying to redeem himself by helping the Eastgate neighborhood after the June floods. It should have started earlier, like March of 2020. He voted against the same people! This was on the March 26, 2020 agenda: http://bloomingtonil.iqm2.com/Citizens/FileOpen.aspx?Type=14&ID=1070&Inline=True Fixing the sewer system can’t be done without engineering! Jump to […]
By: Diane Benjamin I guess the building owner’s mommy never yelled at him to turn off the lights. The pictures below are inside the still empty first floor of 1 Uptown Circle – one of Mayor Koos’ success stories filing a hole in Uptown: Yes the lights were on yesterday, but don’t worry – the […]
By: Diane Benjamin Virtually empty buses are still roaming the streets of Bloomington Normal, we all see them. If Connect Transit used the huge buses where needed and didn’t where they aren’t, they wouldn’t be losing close to a million every month and the infrastructure wouldn’t be destroyed by them. Some transit systems have figured […]
By: Diane Benjamin If your kids will be attending a local public school, you need to prepare them for the Marxist ideology they will hear. Ask them to report use of these words to you: White privilege, White Supremacy, Gender identification, Inherent Bias, Equity, Anti-racist, 1619 Project, Diversity-Equity-Inclusion, and Culturally Responsive Teaching This list will […]
Under Agenda nothing was posted: https://www.district87.org/domain/69 Unless they dreamed up a new place to post it, the meeting would have violated the Open Meetings Act anyway.
By: Diane Benjamin Unlike District 87’s handwritten return, Unit 5’s Teachers Union paid a CPA firm to do theirs. I have a 2020 return for them: https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/display_990/371245404/04_2021_prefixes_37-38%2F371245404_202006_990EO_2021042217989367 First thing to notice is they don’t take in near as much money from members as District 87 (2006: $187,804): Note the last line above: $319,389 on hand […]
By: Diane Benjamin District 87 is meeting tonight (5:00 at BHS) to demand your children wear masks when the school year starts. There is no proof masks work and lots of proof they don’t. The School Board will do it anyway. What the School Board should be doing is insuring rouge teachers don’t follow the […]
