More on Normal last Monday

By: Diane Benjamin Want to know why taxpayers have to pay $51,290 to make Uptown Circle ADA compliant? Somebody filed a complaint with the Illinois Attorney General who investigated and told Normal it doesn’t comply. Evidently that person did not approach the Town first. The biggest item is adding a handrail, but the ramp is […]

See anybody with a disability?

By: Diane Benjamin Below are pics from the documentation provided to the Council pertaining to the National Fitness Campaign: Stan Nord asked Parks and Rec director Doug Damery if this equipment is ADA compliant. Comic relief, hear this 20 second clip: . . . . . .

The Vets don’t agree with Connect Transit

By:  Diane Benjamin At last Monday’s Bloomington Council meeting Ryan Whitehouse, Connect Transit Board Chair, declared transportation to the Veterans Clinic isn’t a problem.  https://blnnews.com/2020/07/21/bloomington-met-too-last-night/ Veterans do not agree.  No one coordinated construction of the facility with Connect Transit, Bloomington should have made sure transportation would be adequate.  Economic Development must only  matter downtown. As […]

Another Lesson in Limited Government

By:  Diane Benjamin There are two types of people in government:   Those who think their position demands they “make progress”   Those who think their job is to create an environment so people can create their own “progress”. One uses your money for their vision, the other allows you to create your own vision.  […]

Does Grossinger regret buying naming rights yet?

By:  Diane Benjamin Maybe the City can compensate Grossinger for all the bad publicity by giving them naming rights to the Ice Center.  Pepsi quit paying for it YEARS ago, but even in meeting documentation Parks and Rec still calls it Pepsi Ice Center.  I bet Pepsi loves it – free advertising!  Monday night this […]

Coliseum smacks taxpayers again

By: Diane Benjamin Coliseum Quarterly reports are now on-line:  http://www.cityblm.org/government/advanced-components/documents/-folder-526 Last years reports for the year ended 4/30/2016 are still a secret.  VenuWorks has been managing the Coliseum for all three of the quarters listed at the link above. 1st quarter revenue:  $770,839.87 2nd quarter revenue:  $275,590.46 3rd quarter revenue:  $677,924.52 Don’t get excited – […]

Coliseum: Failure from the start

By:  Diane Benjamin At Monday’s Council meeting questions were raised as to why a 10 year old building wasn’t ADA compliant.  City staff said they were investigating. All the City has to do is talk to people who were involved before it was built.  I did.  Karen Schmidt was on the Council – did they […]