By: Diane Benjamin Since some Federal Holidays are more important than others, the Bloomington City Council is delaying the Committee of the Whole meeting until tomorrow night. Remember when they met on Columbus day? https://bloomingtonil.portal.civicclerk.com/event/4125/files/agenda/9240 The Council held a retreat in November to set priorities. Of course there is no video since it wasn’t held […]
By: Diane Benjamin 1) The Connect Transit website shows a vacancy for Bloomington Trustee. https://connect-transit.com/board-of-trustees/meet-the-trustees The current mayor may try to stack that board like past mayors, but if you are interested in serving apply here: https://cityblm.seamlessdocs.com/f/MayoralAppointmentApplication There were two public comments at the April Connect Transit Board meeting. Just hit play below. The lady […]
By: Diane Benjamin I keep hearing from Cody supporters that he will “get things done”. The below is a comment left on my site stating what they “want done”. How does a mayor guarantee a “living wage”? Many businesses are barely holding on since the Illinois Progressives raised the minimum wage which of course raised […]
By: Diane Benjamin Read the text of SB40 that is law in Illinois as of 1/1/2024: https://ilga.gov/legislation/publicacts/fulltext.asp?Name=103-0053 Subsidized housing will be required to have EV charging stations even though people who live in subsidized housing wouldn’t be living there is they could afford an EV. New construction and renovated multi-family housing will be required to install charging […]
By: Diane Benjamin Yesterday I was sent a Bloomington-Normal Housing Analysis that is dated April of 2022. Note: the source is NPR. You can see it here: https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/69/5d/501447894b7cb83e9117e436d098/bloomington-normal-housing-analysis-white-paper-april-2022.pdf I stopped reading it at PDF page 9 because there is a huge problem! Note the McLean County Regional Planning Commission is listed on PDF page 2 […]
By: Diane Benjamin Read this WGLT story: https://www.wglt.org/local-news/2023-09-12/group-looks-to-rally-support-for-a-community-land-trust-in-bloomington-normal-aimed-at-housing-affordability Local housing is a problem that the free market will self-correct. Interference in the process is why housing is unaffordable. One thing is certain: Additional housing can’t be created next month. It takes time and creating a Community Land Trust isn’t going to fix anything quickly. They […]
By: Diane Benjamin Bloomington will take 2 stories to cover, this is Part 1. Check the Agenda, the below isn’t there: https://d3n9y02raazwpg.cloudfront.net/cityblm/259d37a5-7d4f-11ed-9024-0050569183fa-791fe512-602c-4d20-98c8-ecdbbed39134-1694194607.pdf In lieu of declaring Bloomington a Sanctuary City a few years ago the Council opted to join “Welcoming America”. Bloomington has a website dedicated to Welcoming Week activities coming up : https://www.bloomingtonil.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/28356/637982477484661849 Last […]
By: Diane Benjamin Local property values are rising which means your property taxes will be going up based on the new value of your home. Units of government claiming they are keeping the rate the same as last year want you to believe they aren’t raising your taxes. When you bill comes in the mail […]
By: Diane Benjamin The City of Peoria is facing a $31 million deficit because of COVID-19: https://week.com/2020/04/14/peoria-city-council-facing-31-million-hole-cuts-likely-on-the-way/ Normal is missing close to half of their population because of college closures. What is their deficit? (crickets) http://normal.org/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/3608 Since bills were not included in the last packet, there are two lists in this one. Previously Normal paid […]
By: Diane Benjamin A website called SmartAsset just published a new list of: The Least-Stressed Cities in America – 2019 Edition https://smartasset.com/financial-advisor/least-stressed-cities-in-america-2019 Bloomington made the list! According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the real unemployment rate is: https://www.bls.gov/eag/eag.il_bloomington_msa.htm Since the survey claims they are using 2017 data, see the REAL unemployment rates in […]
By: Diane Benjamin The League of Women Voters is holding an event tomorrow: See details here: http://www.lwvmclean.org/news-from-lwvmc/poverty-in-mclean-county-program-january-15th An ISU student is on the panel to reveal poverty as a college student! (No comment required) The purpose of this forum is to set up future events: Upcoming programs include: “Affordable Housing: How Do We Get […]
By: Diane Benjamin The below is from the Planned Unit Developments section of Bloomington’s proposed zoning changes http://www.cityblm.org/home/showdocument?id=19956 Public Health means walking or biking, cars aren’t allowed. Safety? How safe is Constitution Trail? This one is funny: Morals Brought to you by the same people hosting the Naked Magicians at the BCPA. https://blnnews.com/2018/08/22/women-evidently-this-is-for-you/ Evidently the […]
By: Diane Benjamin In March I posted a story concerning the “luxury” apartments in the new building on Uptown Circle: https://blnnews.com/2018/03/17/more-on-uptown-circle/ At that time Zillow showed 16 apartments for rent. It now shows 14 ranging from $1650 and month to $4200: https://www.zillow.com/b/1-uptown-circle-normal-il-9J8XNH/ Public Comment on items other than the Welcoming Ordinance was at […]
By: Diane Benjamin PDF page 447: http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=15814 Monday night the City wants to buy a house adjacent to the old Coachman Hotel property. The address is 404 E Washington. Less than a month ago a developer talked about building “affordable” housing on the Coachman property which the City also owns. http://www.pantagraph.com/news/local/government-and-politics/affordable-housing-pitched-for-ex-coachman-site/article_e11f52ca-39cd-5465-936d-1f2873a4567e.html The City is planning […]
By: Diane Benjamin Alderman Amelia Buragas on WJBC: http://cdn.stationcaster.com/stations/wjbc/media/mpeg/Amelia_Buragas__Bloomington_Alderwoman__12_17_15-1450373042.mp3 Apartment owners in Bloomington currently pay around $30 a year to register their property. Buragus wants a small increase to $65-$75. According to Amelia, Bloomington should be charging at least as much as Normal! She also mentions Urbana. How much does Champaign charge Amelia? I don’t […]
By: Diane Benjamin Here’s the latest craze in Bloomington-Normal: If you can’t afford local housing prices, government has a responsibility to help you. Nothing about personal responsibility. Nothing about doing whatever it takes to support yourself. Wealth redistribution is the obvious answer. It’s immaterial if a permanent underclass of people living on subsidies is created […]
By: Diane Benjamin The League of Women Voters is decrying (through the bird-cage liner) the lack of affordable housing in Bloomington-Normal. In an Editorial today some obvious flaws in logic are more than apparent. The League claims housing should be 30% of income. That means somebody making $600 per month would need to pay $200, […]
