By: Diane Benjamin If Normal is a Town, why is Angelia Huonker a City Clerk? If Normal is a Town why is Pam Reece a City Manager? Does it make them feel more important with a “City” title instead of Town? More fun: the packet for Monday night has a sliver of minutes from the […]
By: Diane Benjamin Remember this story? https://blnnews.com/2020/10/19/is-koos-profiting-from-lockdowns/ Does Amtrak want a director that openly taunts people who don’t agree with him? Yesterday Koos proved yet again he doesn’t tolerate people who disagree with him: https://blnnews.com/2022/09/09/village-of-normal-discriminates-against-stan-nord/ Mayor Chris Koos was one of the votes to not allow Trustee Stan Nord to participate in the Executive Session […]
By: Diane Benjamin This meeting happened less than a year ago – July 19, 2021. It was difficult to pick the part taxpayers need to see. Listening to the entire discussion shows how government operates, it starts at 1:24:00. Take free money, figure out the details later. The part I picked shows taking the Federal […]
By: Diane Benjamin Remember 305 S. Linden? Without a vote by the Council Pam Reece declared this building surplus property and put it up for sale: Request for proposals: https://www.normal.org/bids.aspx?bidID=267 Since the property is in a TIF staff doesn’t need the approval of the Council according to Town code. Bidding ended in November. Waiting until […]
By: Diane Benjamin Thanks to the Pantagraph for pointing out that Chris Koos serves on the Advisory Board of Transportation for America. https://www.pantagraph.com/news/local/watch-now-normal-mayor-chris-koos-nominated-for-amtrak-board-of-directors/article_f7dc9015-4f0a-512f-9117-e35eb5af8b0e.html Who is Transportation for America? http://t4america.org/about/ Smart Growth America is the consultant who never finished what they were hired for with the Connect To The Future Working Group. Think back. Many citizens […]
By: Diane Benjamin Normal Mayor Chris Koos was nominated by Sen Dick Durbin to the Amtrak Board of Directors. Amtrak and Koos are a perfect fit. It does mean that Koos can no longer participate in discussions about building an underpass since all decisions involve Amtrak. See PDF page 5: http://www.normal.org/DocumentCenter/View/12829/2017-Purchasing-Policy-Manual-x?bidId= Amtrak will be paying […]
By: Diane Benjamin You will probably remember Matejka as a former Bloomington Alderman. During his tenure he voted FOR the Coliseum and FOR the never used fire station. If he could get your money to fork over to union members with a government project he was all in. Now he is at it again. It […]
By: Diane Benjamin PDF page 41 http://www.normal.org/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/2891 The Subway located inside Uptown Station isn’t prospering as expected. It might have something to do with the Town not allowing them to have a sign visible from the street so people know they are there. From the discussion last Monday, the Town may allow them to use Sandwich […]
By: Diane Benjamin The next Normal Town Council meeting will be Wednesday because of the holiday. See the packet HERE From the agenda: Amtrak can’t afford to buy a “tram” to move handicapped people from the south platform, across Broadway, and up the north platform – so the Town taxpayers are buying it for them. Don’t […]
By: Diane Benjamin The last thing the Normal Council wants to see tonight is a large number of citizens telling them to knock off the spending. Fritzen and McCarthy have made it clear that debt isn’t a problem. They consider themselves much smarter than the people who voted for Marc Tiritilli. Do they handle their […]
By: Diane Benjamin I filed a FOIA with the Town of Normal after learning they paid more than $7000 a year in property taxes on the property leased to Dan Brady for $1 a year. What I received appears to be missing some information, but below is what I have figured out so far. It […]
by: Diane Benjamin Yesterday I posted some horror tidbits from a guy riding Amtrak. Today He copied me on an email he sent to Amtrak with the rest of the story. Keep in mind while reading it that Amtrak is heavily subsidized with your tax money. Agencies funded by government doesn’t have to give good […]
by: Diane Benjamin High speed rail has been shown many times not to be so high-speed. Since it’s still Amtrak, success is questionable. Below is a first hand account from a friend of mine travelling via Amtrak yesterday: So if you are planning on taking the Empire builder train with Amtrak anytime before September 30th, […]
By Doug Powers • March 27, 2013 11:57 AM Joe Biden once laughingly (does Joe say anything that isn’t?) referred to former Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood as the “conductor of the train to the future.” According to the CNN story below, the “train to the future” is a boondoggle — a slow boondoggle — so slow that it just got […]
