By: Diane Benjamin The City of Bloomington has been found guilty of more violations, but this makes 3 that I either filed or was closely involved in the filing. This time it’s the library: Of course there isn’t a penalty assessed even though law specifies penalties are available. Laws only matter if us peons are […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Council is going to vote next Monday to raise your sewer and storm water rates much faster than originally presented. After all, this Council is fixing what previous Councils ignored – essential services. Even though voting on items not on the agenda isn’t allowed, the council took a “straw poll” on […]
By: Diane Benjamin Nothing coming from this Council or Tari’s Downtown Task Force should surprise anybody. Vote for Big Spenders and you get the same policies that has the State with $15 Billion in unpaid bills! (after the tax increase) The people Tari appointed to plan downtown spending think just like him. (Are any on […]
By: Diane Benjamin Remember the two illegal meetings held by the library board because they weren’t posted 48 hours in advance? https://blnnews.com/2017/06/20/followup-illegal-meetings/ Keep in mind I notified both the Sheriff and the State’s Attorney’s office prior to the meetings, they did nothing to stop the crime of violating the Open Meetings Act. Law for government […]
By: Diane Benjamin Yesterday I did not receive a response from the State’s Attorney or the Sheriff. The illegal joint meeting between the Council and the Library Board took place. Bloomington attorney Jeff Jurgens admitted in an email the two meetings now posted on the Library Board website were not posted 48 hours in advance. […]
I’ve said over and over laws are broken here because nobody will prosecute. Tonight’s illegal meeting will take place and so will the illegal meeting the library has scheduled for tomorrow. The Sheriff doesn’t care – he hasn’t responded to my email. The States Attorney’s office doesn’t care either – Knapp hasn’t responded to […]
Evidently someone at the library is pretending this was posted: I have a picture of the library website on my phone from this morning with a date and time stamp showing the first two meetings were not posted. Today’s meeting is illegal and so is tomorrow’s. 48 hours people! Do I need to bring the […]
By: Diane Benjamin From Page 10 – City Manager’s December report: http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=11954 From page 44 of the December 2015 City Manager’s report: http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=9706 Information for December 2015 isn’t available. Library information is missing from many of the new jumbled City Manager reports. David Hales is DONE winning awards for delivering information to citizens! The transparency […]
By: Diane Benjamin Anybody find it amusing that both Bloomington and Normal suddenly need new libraries? Book stores are closing, some libraries have gone digital, but TWO small cities side by side need new libraries. Maybe it has nothing to do with books. Source: https://blnnews.com/2015/12/18/why-bloomington-is-expanding-the-library/ This pic is from Normal – but it’s the reason […]
By: Diane Benjamin Information is harder to compare now that the Hales’ City Manager Reports are history. Instead of transparency, he posts bits and piece of data and I have to put it together. I imagine soon the bits and pieces will disappear because tax increases are much easier when government claims they need more […]
By: Diane Benjamin Monday night the Council is holding a Special Session with secret meeting (Executive Session), a Work Session, and the Council meeting. Theme for the work session: Ever program must pay for itself (except the Coliseum) No, the Coliseum isn’t on the agenda. They can lose as much money as they want and […]
By: Diane Benjamin The October City Manager’s report is now on-line: http://www.cityblm.org/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=9452 Miller Park Zoo Revenue from admissions was up 13.3% for the current fiscal year. Last year, the revenue from admissions broke the all-time record for the Zoo in a fiscal year. This represents the fourth consecutive year the all-time attendance revenue record was […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Bloomington Public Library Trustees have voted to spend up to $85,000 with Farnsworth Group for an expansion study! Meanwhile, in City Manger David Hales’ July report, patrons of the library and items checked out plummeted compared to last year: http://www.cityblm.org/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=9060 Page 54. Georgia, I will do the study for $25,000. I […]
By: Diane Benjamin From the June City Managers report: http://www.cityblm.org/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=8951 Page 53 Visitors and circulation continue to be less than last year. Why does the library need to expand? (click to enlarge)
By: Diane Benjamin From City Manager David Hales’ February report: http://www.cityblm.org/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=8404 Page 51 The green line is the current year. Please tell Tari the number of visitors is decreasing. Ask him to explain why the library needs an addition!
by: Diane Benjamin Monday night the Council will be asked to approve buying the property south of the current library. This item is on the CONSENT AGENDA which means nothing to see here, sit down, shut up and vote. Council members can pull items from the Consent Agenda for discussion. I bet this one gets […]
by: Diane Benjamin I can’t answer that question! I continue to hear stories of obnoxious patrons at the Bloomington Library. Staff and security personnel are evidently not enforcing the rules. The library should be a tranquil place for patrons, not a place to dodge troublemakers. On March 19, 2013, the Library Board approved these rules: […]
by: Diane Benjamin According to Mayor Renner, the total circulation at the Bloomington Public Library has increased from 600,000 to 1,500,000 from 2005 to 2012. The bad economy may be the reason, but an analysis of why hasn’t been done. Regardless, the Library Board thinks they need to build an east side annex. A new […]
