By: Diane Benjamin Below are highlights from the meeting last night: 1) City Manager Jurgens reported the church that collapsed on E Mulberry was demolished because of the emergency of further collapse. The City hopes to recover the cost from the church’s insurance/congregation. It sounds like nothing could be salvaged because the building was unstable: […]
By: Diane Benjamin Agenda: https://d3n9y02raazwpg.cloudfront.net/cityblm/592d1584-a60f-11ef-ab4b-005056a89546-d854eb82-3702-4140-9de6-ac3a8e3f379d-1738965657.pdf Highlights: I asked AI to summarize this plan: It did warn the money isn’t guaranteed. Regular Agenda: The first item usually gets passed with little discussion. Since the PSCRB has not been able to fill 2 seats with younger people (16-21), the language is being changed to non-youth are not […]
By: Diane Benjamin I’m just now getting back to Bloomington’s Monday night meeting! The other big item on the agenda was the 5 year plan for Community Development Block Grant Funds (CDBG). Screen shots from the video: The City of Bloomington conducted a citizen survey. Look at all the staff time spent trying to elicit […]
By: Diane Benjamin Tonight’s Agenda: https://d3n9y02raazwpg.cloudfront.net/cityblm/f70d9db5-5bbe-11ee-ae13-0050569183fa-791fe512-602c-4d20-98c8-ecdbbed39134-1719001395.pdf There is a public hearing on re-allocating federal money for a park: . This statement is in the attachment to this item. It shows a huge problem with government: Government “needs” are frequently not the “needs” people identify. Did you “need” a water park or just two new pools? […]
By: Diane Benjamin Interest rates were kept artificially low for far too long. It allowed everyone access to cheap money that allowed living above their means – including government who took advantage of unrealistic money value. See this link for an historical look at mortgage interest rates: https://money.usnews.com/loans/mortgages/articles/historical-mortgage-rates Government and the Federal Reserve created the […]
By: Diane Benjamin The 1/22/24 payroll showed 880 employees. Pay rate averaged $17.90 per hour for seasonal employees. https://www.bloomingtonil.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/30014/638410997409630000 Tonight’s Bills and Payroll shows 953. Pay rate averaged $18.22 per hour for seasonal employees. https://www.bloomingtonil.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/30070 Seasonal hours worked increased by 1,615. So, people are forced to take temporary jobs because full time jobs aren’t available? On the Agenda for […]
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 See the packet here: https://normal.org/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/4254 The weirdest thing on the agenda is Normal buying a house at 316 N. Glenn for $12,500. Besides being in Chris Koos’ neighborhood, the house is appraised for tax purposes at $22,119. That is 1/3 of the actual value. Property taxes haven’t been paid, over $9,600 of […]
By: Diane Benjamin I talked to a Bloomington resident yesterday who lives in an area that was severely affected by sewage spewing from drains in his basement. He is more interested in getting the problem fixed than financial help. I sent him the links below to information to share with his neighbors. Amazingly most citizens […]
By: Diane Benjamin Last night’s Bloomington City Council meeting was over 3 hours, it included a Township meeting that started at 5:00. The longest discussion was about the Community Development Block Grant funds from the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Stop for a second and think about this program. The Feds take your money […]
By: Diane Benjamin http://bloomingtonil.iqm2.com/Citizens/FileOpen.aspx?Type=1&ID=1075&Inline=True Delayed because of Memorial Day, tonight’s meeting starts with a Proclamation against gun violence: See the whole document Renner will probably read on PDF page 11. Note the last 3 words above. Gun violence isn’t caused by guns, the person holding the gun is the problem. We don’t value unborn life […]
If course they didn’t say NO. Details tomorrow. By: Diane Benjamin http://normal.org/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/3633 The big item on the agenda tonight is this: Did you have flooding this weekend? There were videos on line showing nearly impassable streets in Normal, evidently that’s not unusual. Instead of essential services at a time when revenues are way down and […]
By: Diane Benjamin Two new trustees will be sworn into office at 7:00. They were elected because Chris Koos did not want them on the Council. Stan Nord and Karyn Smith will need the support of citizens to stop this madness! http://www.normal.org/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/3285 Look at this spending. Get the idea government and quasi-government agencies know how […]
By: Diane Benjamin Agenda and documentation: http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=21652 The agenda is slammed with final spending from the budget that expires 4/30/19 and spending from the new budget just passed. Either this never made the news or I missed it, a fire at Lake Bloomington destroyed two vehicles that are being replaced. The fire was in March […]
