By: Diane Benjamin Town of Normal employees didn’t get Christmas gift cards this year. In 2017 Normal spent $25,048, in 2018 $25,040, in 2019 $23,920. https://blnnews.com/2017/11/20/sit-down-normal/ https://blnnews.com/2018/11/16/normal-taxing-again/ https://blnnews.com/2019/12/23/normal-giving-away-your-money-2/ This year is what citizens who aren’t allowed to work by their government expect: $0.00. More Good News: The far left isn’t afraid to tell you what […]
By: Diane Benjamin Monday night Normal’s “professional staff” will present a plan to force their business owners to comply with Pritzker’s edicts. They will say it is the Carrot and Stick approach, but it’s really extortion. I wonder what Pritzker has promised in return for enforcing what can’t be enforced under the law? He knows […]
By: Diane Benjamin Below is the STATEWIDE outbreak locations for the last 30 days. What’s missing? Restaurants and Bars. No, they aren’t all closed, some municipalities aren’t complying with meaningless Executive Orders and some businesses chose to stay open. They are being targeted because they are easy and without the resources to fight back. If […]
By: Diane Benjamin Congrats to Sen Jason Barickman for standing up to Pritzker yesterday and for small business owners here. We elect representatives to make laws but Governor Pritzker decided he is god and representative government is over-rated. We has forbidden our representatives from having a voice in the affairs of Illinois. It’s almost like […]
By: Diane Benjamin The best line in a really good movie. It applies here. First: I’ve added some email comments from parents to this story: https://blnnews.com/2020/12/10/parents-your-forum/ The stories are heartbreaking and the actions of school boards, superintendents, teacher’s unions, Pritzker or whoever else is keeping kids from being in school should be considered criminal. They […]
By: Diane Benjamin Many of the locally elected aldermen and trustees are inflicted with the same disease. They believe everything they are told instead of looking at facts for themselves. They weren’t elected to represent government staff, they should be representing the people. There were two glaring examples during the Town of Normal meeting last […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Work Session proved Normal wants to shut down businesses with FINES. Attorney Brian Day claims Restore Illinois is law even though the legislature never passed it. He needs to be the first employee replaced when new leadership is installed on May 1st. Watch the first 45 minutes, it will prove incumbents […]
More information: https://blnnews.com/2020/12/07/due-process-normal/ By: Diane Benjamin https://normal.org/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/3828 At 6:15 tonight the “professional staff” will present options to the Council to retaliate legally against any business that is not kneeling to Pritzker’s Restore Illinois edicts. Since the legislature didn’t pass it, not complying isn’t against any laws and can’t be prosecuted. Pritzker can’t get compliance so […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Normal Town council is meeting Monday night. Agenda: https://normal.org/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/3830 Chris Koos needs to explain why on November 2nd he read a statement at Council which said complaints concerning violations of Pritzker’s order would be referred to the Health Department . . THEN: 13 days later Pam Reece is sending the Police […]
By: Diane Benjamin https://www.normal.org/27/Government The Council meeting below is from 11/2/2020. Mayor Chris Koos states for the record Town policy is to refer any violations of Pritzker’s Executive Orders to the Health Department. He does not say the police will be sent to investigate because he knows no laws are being broken. Just hit play, […]
See story update: https://blnnews.com/2020/12/02/body-cam-video-at-maggie-mileys-denied/ By: Diane Benjamin A comment made by radio host Steve Suess during his November 21st show needed an investigation. https://www.spreaker.com/user/cities929/november-21-2020 Fast forward to 87:00. Steve talked about an establishment in Normal that was shut down by Normal police for continuing in-door dining. He didn’t ask the owner for permission to use […]
By: Diane Benjamin Remember the Responsible Cites PAC? https://blnnews.com/2020/09/02/the-document-you-must-see/ Mayoral candidates Chris Koos in Normal and Mike Straza in Bloomington had to pretend to leave the group when they decided to run. Now Responsible Cities is pretending they don’t already know what candidates they are going to endorse. For mayor it will be Chris Koos […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Supreme Court ruled the Constitution doesn’t get thrown out the window because of a virus – no matter how deadly people think it is. Justice Neil Gorsuch strongly criticized the court’s previous approach. He wrote: “It is time—past time—to make plain that, while the pandemic poses many grave challenges, there is […]
By: Diane Benjamin Of course we know the local elections are not non-partisan. Koos and Renner don’t hide the fact they are Democrats. Carrillo and Crabill don’t hide they are socialists. Scott Preston is involved with the local GOP party. The association list goes on and on. When elected, ideology isn’t suddenly thrown out the […]
By: Diane Benjamin Koos had already posted on his official Mayor’s Facebook page that if re-elected he wouldn’t take the wage increase he talked the council into passing. That alone is campaigning on public property, but he did it again at the meeting last night. He got the date wrong – his wage increase was […]
By: Diane Benjamin Remember the property at 1404 Ft Jesse the Town of Normal sold to the wife of an employee? Remember a sign putting it up for sale wasn’t even put on the property? Remember a real estate agent wasn’t used to sell the property? One would think the Town would of at least […]
By: Diane Benjamin Normal Mayor Chris Koos posted this on Facebook yesterday: Maybe Koos doesn’t need the money since his business wasn’t affected by the shutdowns that destroyed many others. Didn’t he say his business is up since more people are biking? This is the Op-Ed Koos is referring to: https://www.pantagraph.com/opinion/columnists/justin-m-boyd-mayor-salary-limits-our-selection/article_253139e1-6b21-5b57-b164-2dd0ccd184f6.html Is Justin is trying […]
By: Diane Benjamin See 25:19 Karyn Smith is reading a prepared statement during Trustee comments. The topic is COVID and the newly announced proclamations from Pritzker. Having swallowed all of the democrat talking points, she goes on and on about keeping people safe. She thinks the virus has to be under control before people will […]
By: Diane Benjamin A reader just found this story from May: https://www.bicycleretailer.com/retail-news/2020/05/13/exclusive-sale-greets-protesters-illinois-bike-shop The story is about the citizens who showed up to protest Chris Koos’ business being open while many citizens weren’t allowed to make a living. It even includes his now infamous image taunting the protesters: BUT, The story has a quote from Koos […]
By: Diane Benjamin Why are they excited about moving to Lexington? No idea, but their customers should be: Driving an easy 15 minutes north will save you 2%! Rent and property taxes are likely cheaper in Lexington meaning merchandise could be cheaper. Is the exodus beginning? .
By: Diane Benjamin Yes, people screw up sentences and words all the time. They normally don’t post videos of themselves doing it on their Facebook page. Chris Koos did. The video below is closed captioned. If you want to hear sound go to his Mayor Facebook page. He confuses his mask with his glasses. Remember, […]
By: Diane Benjamin Monday night Normal voted to accept a new bike master plan. It will require vast amounts of money in the future to add trails all over Normal. Mayor and BIKE SHOP owner Chris Koos did not recuse himself from the discussion. One person at public comment even claimed biking is way up […]
by: Diane Benjamin First a little history. From the Pantagraph How Time Flies 1/21/2020: Have your property taxes gone down? Responsible adults know being able to make the payments is not a good philosophy to live by. If you want to make the neighbors jealous by living in a mansion with two expensive vehicles parked […]
By: Diane Benjamin I bet the Council will still refuse to meet in person. Chris Koos can knock on doors however for his campaign. https://normal.org/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=2163
By: Diane Benjamin The second installment of your property taxes are due on 9/17. The check you will be writing is higher because of many things, but a BIG one is Tax Increment Financing. TIF’s The Uptown TIF is Normal’s huge one. The 2020 comprehensive report isn’t available yet, so I have to use the […]
By: Diane Benjamin http://normal.org/DocumentCenter/View/17188/CAFR20-FINAL-DOC See the below on PDF pages 177 and following. The only good news is the first one will be paid off next year. I added the interest rates in the lower left corner. The loans with no payments for many years carry high interest rates likely for that reason. This isn’t […]
By: Diane Benjamin Much of the meeting was spent talking about the 3/31/2020 financial statements and the financial trends report. Neither are on-line yet, so they aren’t worth discussing much here. Many accolades were thrown at staff for doing a good job preparing for the audit. I agree, but isn’t that what they get paid […]
By: Diane Benjamin Normal met for almost 4 hours last night. See the 6:00 pm Work Session story here: https://blnnews.com/2020/09/09/stealing-more-from-you-the-town-of-normal/ I’m going to start with the END of the regular meeting since I might have been one of the few still awake watching it. Chris Koos is attempting to fix his image since he was […]
By: Diane Benjamin When you vote for progressives your taxes will go up. Utopia takes cold hard cash – YOURS. During the Work Session at 6:00 pm last night the only topic was increasing the gas tax. The theme at this meeting and the 7:00 meeting was “pots” of money. Think about how you handle […]
By: Diane Benjamin Last Wednesday Normal passed ordinances limiting gatherings to 10 or fewer people within the ISU campus area and additional bar and restaurant social distancing restrictions. This was in response to the skyrocketing infection rate of COVID in the campus and Uptown area. Town hall is located near the epicenter of the outbreak […]
By: Diane Benjamin Start with One Normal Plaza. STAFF convinced the Council to instigate zoning changes. The area residents only want ONE THING – alcohol sales banned in the park. Drive through – it’s a park like setting with narrow roads and family atmosphere. They want it to stay a tranquil place. STAFF refused to […]
By: Diane Benjamin Marc saved me the trouble of writing further comments on the DOCUMENT I showed yesterday in this story: https://blnnews.com/2020/09/02/the-document-you-must-see/ The video has captions, watch it with or without the sound. Marc has researched the PAC and knows the contributors and how they have spent money so far. He proves the PAC is […]
By: Diane Benjamin Some politicians have a really hard time leaving office. Progressives always have just one more project to complete, and then another, and then another. Progress must be made – problem is it’s “their vision” and not shared by the people paying the bills. Anybody craving an underpass? Chris Koos has joined this […]
By: Diane Benjamin If the massive debt and failure to listen to citizens isn’t bad enough, ISU students will remember Mayor Chris Koos thinks he’s a doctor with the right to spew edicts that must be obeyed. He doesn’t, but that doesn’t stop him or the compliant businesses owners terrified of this tyrant. Only the […]
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 Executive Orders used to at least be signed by Chris Koos. No longer! Now the Town of Normal is issuing edicts from on high as press releases. Your elected Council Trustees had NO input and were not asked to agree or disagree. This is the latest: https://www.normal.org/DocumentCenter/View/16779/Outdoor-Dining-Press-Release—extension-announced-through-November-1 Businesses affected by actions […]
By: Diane Benjamin The conversation is continuing on the post Chris Koos made to Facebook. See the original story: https://blnnews.com/2020/07/19/koos-out-of-touch-or-out-of-his-mind/ Below are excerpts, Joel Studebaker got into lots of topics. The one that interested me was the empty first floor at 1 Uptown Circle. Note Cheryl Gaines claims renting it is up to the owner […]
By: Diane Benjamin Why would the mayor of any Town post this: He posted it Saturday night, if you want to see all the responses go to his Facebook page. I will just pick out a few: I don’t see where Koos ever answered any of the questions, there are plenty more including a comment […]
By: Diane Benjamin Tuesday Chris Koos had to run to his favorite taxpayer funded media – WGLT – to complain about Stan Nord. The issue: Stan won’t rubber stamp my appointees! https://www.wglt.org/normal-mayor-pushes-back-appointment-opposition The article eventually got to Karyn Smith who also spoke about not having time to research who Koos’ Connect Transit Board appointee is. […]
By: Diane Benjamin I tried to wrap up most of what happened Monday night in this story and failed. One more story coming and some things still won’t be covered. Link to all previous stories: https://blnnews.com/2020/07/08/jumping-around-normals-meeting/ This one is number SIX. This was on the agenda: EVERY person on the Council, except Stan Nord, voted […]
