By: Diane Benjamin One thing I’ve learned is Republicans never do what they say they will do in a campaign while Democrats lie over and over and over trying to get you to believe what they say. Just watch them for a while, you will notice it too. (Think: If you like your doctor . […]
By: Diane Benjamin Monday night the Bloomington City Council approved this: In case you forgot, the Council approved this payment at the March 27th meeting – PDF Page 253 http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=12448 The documentation for this meeting states the YWCA needs to money to continue operations until the end of their fiscal year. They are transporting people […]
By: Diane Benjamin I found this while looking for something else. The first time I remember writing about the Water Tower Bloomington built in Normal was August 2015: https://blnnews.com/2015/08/04/more-ineptness/ I have no idea how much money was spent on that project, but many MILLIONS is probably close. The only thing I knew for sure is […]
By: Diane Benjamin All the City of Bloomington had to do to prevent paying the penalties below was change when accumulated sick and vacation got paid to employees. David Hales, Steve Stockton, and Tari Renner refused to change their policies, so the below was paid as a penalty. These employees were allowed to spike their […]
By: Diane Benjamin On the agenda for Monday night: Packet PDF page 124 http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=12448 The City is planning to donate a van to the YWCA – value is between $3,414 -$5,115 What State statute gives the City the right to give away a taxpayer owned asset to a non-profit? Aren’t they discriminating against every other […]
By: Diane Benjamin Illinois Open Meetings Act Law: http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/ilcs3.asp?ActID=84&ChapterID=2 Monday night the Bloomington City Council is approving minutes dated between 1998 and 2009. http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=12450 Not approving minutes as required by law isn’t just something the City did a long time ago. Here is another example from April 11, 2016: September 21, 2015 just happens to […]
By: Diane Benjamin First: A question: How can Tari campaign on increasing diversity on the Boards and Commissions when for the 2nd meeting in a row he is re-appointing the same people? http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=12448 Monday night the current Bloomington City Council is being asked to approved ancient minutes from when most of them were not members […]
By: Diane Benjamin Everything is scripted in the City of Bloomington to make sure citizens only know what the City wants them to know. Unlike Tari Renner’s claims of transparency, very little exists. Try filing a FOIA request and see how long it takes, what is denied, and how much is redacted. It has gotten […]
By: Diane Benjamin Citizens need to know why there is no money for government to do their job without constantly raising taxes. Retired employee PENSIONS, in addition to Social Security and Medicare, and spiked pensions are the problem. Below are just some of the Monthly pensions payments retired City employees are currently receiving. Note, it […]
By: Diane Benjamin A reader asked me yesterday what the debt for the City of Bloomington looks like since Tari Renner became mayor. Another reader did the research for me. Below are two tables he sent to me: Source: PDF page 36 http://www.cityblm.org/home/showdocument?id=12330 . Source: PDF page 33 http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=7479 The biggest difference between the two […]
By: Diane Benjamin Cuts could be easy, but nobody at the City wants to cut! It is impossible to suggest specific budget cuts for Bloomington because the data isn’t available. The City issued hundreds of pages saying where the money is being spent without any details. Was there a line item last year for the […]
By: Diane Benjamin Bloomington finally released the financial statements for April 30, 2016. The TIF report still hasn’t been released and neither has a separate audited statement on the Coliseum. Maybe another year? Two? At this point, what difference does it make? It’s much easier to read the information from the Comptroller’s site. Total Full […]
By: Diane Benjamin 2017 numbers are from PDF page 120 http://www.cityblm.org/home/showdocument?id=10626 2018 numbers are from PDF page 108 http://www.cityblm.org/home/showdocument?id=12224 . . . . Total revenue projections are down from last year $211,282, but the entire budget increased $6,000,000 . .. . . . . . Personal income in 2015 was less than 2014 […]
By: Diane Benjamin I really hope you enjoy seeing huge empty or almost empty buses running all over Bloomington-Normal because you are paying for them! The January finances are on online: http://www.connect-transit.com/documents/February%2028,%202017%20Regular%20Board%20Meeting%20Binder1.pdf Income in January was a whooping $110, 632. Expenses were $1,052,685. Anybody see a problem? Anybody see the same problem connect Transit has […]
By: Diane Benjamin I can’t believe the comments on Facebook from people saying they never vote in primaries because they don’t want to say what party they are voting for. Aside from the FACT yesterdays primary didn’t have parties, that is the lamest excuse possible. The GREAT candidates lose in the primaries because of that […]
By: Diane Benjamin I get delicious free water from a well. You folks in town have to pay for it. I bet you think your government priced that water according to what it cost them to bring it to your house. You might even be okay if they added a little to the price to […]
By: Diane Benjamin I started this project to show how much David Hales has increased spending on Administration. The 2017 budget numbers could be immaterial since spending over budget could be happening. The 4/30/2016 financial statements are still a secret, the 2017 statements won’t be available until at least October. All of the page numbers […]
By: Diane Benjamin By now readers know sometimes laws matter, sometimes they don’t. It all depends on how the people who are charged with enforcing them “feel”. Remember these signs popping up in yards and schools? (Do the schools still have them?) What does the Bloomington City Code say about signs in yards? (The website […]
By: Diane Benjamin From: http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=11982 Tari Renner is right – the City is paying around 750 employees! Look through the list and note all the temporary labor purchased! Big government will never have enough employees, meanwhile service gets worse because BIG is inefficient. Local businesses need to ask why “Buy Local” doesn’t apply to the […]
By: Diane Benjamin The west-side police substation is back on the agenda of the Bloomington City Council Monday, but now it’s called a community center: Black Lives Matter still isn’t happy. Even though the City changed the name, BLM is still calling the house a substation on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/240524299725464/ BLM is organizing people to attend […]
By: Diane Benjamin From Monday’s Bills and Payroll: http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=11904 The US Conference of Mayors was January 17-19 in Washington DC. I wonder if Tari stayed for today’s inauguration? Funny, he isn’t listed as attending the conference: mayors attending . What is an EAC event and why are your taxes paying for prizes? . The Pepsi […]
By: Diane Benjamin Citizens deserve to know what’s happening in their city. This post is meant to inform voters. Is BLM trying to run the Bloomington police force themselves? You decide. Why Bloomington and not Normal? The proposals below were created by the local Black Lives Matter movement. You can see the entire document that […]
By: Diane Benjamin Yesterday the Pantagraph did a story about County union employee salary increases: http://www.pantagraph.com/news/local/mclean-county-highway-workers-get-raises/article_e1a807b1-6dcc-535b-83dd-f39b4b00079f.html This paragraph is in the story: Two problems: The City of Bloomington has been hit by at least 24 penalties amounting to around $1.6 million. (it could be more by now) That’s not “several”. Second, the County negotiated with […]
By: Diane Benjamin All of the information below is from the Illinois Comptroller’s website. See it HERE Would you invest in a company that fails to issue Financial Reports? Why would anybody invest in Bloomington – they haven’t issued last year’s statements yet. Tonight there will be a presentation on how this year is going […]
By: Diane Benjamin Monday night Mayor Renner is giving his “State of the City” address. I bet everything is wonderful and under his leadership Bloomington is making great progress toward bankruptcy, oops – I mean prosperity for all! I wonder if he will inform the people paying the bills why the financial reports from almost […]
By: Diane Benjamin http://www.cityblm.org/Home/Components/Calendar/Event/5746/17?backlist=%2Fhome . For New Year’s, all employees get a day and a half off. . . . . Make sure you are sitting down, stay calm, if not – walk away now. You were warned! http://www.cityblm.org/government/advanced-components/calendar . . Yes, Virginia -Santa brought City employees all day […]
By: Diane Benjamin Here Are The 13 Most Dangerous Places In Illinois After Dark As the sun goes down, crime tends to rise, and in these Illinois towns, you’ll want to be especially cautious. In no particular order, here are 13 places in The Prairie State that are quite dangerous after dark: http://www.onlyinyourstate.com/illinois/most-dangerous-towns-illinois/ East St […]
By: Diane Benjamin The taxpayers of Bloomington have no idea how much the Coliseum LOST last year because the City doesn’t want you to know. The year-end for the Coliseum was April 30th, no income and expense information has been released. (normally it is released in October) The Coliseum was a mess, so the City […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Central Illinois Regional Airport has their new website: CIRA.com Meeting dates, agenda’s, minutes etc can be found under “About the Airport” and then “Airport Authority”. Since I haven’t had time to follow them lately, I clicked on the November minutes and found this under Public Comments: The address is Bloomington. It’s […]
By: Diane Benjamin I have no idea why Bloomington needed a new website. The one they had worked far better than others in the area – especially the McLean County website. They built a new one anyway. Since I am a programmer, I know it’s very difficult to find all the problems when launching extensive […]
By: Diane Benjamin I hope they aren’t done with it – because it doesn’t go where you click. Why did Bloomington need a new website? The old one was pretty good except for the missing information. What was missing? The financial statements for the year ending 4/30/16 Any reports of tax receipts since Hales quit […]
By: Diane Benjamin PCard Spending for approval tonight: Why are taxpayers forced to fund holiday gifts for a Museum? Anybody know where these Christmas lights are? The Fire Department did the traveling this time: The minutes from the November Council retreat are included in the packet: HERE They start on PDF page 38. EVERY retreat […]
By: Diane Benjamin Normal threw away up to $2.5 million last week to get Portillos to locate in Normal. The Normal Town Council was told Portillos would be a destination – people would drive from 100’s of miles away. Meanwhile, Champaign got one for free. Who is at fault? Listen to Kyle Ham, CEO of […]
By: Diane Benjamin . November was not a good month for idiots with guns in the City of Bloomington. Congrats to the Bloomington Police for making two arrests in separate incidents. . Below is a list of incidents I compiled from various sources, I could have easily missed some. The home invasion on 11/9 is […]
By: Diane Benjamin See Part 1 here: https://blnnews.com/2016/11/30/connect-transit-lunacy-part-1/ See the Board packet here: November-22-2016-regular-board-packet Below is a few items paid in September and October. Remember, they knew by this time the State of Illinois was late paying them and they were in danger of running out of money. I have no idea what a Vault […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Bloomington City Council voted last night to spend $894,537.07 over 5 years for timekeeping and scheduling software. Claims were made about reducing a massive amount of paperwork. Nobody bothered to ask how many employees will no longer be needed with this massive reduction of time and paperwork. Nicole showed a pic […]
By: Diane Benjamin The 2016 fiscal year for Bloomington ended April 30, 2016. The only financial information issued so far is the treasurer’s report: http://www.cityblm.org/index.aspx?page=21&parent=36 Issuing financial reports normally takes a ridiculous 6 months. That would be October. It’s now the end of November and still nothing. Did the City finance department screw up the […]
By: Diane Benjamin If the massive tax and spending increases Renner and Council have handed taxpayers aren’t evidence of a need for HUGE changes in Bloomington – Monday night you give you another reason. A 3rd TIF District! Did Bloomington elect a Chris Koos for mayor? Koos has FIVE TIF districts. He has buried Normal […]
By: Diane Benjamin Tari’s signature on a City of Bloomington document – PDF page 8: http://www.cityblm.org/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=11529 Another City Signature from September PDF page 5: http://www.cityblm.org/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=11309 Below are various pages from the petitions submitted by Renner. http://www.becvote.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/TariRenner.pdf Look at the printing. Sometimes the A’s are capital, sometimes they aren’t. The same applies to E’s. Now look […]
By: Diane Benjamin I remember great angst from the Council during discussion on privatizing garbage in Bloomington. Even citizens wanted government service because private wouldn’t be as good. Seriously? Private MUST succeed because it’s their money at risk. Government has no incentive to provide the best service at the best price because they DON’T have […]
