By: Diane Benjamin Bloomington taxpayers have been abused by their government. Government’s job is not to run people’s lives with subsidized business, subsidized economic development, and subsidized entertainment. Taxpayers get to pay for “Quality of Life” as defined by government, it has no resemblance to what most citizens pick as “quality”. Tari Renner has […]
By: Diane Benjamin I’ve heard from reliable sources that John Butler and crew are gone from the Coliseum as of today. I also hear he was busy shredding documents. Police were present, but I have no idea why. City officials were present yesterday. What was Butler paid for the 10-year-old fully depreciated concession equipment? The […]
By: Diane Benjamin Mayor Renner has claimed many times downtown development won’t cost taxpayers a cent up front. Monday the consultant gets a check however. See the 3/28/2016 Bills and Payroll http://www.cityblm.org/index.aspx?page=242&parent=9535 It isn’t a cent – it’s $41,625.75 Page 91: More Payments: $25,000 to Chicago Title for the land purchased on Main Street earlier […]
By: Diane Benjamin I attended the press conference today to announce the new Coliseum Management. The Council will approve it at the next meeting. The only problem I saw was a lack of transparency and no Request For Proposal was issued. David Hales said two other companies were in town last week and another one […]
By: Diane Benjamin Repeat lies often enough and either some people will believe them – or somebody might check the facts! Let’s check some facts! David Hales and the Coliseum management like to spout economic impact numbers. If accurate, the City should be swimming in all the new revenue created by the amazing gift thrust […]
By: Diane Benjamin You have a chance to start over Tari. Ending the relationship with CIAM will give the Coliseum one last chance. Start telling the truth or the reset will flop. Listen to this the interview Tari had yesterday with WJBC’s Dan Swaney: http://www.wjbc.com/2016/03/07/central-illinois-arena-management-withdraws-from-coliseum-contract-talks/ Tari states he didn’t think anything the City was negotiating […]
By: Diane Benjamin Can anybody remember Tari Renner campaigning 4 years ago for transparency at the Coliseum? Got one of those short campaign video clips talking about the Coliseum Tari? Tari claimed that on WJBC this afternoon with Dan Swaney discussing the exit of the current Coliseum management. Both men know about my lawsuit – […]
Update: The Pantagraph article was down, but now it’s back with a few changes. It still dodges the truth. If you are on Facebook, Renner For Mayor is asking for feedback about the Coliseum: https://www.facebook.com/Tari-Renner-for-Mayor-25094354134/?fref=ts By: Diane Benjamin Tari Renner wrote an article for the Pantagraph today and made it look like the City reporter […]
By: Diane Benjamin Bloomington’s illustrious Mayor Renner was interviewed on WJBC yesterday. Hear it here: https://audioboom.com/boos/4222686-tari-renner-bloomington-mayor-2-24-16 Credit goes to Scott Laughlin for calling Renner out on the budget task force sham since all we’ve seen are massive tax and spending proposals ever since. But, it’s only another $20,000,000. If the population is still anywhere near […]
By: Diane Benjamin From the Proposed Budget Book 2: Page 191 http://www.cityblm.org/index.aspx?page=21&parent=9844 Basketball is dead. Look at hockey. In 2016 attendance was budgeted at 2000 per game. Does this look like 2000 people? Or this? This makes those Economic impact numbers immaterial.
By: Diane Benjamin David Hales confirmed last night the City will be extending the Coliseum Management Contract with the failures managing it now. Revenue is millions away from what citizens were told to expect. Profits don’t pay any of the bond payments – citizens do with higher Sales Taxes. Reports from before the Coliseum was […]
By: Diane Benjamin I’m sure you’ve seen Bloomington’s symbol: What the symbol means is listed on the City website and in the presentation for Tuesday night. It isn’t new, no Tari didn’t change or create the definition: According to dictionary.com: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/progressive 1) Favoring or advocating progress, change, improvement, or reform, as opposed to wishing to […]
By: Diane Benjamin I’ve been reading Pantagraph reports this morning from 2000-2004 pertaining to the Coliseum. If you have a Bloomington library card, you can access ProQuest on-line and read them yourself. Search “Sports arena downtown Bloomington”. Unless you are signed into the library system, the Watchtower links below will not work. Yes, there was […]
By: Diane Benjamin It should be obvious to long-time and new readers that David Hales, Mayor Renner, and the City Council aren’t supervising the management of the Coliseum. Why remains to be determined. It’s unconscionable for the City to be negotiating a new contract with CIAM considering all the violations perpetrated by them in the […]
By: Diane Benjamin I will be filing today for a 28 day extension in submitting my Amended Motion. The reason is to discuss the case with possible attorneys. The only information I will reveal now is: they aren’t local they specialize in FOIA cases
By: Diane Benjamin I was contacted over a year ago by a company who saw some of my posts on the Coliseum. YES – there are professional arena managers, your government chose not to talk to any of them. The current Coliseum management continues to under perform based on what citizens were told when the […]
By: Diane Benjamin Justice isn’t swift. Two City lawyers showed up in court today, including the expensive guy from Springfield – Jeff Jurgens. The Coliseum had at least one lawyer present. At least 3 lawyers against little ‘ol me. City lawyer George Boyle referred to David Hales as a hostile witness. Congrats taxpayers. The judge […]
By: Diane Benjamin Since BlnNews has a LOT of new readers, allow me to briefly recap the lawsuit I filed against the City of Bloomington concerning the Coliseum. I filed a Freedom of Information request over a year ago for the concession reports from 2014 I also included a request for payroll records from 2014 […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Bloomington City Council meeting didn’t have much on the agenda last night. That usually means they are preparing big things for the next meeting. Your wallet isn’t safe. Public comment showed the deep divide between citizens and the Council. Think we are ignored by the people in Washington DC and Springfield? […]
By: Diane Benjamin Sick of hearing about Solid Waste funding yet? The Council has been discussing it since at least 2013! Don’t worry, it will end soon when fees are raised again. The neighbor wars are going to be great. Somebody dumps junk in front of your house and you get the bill. You […]
By: Diane Benjamin I don’t know which of these is bigger – you decide. My lawsuit against the City of Bloomington pertaining to payroll and concessions at the Coliseum goes to trial February 5th. Today I issued a subpoena for: David Hales Bloomington City Manager I have a long list of questions he needs to […]
By: Diane Benjamin Hire-Back is more correctly called overtime. Last night’s Bloomington City Council Work Session lamented the costs to the City – $130,000 per year. One thing ALWAYS left out is how much money the City of Bloomington makes from all those kids drinking every Thursday through Saturday! Through October, the City collected almost […]
February 5th is the hearing date – all day. The City is going to claim CIAM does not perform a government function. They will also claim it would hurt them competitively if concession information is released. (No comment yet) They are calling witnesses, so I am too. Stay tuned. By: Diane Benjamin I have […]
By: Diane Benjamin !st Quarter Statement: 1st Quarter 2016 Coliseum Fund P & L CIAM continues to pay themselves 4% of everything listed as Revenue whether it’s actually revenue of not. See Event Income on the first page – 179,036.49. This is money from the acts to reimbursement the Coliseum. Some may be income, but […]
By: Diane Benjamin I’ve heard reports from numerous citizens that attended Tari’s “Open House” Friday night. Tari claimed the City is suing the Coliseum. Meanwhile, Alderman Hauman is telling citizens the new CIAM contract will look much different. Maybe Tari is trying to pass off my lawsuit as his own. Tari? Evidently Tari and […]
By: Diane Benjamin The year-end for the Coliseum was 4/30/15. (7 1/2 months ago) Since then one of these is true: CIAM hasn’t issued any quarterly statements The City of Bloomington is purposely not posting them on their website See this link: http://www.cityblm.org/index.aspx?page=21&parent=6548 There should be a tab for 2016. There isn’t. According to the […]
By: Diane Benjamin It’s no surprise Coliseum financial reports and audits going back to when it opened in 2007 are not on the City of Bloomington website. It’s easy to see why. Luckily, I have copies of what CIAM reported. For the partial year of 2007, total revenue was $3,469,708 For 2008, total revenue was […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Coliseum has been borrowing money from the City. You pay more for water than it costs the City, so excess money is sitting in that fund. At least some of it has gone to cover the losses at the Coliseum. These numbers are straight from the City Financial Statements at the […]
By: Diane Benjamin I have a Status Hearing tomorrow on my court case against the City of Bloomington. This story recaps why I filed: http://blnnews.com/2015/11/02/court-update/ The Freedom of Information Act is very clear. The City of Bloomington wrongfully believes they are exempt, tomorrow I will find out if they plan to call witnesses. I already […]
By: Diane Benjamin I guess Bloomington is now just like Washington DC – drop documents late Friday hoping nobody will notice. The financial statements for both the City and the Coliseum are now posted: http://www.cityblm.org/index.aspx?page=21&parent=36 Remember the outrage and concern expressed when the Coliseum reported a loss of almost $500,000 last year? The audited losses […]
By: Diane Benjamin I just finished reading all 124 pages of the Coliseum Contract. Management Agreement CIAM Only around the first 35 pertain to CIAM’s management, the rest are naming rights contracts, a pre-opening agreement, and some miscellaneous this and that. I did find one very interesting page. Below is the projected INCOME for the […]
By: Diane Benjamin This morning Tari was interviewed on WJBC. Listen here: http://cdn.stationcaster.com/stations/wjbc/media/mpeg/Tari_Renner__Bloomington_mayor-1445262152.mp3 Tari claims he doesn’t know all the details of the presentations to the Council tonight by two developers. He also claims Bloomington is “on the move” and that’s why developers are interested in downtown. Tari has been proclaiming since he was elected […]
By: Diane Benjamin From the Management contract between CIAM and the City of Bloomington: Management Agreement CIAM Page 20 (b) CIA shall assign to the Coliseum a competent, full-lime general manager who shall have no duties other than the day-to-day operation and management of the Coliseum, and a full-time marketing executive to direct, among other […]
By: Diane Benjamin A reader found this in the Illinois Municipal Code: http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/ilcs4.asp?DocName=006500050HArt.+11+Div.+67&ActID=802&ChapterID=14&SeqStart=200000000&SeqEnd=201100000 (65 ILCS 5/11-67-1) (from Ch. 24, par. 11-67-1) Sec. 11-67-1. Subject to a referendum vote, any municipality having a population of 75,000 or less, may acquire, construct, manage, control, maintain, and operate within its corporate limits a municipal coliseum with all necessary […]
One note: 2007-2008 is only for 11 months. I’m trying to locate a 12 month report. It’s NOT on the City website. Revenues are down even more than this report shows. By: Diane Benjamin The below are from statements prepared by Central Illinois Arena Management. These are the un-audited version. The 2007-2008 statement is not […]
By: Diane Benjamin The financial statement issued by Central Illinois Arena Management (CIAM) for 5/1/2015 – 7/31/2015 has never made it to the City website. Your can view it here: 1st Quarter 2016 Coliseum Fund P & L I had to request it by FOIA. There are MANY problems with the report, but I will […]
By: Diane Benjamin The lawsuit I filed to obtain concession and payroll information from the Coliseum was a lot more expense than the last Freedom of Information lawsuit I filed. The County has raised fees! The last time I found a cheap process-server, this time I had to use the Sheriff’s department. The cost doesn’t […]
By: Diane Benjamin City Manager David Hales was on WJBC this morning: http://cdn.stationcaster.com/stations/wjbc/media/mpeg/David_Hales__Bloomington_City_Manager-1442925320.mp3 At least Scott Laughlin watched the meeting! Where did Hales lie? Listen at 16:40. Scott asked Hales if he was happy with the Coliseum management. Hales loves them and went on to say they achieved BREAK EVEN in operations! That was your […]
By: Diane Benjamin If the Council is stupid enough to pass tax increases tonight based on lies from Renner and Hales, I am forced to do their job for them. The reason for the vote tonight is so it can be filed before October 1st and go into effect January 1st. The Council just hired […]
By: Diane Benjamin Tari was on WJBC yesterday talking about the budget: http://cdn.stationcaster.com/stations/wjbc/media/mpeg/Tari_Renner__Bloomington_mayor-1438177885.mp3 He claims the City costs go up 2% every year, the County and Normal just increase taxes and its no big deal. He wants the same powers. Tari and the interviewers agreed that government isn’t run like a business. Nobody mentioned that maybe it […]
