By: Diane Benjamin If plans to build a fancy underpass for 10’s of millions of dollars only for pedestrians while vehicles are forced to sit waiting from trains to clear the tracks on Linden and College doesn’t prove common sense doesn’t exist in Normal, keep reading. From NextDoor: . I’ve written numerous stories about Normal’s […]
By: Diane Benjamin 1) Since Cody Hendricks accepted campaign contributions from 2 labor unions, City code prevents him from voting on any Project Labor Resolution that will benefit unions. How is that not a Conflict of Interest? Of course he can’t render a fair opinion. See this story for sources and details of the contributions: […]
By: Diane Benjamin The part of Constitution Trail where tent city is located now looks more like a garbage dump. Homeless people don’t trash their home, these people don’t care because they are mentally ill. More downtown business owners need to speak up, I hear stories of threats and crimes happening. Stay silent – lose […]
By: Diane Benjamin Various people have sent pictures of tents along Constitution Trail but they were taken from a vehicle and difficult to see. Since I was in town today I went to take my own. The trail from Lincoln street east of Evergreen cemetery appears to stop/start there. No sidewalks or parking so I […]
By: Diane Benjamin The actual City Council meeting was only about 30 minutes long. The video is about 43 minutes because the City plays commercials before and after now. Surena Fish spoke at Public Comment. The downtown business owners held a meeting last night with the Bloomington police concerning the problems with vagrants downtown. Listen […]
By: Diane Benjamin Below are the tents right next to Constitution Trail and Evergreen Cemetery – h/t a reader. I’m told the tents under the bridge have disappeared! More pics from the original tent city:
By: Diane Benjamin Tent city isn’t only in the original location. I hear more tents are located under the bridge south of downtown, pics needed readers! I hear another tent city is in Normal along Division St. Send pics of that one too. Tents have also spread east behind Pipe Works. This pic doesn’t show […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Council met yesterday afternoon after canceling Monday night’s meeting due to ice. It was short even with 3 Public Comments. Just hit play below to hear the first two. The new hockey owners made a brief presentation with slides that aren’t on video. The person who films at night usually switches the view so people […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Bloomington police are still hiding information. Evidently they want sued. h/t a reader who lives by Constitution Trail This isn’t a one time occurence. Frequently a lot of grass is missed when Bloomington mows along the trail because the mower is too big. If the grass isn’t missed it gets scalped […]
By: Diane Benjamin Remember this mowing fail from July 20th? https://blnnews.com/2022/07/20/5-things-you-need-to-know-5/ The next day it was cleaned up: (Thanks to the same reader who sent the above) The pictures below are from a different reader. These are a little north of the ones above. The reader claims this hasn’t been touched in months. Normal put […]
By: Diane Benjamin h/t Doug Fansler Remember these? https://blnnews.com/2021/08/19/mia-common-sense-in-normal/ Doug FOIA’d Normal for how many the Town has purchased and how much they cost. Since 2017 they have ordered a bunch of them. The Town has ONE sign at 6 locations. The signs and stands evidently don’t last long. 8/2/17 Bought 2 for $342.45 8/22/17 […]
By: Diane Benjamin Remember last year when the trails in Normal were plowed before the streets? https://blnnews.com/2021/02/18/fly-on-the-wall-trail-snow-removed-before-streets/ I remember staff saying Parks and Rec had special equipment just for snow removal on the trail that can’t be used on the roads. Trust is earned, does the Town of Normal earn yours? That special equipment must […]
By: Diane Benjamin Remember this sign in the middle of the Raab Road? This one is bolted to the road. It’s gone. Normal should be putting up stop signs on the trail, but they won’t. That would make too much sense. Was it a Town snow plow?
By: Diane Benjamin A few choice bills: https://www.cityblm.org/home/showpublisheddocument/27117/637703387304300000 I wonder why the Coliseum is still a separate audit! Still no reports from BCPA events, what are they hiding? I wonder why they paid a whole year instead of monthly? What was investigated? From the meeting agenda: http://bloomingtonil.iqm2.com/Citizens/FileOpen.aspx?Type=1&ID=1137&Inline=True The only problem I have with the Ward […]
By: Diane Benjamin See this story from earlier today is you missed it: https://blnnews.com/2021/08/19/mia-common-sense-in-normal/ Below is the text of an email from August 2020 to the Normal Town Council, the author was purposely redacted. This email had been sent to Town Planner Mercy Davidson in November of 2019. Date: Mon, Nov 18, 2019 at 8:54 […]
By: Diane Benjamin Instead of expecting people using Constitution Trail to STOP before crossing busy roads, Normal has put the below in the middle of some streets expecting vehicles traveling much faster to slam on their breaks for bikes and pedestrians: Normal has these on Raab, Shelbourne, Lincoln, Willow and Locust. People who don’t drive […]
By: Diane Benjamin 1) Buying a Rivian? How are you going to charge it? According to this story Rivian will connect you with a company called Qmerit: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/qmerit-ev-charger-installations-homes-141700627.html You can sign up and pay seamlessly on line to get a charging system installed in your home! How much will it cost? https://www.qmeritcharging.com/owner-faqs Installation: $750 to […]
By: Diane Benjamin Below is a map of Normal’s Uptown TIF. Look at the right side, see the area west of Oak St that is not in the TIF? That is Chris Koos’ 2 businesses, he rents the space. https://mcleanil.devnetwedge.com/parcel/view/1427308009/2020 Why were his two businesses carved out of the TIF boundaries? Because it would be […]
By: Diane Benjamin Story from 2018: https://www.adaptbn.com/home/2018/6/25/going-local-vitesse-cycle-shop Excerpt: “Constitution Trail has been a big benefit to biking and to bike sales,” said Chris Koos, owner of Vitesse Cycle Shop in Normal. I bet you thought all those Bike Trail extensions Normal keeps making their citizens pay for while the roads are less than adequate were […]
https://www.normal.org/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=2268 The Normal Town Council has never voted to build the underpass, that hasn’t stop “staff” from making it happen anyway. Citizens now have a chance to comment. Your comments will supposedly be forwarded to the Federal Railroad Administration. Read the description at the link above and then email comments to: jcomfort@normal.org Utopia is only […]
By: Diane Benjamin Numerous items Normal citizens need to know: Below is part of an email written by Stan Nord. The yellow is City Manager Pam Reece’s response to his email. Pam does not understand citizens saw Target being looted and the destruction to police vehicles while the police did nothing. They know Mayor Chris […]
Monday night the Town of Normal is finally “fixing” their Public Comment Policy. The Town is making sure it as difficult as possible for citizens: PDSF page 105: https://www.normal.org/DocumentCenter/View/12612/Council-Packet–PDF Right now citizens aren’t allowed to talk about anything not on the agenda. That was obviously illegal and the Town knew it. Instead of just having […]
By: Diane Benjamin Ward 6 had no representation last night – Jenn Carrillo decided not to show up and nobody said a word about her missing except in Public Comment. Maybe Jenn had to get ready for her court hearing today: She is charged with disobeying a police officer and improper parking on a roadway […]
By: Diane Benjamin http://normal.org/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/3733 Before the 7:00 meeting the Council is holding a Work Session. At 6:00 they will discuss raising the gas tax. The Town wants more money for Connect Transit, a service most will never use and those that need it no longer can. Expect other items, the “professional staff” and Koos need […]
By: Diane Benjamin The purpose of the meeting last night was only to approve the Town’s share of funding so a grant could be obtained to fix West College. The construction includes extending the trail. No details were allowed to be discussed like how a railroad track would be crossed and still be ADA compliant. […]
