By: Diane Benjamin I’ve written almost 7600 stories since 2012. Most I can not remember, luckily readers do remember. The story below is one readers remembered that I didn’t. Chris Koos is infamous for his insider deals that benefit friends and a compliant Council that allow the fleecing of taxpayers. I can’t possibly remember all […]
By: Diane Benjamin Do you want a mayor of Bloomington with an agenda or one that listens to citizens? Mike Straza was on Cities 92.9 last night with Steve Suess. Listen to the beginning of the podcast: Straza worked on Chris Koos’ re-lection campaign 4 years ago. Much worse, Straza was on Dave Shields team […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Attorney General finally got around to ruling on a slam dunk Request for Reviews filed by Marc Tiritilli in November 2019. Even though the law gives them 90 days to rule, the Attorney General doesn’t comply. While Chris Koos flagrantly violated Marc’s 1st Amendment rights, the rest of the Council sat […]
By: Diane Benjamin h/t a reader Dave Shields must still be hurting from losing to Stan Nord 2 years ago: Sorry Dave, but it appears your opinion doesn’t carry a lot of weight. That doesn’t stop Dave from working for his good buddy Chris Koos however. Does Davie know Town elections are supposedly non-partisan? Sure […]
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 Normal Mayor Chris Koos isn’t happy with Stan Nord for doing a video showing how far veterans have to travel to get to the VA Clinic if they ride the bus. See this story from yesterday: https://blnnews.com/2020/07/15/veterans-dishonored-by-connect-transit/ To Koos everything is political. Koos obviously has no intent of solving problems, this one […]
By: Diane Benjamin h/t some readers Must read story from yesterday: https://blnnews.com/2020/03/29/why-dave-shields-defends-koos/ This story won’t make any sense without reading the first story. There is more to know. Start with the Matter Family Foundation: Stephen S. and Anne E. K. Matter Foundation Family foundation Since this is a non-profit, tax returns are on line. See […]
By: Diane Benjamin Chris Koos obviously wanted Dave Shields on the Council – Shields was on the ballot for the 2019 elections. Luckily he lost. Keep reading to see why that was a good thing. Go all the way back to 2005. 701 Broadway was a fraternity house and it “was a habitual source of […]
By: Diane Benjamin Last night’s Normal Town Council meeting will take more than one story. It’s becoming really easy to tell the political leanings of people just through one thing: Do they put people in boxes? People who lean left, even if they claim to be Republican, segregate people by all possible means: gender, race, […]
The ornaments are for sale: By: Dine Benjamin https://normal.org/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/3467 Since the video had “technical difficulties” just during public comment at the last meeting, the minutes for approval tonight have a TINY bit of info on each person who spoke – emphasis on TINY: All of the speakers with the exception of Dave Shields were against […]
By: Diane Benjamin During the recent 2 day Normal Council meeting with Lyle Sumek they used a workbook. I FOIA’d this year’s and last years. So far I haven’t made it past page 12 of the current one. (It’s 334 pages long!) Section 1 Normal – A Championship Team (Lyle’s name, not mine) This section […]
By: Diane Benjamin Normal Town Council last night: First to speak was Craig Stimpert. (4:27) The topic was pensions funding and the constant raising of property taxes to fund them. Craig called this Town practice unsustainable. The Town uses property taxes because they refuse to make pension funding part of the budget. He called out […]
By: Diane Benjamin Chris Koos buddy Dave Shields is livid he got beat in the last election. See 12:50. He decided to tear into Stan Nord for “lying” at Public Comment. Hey Dave – you said New York leads the states in out migration. According to this link New York is 4th, New Jersey is […]
By: Diane Benjamin If you don’t like the direction Normal is taking change the people taking it there. RC Bride seems to be touting Normal’s AAA credit rating as one of the reasons he should be reelected. He doesn’t say Normal has that credit rating because they aren’t afraid to pass tax increases. If you […]
By: Diane Benjamin I hear David Shields has lots of nice signs around Normal. The citizens of Normal need to know he will support the Koos agenda: https://illinoissunshine.org/committees/friends-of-chris-koos-32789/ If you want to stop the Uptown agenda that is ignoring the rest of Normal, Shields is not the guy who will do that. I […]
By: Diane Benjamin Last night Trustees RC McBride and Kevin McCarthy went out of their way to thanks the 5 citizens who spoke at Public Comment. They needed to because 3 out of the 5 were plants. Normal illegally requires citizens who want to speak to sign up hours in advance. That gives Koos and […]
