Construction at the CII East building stopped so long ago you may not remember what it used to look like: https://www.loopnet.com/Listing/15772470/102-S-East-Street-Bloomington-IL/ This is what it looks like now: Close up pic from last summer: The owner, David Bentley, was a Renner lunch buddy before Tari got his PCard yanked. Bentley also sued the City […]
By: Diane Benjamin Freedom of Information lawsuits are very easy to win. Documents belong to the people, not government. When government refuses to hand over complete information without explanation, they lose every time. The “extremely transparent” City of Bloomington is not producing the information I requested. This FOIA request clearly shows TIF dollars are nothing […]
By: Diane Benjamin When the last Downtown Bloomington TIF ended, I hear David Bentley wasn’t happy with the money he got to rehab the CII East Building. He sued the City in 2014. See the 2014 TIF report here: ftp://ftp.illinoiscomptroller.com/LocGovTIF/FY2014/06402530/14TIF06402530Dwtwn_Cendistrict.pdf Since the TIF was pretty much over, expenses for legal fees were all that is […]
By: Diane Benjamin Below are the disbursements listed on the 2010 Downtown Bloomington TIF report: 2010 Report Remember how the DBA (Downtown Bloomington Assoc) was supposed to pay for itself years ago? What did $324,368 get them (OR YOU?) I wonder where asbestos was removed? Good records matter. Wonderlin Galleries is now listed as being […]
By: Diane Benjamin I was obvious at last Mondays Council meeting that some Aldermen think any project in downtown is better than none. A reader found an interesting Facebook page yesterday promoting what looks like the Bentley plan. Here’s how the page is selling it: The Viable Downtown Bloomington Development Plan Yesterday at 2:38pm · […]
By: Diane Benjamin The only way to know what both developers proposed last night is to watch the video of the meeting. Nothing was included for either developer in meeting documentation to the Council. The Giebelhausen presentation was vague. He claims to have 3 hotels interested, but only if they get taxpayer money. Why invest […]
