By: Diane Benjamin Remember when the Bloomington elites claimed they weren’t going to pass their own 1% Grocery tax? Joke is on you. They tripled your water rates (by next May 1st), raised every fee 3% without ever voting since those are automatic, and negotiated unaffordable electricity rates on your behalf. Bloomington has the chance […]
By: Diane Benjamin Below are highlights from the meeting last night: 1) City Manager Jurgens reported the church that collapsed on E Mulberry was demolished because of the emergency of further collapse. The City hopes to recover the cost from the church’s insurance/congregation. It sounds like nothing could be salvaged because the building was unstable: […]
By: Diane Benjamin Decades of spending money downtown have failed to transform it from a place of lawyers by day and revelers by night. Bloomington’s new goal is to reposition downtown as the entertainment capital of Central Illinois (That was stated at a June meeting: https://blnnews.com/2025/06/17/committee-of-the-whole-recap/) The pattern of bidding projects “shooting for the stars” […]
By: Diane Benjamin I took the weekend off to spend time with with family and friends. I’m back! Agenda for Bloomington tonight: https://d3n9y02raazwpg.cloudfront.net/cityblm/3fbd5444-814f-4e17-a65f-83fbc20272bb-d854eb82-3702-4140-9de6-ac3a8e3f379d-1746819050.pdf Two items on the Consent Agenda caught my eye: Item H – The Ecology Action Center is requesting that the City pay a total of $166,342.97 for the three-year Energy Efficiency Program. […]
By: Diane Benjamin Of course everything passed. Of course the outgoing members of the Council received plaques and praise. Only two items of note: This video is a part of a Public Comment by Jackie Beyer. She watched a bid opening for the downtown streetscape. It came in much higher than projected – 63% higher. […]
By: Diane Benjamin Agenda: https://d3n9y02raazwpg.cloudfront.net/cityblm/1c85acfe-ff58-11ef-ab6a-005056a89546-791fe512-602c-4d20-98c8-ecdbbed39134-1741900634.pdf There are no votes except to approve minutes at Committee of the Whole meetings. The Water Department needs this purchase, hence the name change: Recent costs in an attempt to fix the water problems: $755,132 for a PAC feed system https://d2kbkoa27fdvtw.cloudfront.net/cityblm/e085b8853afbb93a1a2f6564d1ae8cce0.pdf February 24th the Council approved $62,500.00 with the same […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Coliseum and the BCPA were both suppose to revitalize downtown. So was the new library and other projects. Millions of dollars have been spent while empty buildings like Front & Center have been deserted for many years. That building has been on a list of condemned buildings for almost a year: […]
By: Diane Benjamin On tonight’s agenda: https://d3n9y02raazwpg.cloudfront.net/cityblm/f701e2e2-5bbe-11ee-ae13-0050569183fa-d854eb82-3702-4140-9de6-ac3a8e3f379d-1715296014.pdf The Lake Bloomington building burned down 5 years ago. The City collected $536,581.87 from insurance according to these docs: PDF page 80: https://bloomingtonil.iqm2.com/Citizens/FileOpen.aspx?Type=1&ID=1167&Inline=True That document is from the May 9, 2022 Council packet. The estimate in 2022 was $565,000 for the total project. (PDF page 90). Since inflation […]
By: Diane Benjamin If you’ve ever watched a council meeting you know why I call him Mr. Giggles. Those giggles hide the fact that he’s a big government guy and pushes a progressive (communist) agenda. Can’t Bloomington do better? https://www.wglt.org/local-news/2024-04-15/mwilambwe-to-run-for-2nd-term-as-bloomington-mayor?fbclid=IwAR0pqO6wAXClBrJMohOXCUvF6sQlDT4B1FNa2HwPj3OwLAA2m1M6xwqZS5Y Mwilambwe to run for 2nd term as Bloomington mayor Excerpts: Mwilambwe said he wants to […]
By: Diane Benjamin Future council are NOT bound by the actions of this council. If they were this plan from 2013 would have already been a reality: . If you want people elected who actually care about the roads, start voting for them! A few things in that plan were done, like Way Finding signs, […]
By: Diane Benjamin I don’t want to, so you will get a brief recap. Summary: Officials think they are on a roll. You will be thinking Coliseum fleece instead. See 1:55 A good number of the far left showed up at public comment to talk about affordable housing and why starting a business is hard. […]
By: Diane Benjamin For a change next year’s budget isn’t on the agenda. https://d3n9y02raazwpg.cloudfront.net/cityblm/4a76bdde-5bc1-11ee-ae13-0050569183fa-791fe512-602c-4d20-98c8-ecdbbed39134-1710528364.pdf These two fleeces are on the agenda, of course nobody will admit the obvious. Is Bloomington going to build a downtown wall to keep tent city out of view? Will anyone ask how many electric buses are working now? Who exactly […]
By: Diane Benjamin Any response from District 87? https://blnnews.com/2024/03/12/d87-fire-this-bloomington-fireman/ You thought your kids matter at school? Tent City continues to grow, it has spread to the old Pantagraph building. On Monday the Bloomington City Council will hear plans for the downtown streetscape. Maybe they can “tent” multiple blocks! It will be glorious!
By: Diane Benjamin Inflation has stolen close to 20% of your buying power – just since 2021: . Inflation will continue unless government policies change. Facts: https://www.bidenomics.com/ According to GasBuddy, the cheapest local gas is at Huck’s on West Oakland – $3.39. Three years ago gas was more than $1 less a gallon. https://www.gasbuddy.com/go/gas-prices-2021-year-in-review According […]
By: Diane Benjamin Remember this story? https://blnnews.com/2024/02/07/is-normal-doing-a-secret-survey/ I wrote that story on February 7th. On February 12th WGLT did this story: https://www.wglt.org/local-news/2024-02-12/normal-seeking-public-feedback-on-future-environmental-priorities The Town of Normal is doing that survey. See this quote by Town Planner Mercy Davidson in the story: . Let me interpret: This survey is only for supporters of the Town agenda. If you don’t believe in their […]
By: Diane Benjamin I didn’t get a chance to watch Bloomington’s Committee of the Whole meeting until yesterday. The City has the same goal they’ve had for decades: Get people downtown. All the empty buildings will never be developed until you comply, so your tax dollars will be “invested” yet again. If at first (or second or third) you don’t […]
By: Diane Benjamin The City of Bloomington has wanted to destroy the Market Street Garage since at least 2018. Remember when the Downtown Task Force recommended moving the library there? https://blnnews.com/2018/10/16/library-expansion-sinks-water-park-doesnt/ Tonight documents – PDF page 246: https://d3n9y02raazwpg.cloudfront.net/cityblm/258aad0d-7d4f-11ed-9024-0050569183fa-791fe512-602c-4d20-98c8-ecdbbed39134-1682127141.pdf The documentation doesn’t say why the old Pantagraph property didn’t work. It was February of 2021 when […]
By: Diane Benjamin See this story is you forgot: https://blnnews.com/2022/04/24/69-million-for-water-projects-so-you-wont-notice-the-cii-east-giveaways/ That story is from last April. I was in Downtown Bloomington yesterday. Many of the roads are new, the flowers pots are gorgeous, and the raised beds have actually been taken care of. I don’t see why downtown needs a streetscape plan since by day […]
By: Diane Benjamin FYI: Committee of the Whole meeting information from 8/15/2022 is missing from the City website. Tonight: https://d3n9y02raazwpg.cloudfront.net/cityblm/5a24c4d2-a62d-11ec-8a90-0050569183fa-36dc0a47-f3e1-4a7f-ab53-55227cac04fe-1660859356.pdf The mayor continues to reappoint the same people to Boards and Commissions, tonight the Transportation Commission. As a comment here stated – Renner is still running the City. Spending more of the free money that […]
By: Diane Benjamin See agenda for the committee of the Whole Monday: https://d3n9y02raazwpg.cloudfront.net/cityblm/f77ad2e4-b41c-11ec-a5da-0050569183fa-36dc0a47-f3e1-4a7f-ab53-55227cac04fe-1660245682.pdf Nothing from the presentation is included in the packet. It’s all a secret until it can be presented without inference from mere taxpayers. Roads are way underfunded, but you get a revamped library, a water park for a couple of months a […]
