By: Diane Benjamin https://tinyurl.com/Committee-of-the-Whole If you haven’t figured it out, anything discussed at Committee of the Whole meetings is already a done deal. It’s a setup for upcoming votes. First on the agenda is a riveting discussion of changing the building codes. Included are links to previous meetings: I have no intention of watching them, […]
By: Diane Benjamin The meeting lasted a little of an hour. Tari wasn’t there because the internet was out at his house. Mboka Mwilambwe acted as mayor. Tim Gleason was also absent, nobody said why. Maybe he didn’t want to be present when they voted on his contract extension and raise – without any discussion. […]
By: Diane Benjamin Monday: Bloomington Council meeting: http://bloomingtonil.iqm2.com/Citizens/FileOpen.aspx?Type=1&ID=1089&Inline=True Bloomington will get their own cannabis dispensary. It will be centrally located at GE Road and Veterans Parkway. It is owned by the same company that operates the one in north Normal. Likely it will draw customers from Bloomington and Normal. Sorry Normal. (Let the city wars […]
By: Diane Benjamin 5:05 – Jon Reed was the only public comment. Others emailed the Council. I believe public comment isn’t for the Council – it is for the public. Citizens will never know what other citizens said by emailing. Get on the phone people! Jon did a great job taking down Jenn Carrillo (while […]
By: Diane Benjamin Tim Gleason started the meeting with a COVID update: The City has used $2 million of $4 million in excess reserves. They won’t have a clear picture of the hit to the budget until June or July. Police respond to all calls of violation of shelter in place. They attempt to gain […]
By: Diane Benjamin http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=15904 The report from Tari’s Downtown Task Force is back on the agenda for Monday – minus moving the library and tearing down a parking garage. One question that won’t be asked or answered: The current downtown businesses didn’t care enough about downtown to fund the Downtown Bloomington Association. The City took […]
By: Diane Benjamin Bloomington and Normal are the only cities doing their own garbage pickup in the area. According to the Pantagraph, Normal did their own investigation of rates. They declared NO money could be saved by privatizing garbage pickup. See the chart here: http://www.pantagraph.com/graphic-waste-collection-fees-services/pdf_a5d93a81-e7db-537c-b830-c5fafd8a34bc.html The Pantagraph must not have noticed some of those other cities […]
I reported on December 28th State Farm was leaving downtown! Nice to see SF finally admitted it. https://blnnews.com/2017/12/28/state-farm-is-leaving-downtown/ By: Diane Benjamin Mayor Renner appeared on WJBC yesterday – hear him HERE Couple of notes: He called a special meeting for next Tuesday because he thinks the people who volunteered to be on his downtown task force […]
By: Diane Benjamin Is the Bloomington City Council finally waking up? Do they realize they have no wide-spread support for their downtown spending when the roads are still crap? Alderman Bray pulled a revised Council schedule from the Consent Agenda in order to cancel next Monday’s Committee of the Whole session. Renner doesn’t understand that […]
By: Diane Benjamin Monday’s Bills and Payroll: http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=15550 More spiked pension expense: More Interest-Free loans? I don’t care how great the cause is, what statute allows the City to hand out your money to people they chose? Most people call this vote-buying: More handouts: I’m guessing the City if buying tickets to a Chamber event for […]
By: Diane Benjamin If the “welcoming ordinance” discussion isn’t divisive enough, the Downtown Task Force plan will also be presented. Most of the crowd will be gone when the previous discussion ends. The mob will only be there for the “No Justice No Peace” part. The Council should have held a special session only for […]
By: Diane Benjamin The “Special” meeting before the 7:00 Council meeting has discussions about the library and the City property tax rate. The Library Board wants a tax increase but they don’t know what it is for. Either they are going to continue plans to expand where they are or they are going to use […]
By: Diane Benjamin TIF districts are like Greek to most citizens. If you don’t understand them, government will continue to redistribute money and call it Economic Development. TIF’s made easy: Government sets a Tax Increment Finance area. All government bodies in the area have to agree to forgo tax increases due to increasing property values. […]
By: Diane Benjamin Remember when Tari had to have a hotel downtown to “benefit the Coliseum”? Remember when he said over and over developers were lining up to get projects started downtown? Today Tari’s Downtown Task Force has the brilliant idea of moving the library and creating a bus transfer station. Neither will be private […]
By: Diane Benjamin You already know that Tari Renner’s handpicked committee doesn’t represent the interest of anybody outside their tiny group who think downtown is the future. (Decades of facts to the contrary are immaterial) https://blnnews.com/2017/05/03/taris-downtown-task-force/ I know you don’t need proof, but: You can see what they have been up to here: http://www.cityblm.org/government/advanced-components/documents/-folder-552 I […]
By: Diane Benjamin Tari’s Downtown Task Force mostly consists of people who had their hand out for your money and Council people dying to give them more. The entire rest of Bloomington has no representation. Maybe that’s why moving the library and adding a bus transfer point got shredded at the meeting Monday night. See […]
By: Diane Benjamin Nothing coming from this Council or Tari’s Downtown Task Force should surprise anybody. Vote for Big Spenders and you get the same policies that has the State with $15 Billion in unpaid bills! (after the tax increase) The people Tari appointed to plan downtown spending think just like him. (Are any on […]
By: Diane Benjamin Tomorrow the stacked Downtown Committee is holding a listening session – public comment at 5:15 in the Council Chambers. In case you forgot who is on this committee: https://blnnews.com/2017/05/03/taris-downtown-task-force/ Showing up and telling them downtown isn’t worth reinventing won’t help (The town moved east, but they haven’t noticed). The Committee has three […]
By: Diane Benjamin Jeff Jurgens needs to take his show on the road. The City of Bloomington has BOUGHT the Springfield law firm now, so any opinions he offers are obviously going to be the answer the City wants to hear. Keep in mind the City sends Sorling Northup Hanna around $60,000 every month. A […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Budget Task Force was ignored, so I have no idea why Tari is organizing another task force for downtown. More interesting is who he appointed: Justin Boyd – Tari’s campaign chairman Tricia Stiller – head of the Downtown Business Association (DBA) that was supposed to be self-sufficient years ago. They still […]
