By: Diane Benjamin Thursday the Normal Planning Commission will approve destroying a single family neighborhood: https://www.normalil.gov/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/4822 Everyone on that commission is appointed by Chris Koos to do his bidding. No one represents citizens because citizens can’t even know who Koos appoints until after the Council votes. It won’t matter how many citizens show up to […]
By: Diane Benjamin EDC director Patrick Hoban showed up at the Bloomington City Council meeting to push for the $750,000 downtown study. He claimed downtown is the heart of the City (heard that before?) and he has studies that claim the Return on Investment is between 100 and 500%. He also claimed we don’t need […]
By: Diane Benjamin 1) BN Advantage is back after mostly disappearing for years and a lot of tax dollars. https://www.bnadvantage.com/ The website is much better than years ago, contact information takes you to the EDC. Just Bloomington threw BN Advantage $423,867. https://blnnews.com/2019/04/29/bn-advantage-magazine/ Search BlnNews for more stories on BN Advantage. You might want to explore […]
By: Diane Benjamin Everybody occasionally gets sucked in by things they see on the internet. Everybody should do more research before they post anything. (including me!) Two days ago the Bloomington-Normal Economic Development Council posted this on Facebook: . Ever heard of Pheabs? It didn’t take much research to find out who they are, the […]
By: Diane Benjamin 5/25/22 Unit 5 School board meeting video: This video should go viral, no I’m not going to tell you what EDC Director Hoban said. Hoban had just run through all the potential incentives offered to new businesses. The EDC might want to speed this up if they are going to push it, […]
By: Diane Benjamin You have to watch the Kathleen Lorenz video in this story to understand Chris Koos wasn’t listening: https://blnnews.com/2022/05/03/kathleen-now-hears-what-we-hear-when-watching-meetings/ Directly after Lorenz called for unity and better leadership Stan Nord made a Trustee comment. I hope Kathleen was paying attention to Chris Koos’ snide remark when Stan was finished. Kathleen: You saw first […]
By: Diane Benjamin Yes folks, the Bloomington Council meeting was 4 hours last night. I heard a radio person say something astounding yesterday: We have never been a nation of laws, we are a nation of wills. That explains why some people get away with crimes the rest of us would get life sentences or […]
By: Diane Benjamin The BN Economic Development Council should be using their own tools to improve Bloomington-Normal instead of supporting taxpayer subsidized housing in Normal. A calculator to compare the Cost of Living is right on their website: https://www.bnbiz.org/coli Did you know the Cost of Living is higher in Bloomington-Normal than other cities? Both Bloomington […]
By: Diane Benjamin Every time Normal wants something big they recruit local elites for Public Comment to praise the project. Last Monday was no exception. Former mayor Paul Harmon spoke both at the beginning of the meeting and the end. Patrick Hoban, the President and CEO of the local Economic Development Council was first up. […]
Try to be nice and constructive, you are funding them: https://lp.constantcontactpages.com/sv/EL3t0NL/communitybrandingEDC . . . . . . . .
By: Diane Benjamin Making budget cuts isn’t a matter of cutting BIG things. It a myriad of small things that add up to big bucks. Here’s one example: This pic is from Normal’s budget: Normal will be handing over $109,250 to the CVB and $100,000 to the EDC. Why is Bloomington also giving the EDC […]
By: Diane Benjamin Since citizens with sewage in their basements only show up at Bloomington Council meetings, the ones’ in Normal have to pay to stop it from happening themselves. Normal passed budgeting a whopping $25,000 so they could pay up to $5000 per house to install something called Overhead Sewers. If more than 5 […]
By: Diane Benjamin Anybody remember BN Advantage? It was a huge collaboration of the unelected who got your money to operate. This story explains who: https://blnnews.com/2015/10/29/round-2-bn-advantage/ It would take a lot of research to figure out how much of your money was thrown to this group. This story shows $423,867 just from Bloomington: https://blnnews.com/2019/04/29/bn-advantage-magazine/ Where […]
By: Diane Benjamin Committee of the Whole: http://bloomingtonil.iqm2.com/Citizens/FileOpen.aspx?Type=1&ID=1103&Inline=True Businesses are flocking to low tax states with limited regulations. Proving yet again companies have to be paid to locate in Illinois: Illinois is perfectly located to successful promote economic development without incentives. Standing in the way is Illinois government and the massive debt and unfunded liabilities. […]
By: Diane Benjamin In 2018 Rivian didn’t qualify for property tax abatement. At Monday’s Council meeting they will get a rebate for the taxes due to the Town of Normal based on 2019: All of the other taxing bodies that were part of the 2016 agreement will also have to rebate taxes. These are the […]
By: Diane Benjamin Public comment last night was loaded with those who think they are entitled to tax dollars. Yes people have lost jobs and yes paying bills is next to impossible, but that doesn’t make them entitled to anything. The good socialists showed up en masse to criticize the FIVE Council members who voted […]
By: Diane Benjamin EDC is the Bloomington Normal Economic Development Council. They get your tax money but are not subject to FOIA. Bloomington cut their subsidy because of accountability. The President/CEO, Patrick Hoban, spoke at the joint the meeting of Bloomington, Normal, and McLean County held September 30, 2019. On this video at 5:40 Patrick […]
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 At least they are in Normal! Remember how Mayor Koos shut down Stan Nord over expenses because bills listed have already been paid? Auditors make sure the numbers are in the right columns and the required footnotes and disclosures are included in financial statements. The don’t look for fraud and they certainly […]
By: Diane Benjamin How many former Decatur people are going to recruited? Tim Gleason, Billy Tyus, and now the new director of the Economic Development Council: https://www.bnbiz.org/news/patrick-hoban-chosen-as-new-president-ceo/?fbclid=IwAR1bT5mkeg0vyoW2wiZo07OX0jOUAa65_sTAZcVCPo7UxpPIXiTv1aTt4YM Patrick Hoban gets the job. At least he didn’t come directly from Decatur: Hoban has served as the economic development manager for the Village of Tinley Park since […]
By: Diane Benjamin Last year Tari Renner, Scott Black, Steve Rasmussen, and Diana Hauman got the free trip to DC for One Voice. Participants are normally elected officials or the City Manager/Assistant. This year Tari took his good buddy Justin Boyd. It looks like he replaced Amelia Buragas. Justin is the guy who posted the […]
By: Diane Benjamin Meeting docs: http://www.normal.org/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/31937 In this story about Bloomington spending: https://blnnews.com/2019/01/26/bloomington-bills-for-monday/ I listed 4 payments to the EDC for $1600 each. It looks like Renner, Buragas, Mathy, and Tyus won the One Voice trip this year to Washington DC. Buragas is leaving the Council April 30th and Tyus is the brand new Assistant […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Open Meetings Act REQUIRES approval of minutes within 30 days. It’s a law, but who follows the law anymore? On the agenda for Monday is: http://www.normal.org/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/3138 Somebody can’t count or were they planing to bury what happened? Yes I filed with the AG and they likely got a letter. The extremely […]
By: Diane Benjamin It’s really hard to say what BN Advantage is, except that they soak up your money. Supposedly it’s a collaboration of government, the Economic Development Council, the Chamber of Commerce, and anybody else who is searching for the “Right Fit” in economic development.
By: Diane Benjamin The Bloomington City Council only had ONE meeting last night instead of 2 or 3. It didn’t help them not spend your money, but at least they only contemplated how to shovel out more. Of course, it was on downtown. More later. Jamie Mathy did not attend, so Ward 1 had no […]
By: Diane Benjamin Below is the group who traveled to see Rivian’s operations in Michigan. On the couch are John McIntyre (County Board Chair), RJ Scaringe (Rivian), Kimberly Bray (Bloomington Council), and Barry Reilly (District 87). Standing to the right is Kyle Ham (leaving the EDC at the end of April) and Don Knapp (County […]
I found this on the City website under Staff Responses: http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=16236 By: Diane Benjamin Update to this story: https://blnnews.com/2018/03/23/bloomington-more-one-voice/ I FOIA’d the receipts to see why the cost was different for Black, Renner, and Rasmussen. Black drove himself to Chicago and flew from there to DC. Rasmussen left on a flight at 6:26 in the morning […]
By: Diane Benjamin Bill and Payroll for Monday: http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=16156 One Voice is an annual trip to Washington DC to beg for money. Instead of meeting with Illinois representatives IN Illinois, taxpayers are forced to pay for this farce. Just for Bloomington – 4 people went to Washington DC. Each was charged $1600 by Economic Development Council […]
By: Diane Benjamin Followup to yesterday’s story: https://blnnews.com/2018/03/16/hum-uptown-circle/ As reported yesterday, this new building in Uptown has no tenants on the first floor. The Town of Normal is renting the entire second floor: According to the Pantagraph from 7/4/2016: http://www.pantagraph.com/news/local/normal-eyes-design-contract-for-office-space/article_9d3ad5b1-f04d-5709-a834-2d10fe6db9eb.html The town will lease 13,780 square feet of office space for 15 years, with renewal options, […]
By: Diane Benjamin How did the Economic Development Council lose $298.319 in 2015 and another $326,863 in 2016? Spending more than they take in! From the 2016 tax return: With losses like their’s, what kind of help did they provide? We now know how much Kyle Ham was being paid in 2016: PDF page 10 […]
By: Diane Benjamin So yesterday Kyle Ham’s resignation from the Bloomington-Normal Economic Development Council was announced. Of course he went on the junket to DC, paid by taxpayers: https://blnnews.com/2018/03/09/your-tax-dollars-at-work/ It looks like him on the far left. The EDC gets their money from government, that would be your taxes. They are totally unaccountable to you for […]
By: Diane Benjamin You get to pay for a bunch of people to gravel in Washington DC for money. It’s the annual One Voice trip which supposedly shows local officials standing united. The trip is March 6th to the 8th. The EDC has finally released what they are going to beg for: Maybe we should […]
By: Diane Benjamin Bills and Payroll for 1/22/2018 http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=15632 Tari finally filed an expense report – 1st one since his PCard was yanked: _________________________________________ Council and staff weren’t eating at your expense in December. I wonder what event is 1/27? There is nothing on the City Calendar. Buy local? Ha. _________________________________________ This guy is getting an […]
By: Diane Benjamin Pre Tari Renner the City of Bloomington didn’t have any staff doing economic development. See the 2012 job titles HERE For the year ended 4/30/12, the Economic Development Council received $65,610.04 http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=6242 BN Advantage didn’t exist. Was Bloomington better or worse? Post Tari Renner – 2017 The City now has a full time […]
By: Diane Benjamin WGLT interviewed an economist from the Economic Development Council. Mike Doherty is the one that reported Bloomington-Normal has lost 9000 jobs in the last 7 years. He claims government has shrunk. (Not Bloomington!) He also attributed the decline to State Farm ending consulting contracts and Mitsubishi closing. Then he blamed my personal favorite: […]
By: Diane Benjamin I received a tip that Tari Renner was under a non-disclosure agreement on the deal he revealed during his Town Hall meeting earlier this week. Renner proclaimed City leaders and the Economic Development Council are talking to a prosthetic limbs manufacturer about a factory here. He also mentioned the jobs would pay […]
By: Diane Benjamin According to Kyle Ham (Economic Development Council) at last night’s Bloomington Council meeting: McLean County lost 2000 jobs between 2015 and 2016 K-12 schools are down 1100 students in the last 5 years which affects aid from the State New housing starts are down 56% from 2000 to today 8 out of […]
By: Diane Benjamin What does the Economic Development Council do? Here’s their website: https://www.bnbiz.org/ They have dinners and lunches, organize the One Voice trips to DC to beg for federal funds, and soak up a lot of money from both Bloomington and Normal. Last year McLean County budgeted $100,000 for the EDC. For 2018 they dropped […]
By: Anonymous All over Bloomington-Normal, no one is talking about the worst kept secret. It seems almost everyone knows, but no one is talking. State Farm is planning to downsize, likely before year-end. This is no secret. In fact, it’s echoing throughout the halls of the insurance giant, as well as the local business community […]
By: Diane Benjamin BN Advantage was formed in 2015. Their mission is to get all the players together for collaboration on economic development strategy. The Bloomington Council approved the formation in October 2015, see this doc: BN Advantage I’m sure other area governments passed the same type resolution. Temporarily forget the fact that government doesn’t […]
