By: Diane Benjamin What causes deficits? What causes “structural deficits”? Duh! Spending more money than you take in. Bloomington has a spending problem! Every budget includes spending every penny they expect to receive in taxes. That allows them to “cry” when they don’t receive what they feel entitled to. (Just like you right?) Every budget […]
By: Diane Benjaminb A motion was made at the beginning of last night’s Council meeting to suspend parts of the Agenda until the March Committee of the Whole meeting. Alderman Danenberger wanted the staff and Council to have the opportunity to attend the candlelight vigil for the weekend murder victims. Aldermen Cody Hendricks seconded the […]
By: Diane Benjamin Three people spoke at Public Comment: Dan Brady, Surena Fish, and Gary Lambert. Brady wondered is the old Owens Nursery property the City is buying could house some homeless people on a temporary basis. Fish was frustrated that most of the Council didn’t attend the special PSCRB meeting with joint law enforcement […]
By: Diane Benjamin Follow-up to this story: https://blnnews.com/2024/06/19/foia-fail/ That story shows I requested two things: The emails were all redacted, at the time of that story they were still looking for Gleason’s letter. Yesterday they denied Part 2 because: Unfortunately, the City was unable to find the document requested after an extensive search. Did Tim […]
By: Diane Benjamin Congrats Bloomington! You have a socialist on the Library Board now. (Maybe more than one) Vote for socialists you get socialists! . Surena Fish spoke about a new topic during Public Comment. According to her, a group of social service agencies wants to buy the old Pantagraph building and all relocate there. […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Council met yesterday afternoon after canceling Monday night’s meeting due to ice. It was short even with 3 Public Comments. Just hit play below to hear the first two. The new hockey owners made a brief presentation with slides that aren’t on video. The person who films at night usually switches the view so people […]
By: Diane Benjamin Public Comment was entertaining last night. The LGBTQIA2S+ community was well represented. It seems like they want the City to assign criminal penalties to anyone who hurt their feelings by misgendering them or refusing to affirm their lifestyle. Later the Council changed the Human Relations Policy to the State’s version except for […]
By: Diane Benjamin The regular agenda had NOTHING on it, the Consent Agenda was passed without any discussion. Since the City doesn’t want controversy at meetings, the two on one meetings held before the Council meets are used to pacify objectors. The video of the meeting is slightly over an hour, half of that was […]
By: Diane Benjamin 33:10 – Mayor Mwilambwe recognized the 4 aldermen that are leaving office April 30th. Mboka gave a short speech and presented each with a plaque. (Remember when Normal totally ignored Stan Nord’s 4 years?) Public comment starts at 44:00. Two speakers thanked their outgoing aldermen. Gary Lambert is a can’t miss at […]
By: Diane Benjamin The entire meeting video is over 3 hours, most of that was spent off camera in Executive Session. 3 videos you need to see, 2 are Public Comment the third is City Manager Tim Gleason. The first Public Comment was a lady who owns rental property. She didn’t receive rent because Pritzker […]
By: Diane Benjamin The actual meeting was only around an hour. The Council was in Executive Session for the rest of the video. Gary Lambert lambasted the City for the cash reserve levels during Public Comment, this is a must listen: Hit play below to hear the City is only spending around $9 million on […]
By: Diane Benjamin Donna Boelen wanted this on the record, unless you see her Council comment at the end of the meeting it is only on the record for staff. Donna asked again about the updated Intergovernmental Agreement with Connect Transit. Supposedly Bloomington has done their work and it’s sitting in Normal stalled. She shouldn’t […]
By: Diane Benjamin See 1:12:00 Tim Gleason tells the Council they can’t discuss the 2nd dispensary location because the city might get sued. You will never know the details of who is behind this location or hear if any ways have been found to detect drivers under the influence. Discussion was shut down by a […]
By: Diane Benjamin One Public Comment was exceptional last night. Gary Lambert speaks pretty often, always showing lots of common sense. Gary responded to something Mayor Mboka wrote in the Pantagraph wanting the State to quite keeping more of the local tax money than they used to. Gary threw that letter back in his face […]
By: Diane Benjamin Every alderman managed to make it to the meeting last night! Public comment start at 6:22. Gary Lambert spoke at 9:30 about the council not releasing Executive Session minutes that are now over 10 years old. He also mentioned his recent gas bill had municipal taxes higher than his natural gas cost. […]
By: Diane Benjamin Absent last night: Jenn Carrillo and Jeff Crabill. Tari Renner claimed he is homeless because pipes broke in his house. I wonder if he will be paying the likely high water bill? I hope he didn’t opt out of the insurance that will cover part of the cost. He was back from […]
By: Diane Benjamin Jenn Carrillo still had her illegal gay pride flag in front of her. Being divisive is why she ran for Council. Keep the popcorn ready. it’s only a matter of time before she makes a fool of herself again.. The can’t miss speech at Public Comment last night came from Gary Lambert. […]
By: Diane Benjamin The new Bloomington City Manager seems to be launching a campaign to make citizens trust their government. No Tim, spending money on signs when a few roads get fixed isn’t going to cut it. The people paying more for gas will see that as just another waste of their dollars. Since Tim […]
By: Diane Benjamin Of course a feasibility study was done before the Coliseum was built. It predicted Revenue of $7.1 million and expenses of $4.8 million. Operations would easily cover the cost of building it. https://blnnews.com/2016/02/11/the-tale-of-the-coliseum-tari-a-hotel/ At last night’s Committee of the Whole meeting, VenuWorks stated the arena would never lose LESS than $500,000. Any […]
By: Diane Benjamin The meetings last night lasted until a little after 10:00 pm, The first one started at 5:30 pm. Public Comment had a lady BEGGING the Council not to use asphalt on Jefferson street downtown. She wants something fancy! Maybe she can fork over the money to pay for it too. See her […]
By: Diane Benjamin Alderman Mboka Mwilambwe is running for re-election with 3 people challenging him. The voters in Ward 3 need to know his voting record before deciding if he should be back on the Council May 1st. From: http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=6667 Mwilambwe voted for the 4% Amusement Tax: Mwilambwe voted for the .04 per gallon Gas […]
By: Diane Benjamin The sharing of Sales Tax with Normal was not discussed at the Council meeting Monday. Continuing talks were voted down at the meeting before – the Work Session. Two supporters, a guy from the Chamber of Commerce and another from the Economic Development Council, spoke before two citizens. You need to hear […]
