By: Diane Benjamin There was a long list of emailed Public Comments, a FOIA would be needed to find out what position they were taking. There was also a long line of in-person and phone Public Comments. A few people spoke about IDOT’s plan to add a sidewalk to the north side of Route 9 […]
By: Diane Benjamin See original story: https://blnnews.com/2022/05/09/no-surprise-normal-needs-6-million-more-to-build-the-underpass/ Monday packet: https://www.normalil.gov/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/4398 PDF page 62: Either people all across the country are funding Normal’s amenities or money is being printed so Normal can have an underpass vehicles can’t use. Brilliant. Oh, the Subway inside the Amtrak station closed, another Uptown success story. Remember what Normal did when […]
By: Diane Benjamin Other items from Monday’s meeting could be covered, but I won’t! Links to all previous stories are here: https://blnnews.com/2020/07/08/story-6-normal-monday/ Isaac Thorne and Julie Hile made a presentation. Start with this screen shot: Thorne proved Pritzker’s budget is a joke by relying on a $5 billion bailout from the Feds AND the citizens […]
By: Diane Benjamin A reader attended the Open House at Bloomington City Hall last night concerning bike lanes on Rt 9. A representative from IDOT claimed he found out about the meeting at the last minute. He also said the City Council can pass a resolution saying yes or no to bike lanes. Since the […]
By: Diane Benjamin Last night’s Normal Town Council meeting was an hour long. The longest debate was over changing the name of a major road again. It used to be Diamond Star Parkway, now Mitsubishi Motorway, it will be getting it’s third name. Stan Nord questioned the impact to not only the businesses in the […]
Since common sense isn’t allowed on the Connect Transit Board, I can’t ask a simple question. Why not plan routes so people don’t have to transfer buses? I know one answer: No transfer and they don’t get counted twice as riding. From: Jeff Holtke <jholtke@connect-transit.com> Date: Fri, May 17, 2019 at 11:46 AM Subject: CONNECT TRANSIT TO […]
By: Diane Benjamin PDF page 21 https://drive.google.com/file/d/1GoZDYLB3LiTfbRZpY34J539EmtVDAkpB/view Does this mean if expenses are cut, IDOT gives them less money? I spoke to a retired driver. He says he was overpaid – somewhere around $27 per hour. He also told me stories of employees/contractors paid to leave. Every year operating expenses increase meaning the IDOT subsidy […]
By: Diane Benjamin The State of Illinois is likely raising the gas tax .19 per gallon. The total tax will be .38 cents for every gallon you pump. This will chase even more people out of the state and cause travelers and citizens who can fill up outside of Illinois to do so. Democrats never […]
By: Diane Benjamin Back in June of 2015 I took pictures under the Center Street bridge for this story: https://blnnews.com/2015/06/03/24853/ It appeared then to be failing apart. Last Monday a guy named Rick Phillipi (sp?) spoke during Public Comment at the 7:00 Council meeting. He has been tracking this bridge for many years, he is […]
By: Diane Benjamin I attended part of the Public Hearing last night at Central Catholic High school. Side note: I wonder how much they spend per student in their lovely facility? I bet it isn’t close to what Unit 5/District 87 spend. Somebody should really study that angle. I did a quick Internet search yesterday […]
To the clown who is no longer allowed to post comments: Research what the current Gas Tax is being used for. Research where the almost what the almost $1 Trillion Obama plan for “Shovel Ready” infrastructure went. Neither was/is spent on roads and bridges. The Feds don’t need more money, they need to spend what they have […]
by: Diane Benjamin It’s the McLean County Regional Planning Commission! http://www.mcplan.org/department/division.php?structureid=14 What do they do? Make plans for Bloomington, Normal, and McLean County. Think East-side Bypass, Bike Routes, and now Bring It Bloomington. According to the MCRPC 2013 financial statements, 46.6% of their funding came from the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT). Who do you […]
