By: Diane Benjamin This pic will give you an idea of how many citizens showed up in Uptown last night for the Normal Town Council meeting. Most of the speakers who were allowed to speak didn’t want the Council to approve either dispensary on the agenda. Below is how the mayor greeted them – some […]
By: Diane Benjamin http://bloomingtonil.iqm2.com/Citizens/FileOpen.aspx?Type=1&ID=1170&Inline=True Tari Renner stacked all the Board and Commission. Mboka continues to just reappoint the same people. No Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Mboka? This item shouldn’t be on the Consent Agenda, it should be pulled for further discussion. Does the City want to risk an abandoned property if the owners can’t use […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Council met for a whopping 16 minutes last night, they didn’t have an Executive Session. Tim Gleason started the meeting with a COVID update. He claimed cases are up because people have been traveling now and are out and about more. He ignores the obvious: College kids are back and out […]
By Diane Benjamin h/t a reader City councils are supposedly non-partisan. We all know they aren’t. Everybody needs to quit pretending many of the local elected aren’t playing party politics instead of what is best for it’s citizens. Bloomington’s mayor Tari Renner proves that point. I wonder if he is teaching this crap to his […]
Update: A reader found this information: By: Diane Benjamin Just Bloomington, not including Normal. https://ilbusinessdaily.com/stories/513055916-bloomington-ranked-294th-in-state-for-resident-earnings-in-2017#.XYgF7wwE5dk.gmail Excerpt: Bloomington ranked 294th among cities in Illinois by annual earnings per resident, according to data obtained from the U.S. Census Bureau in August. The median income of Bloomington residents was an inflation-adjusted $33,702 per year. Bloomington had 31,652 households […]
By: Diane Benjamin Since Bloomington-Normal is a college town, this is an article that needs to be read. It was printed in Forbes Will Half Of All Colleges Really Close In The Next Decade? Harvard Business School Professor Clayton Christensen consistently turns heads in higher education by predicting that 50% of colleges and universities will close or […]
By: Diane Benjamin Maybe attempting to disguise themselves, the local group uses the initials DSA instead of Democratic Socialists of America. This Saturday they are holding a meeting on the Wesleyan Campus: I bet they will agree with this statement: “capitalism is the realm of injustice”. Before DSA gets excited, those words were uttered by Hugo […]
By: Diane Benjamin Bloomington City Council meeting tonight: http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=18264 Beginning on PDF page 380 Remember the Wayfinding signs? In August 2016 the Council hired a firm to design the signs for $62,190. In December 2017 the Council approved spending another $28,095 for design after the original designs were nixed. They could have held a local contest […]
By: Diane Benjamin http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=15356 PDF page 147 Bloomington sealed its own fate last April. When the people elected believe they can create economic growth by stealing your money, the future is bleak. Essential services aren’t funded because things like fixing roads aren’t sexy. Building a legacy is. Tari Renner lost his self-defined economic development role […]
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 Woodford County is dropping how economic development has been funded: http://www.pantagraph.com/news/local/woodford-county-dropping-membership-in-economic-development-groups/article_5ca02933-c093-5916-87b4-d68cf5891b78.html The Logan County Board will decide soon whether to cut all funding for their economic development council. Monday night Bloomington wants to go in the opposite direction. http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=15302 The council will hear presentation about funding BN Advantage and a Small Business […]
By: Diane Benjamin Wasn’t it only a few weeks ago Tari Renner was so overworked as mayor he wanted a full-time assistant? He must have been exaggerating since now he thinks he can take a leave of absence for some “medical related” reason for an indeterminate time. Since the Council did nothing when Tari Renner […]
Were these minutes ever approved by the Council? By: Diane Benjamin On February 20, 2015, the Bloomington City Council held a special meeting to CENSURE Tari Renner for his vile comments made on this site. The minutes have been missing ever since, a Freedom of Information Request had to be sent to obtain them. Luckily, […]
By: Diane Benjamin When very few people bother to vote in local elections, this is what happens. I redacted the name of the sender. Kids are voting, most won’t be staying in town. The Bloomington residents get stuck with their choice because they stay home. Polls are open until 7. . . .
By: Diane Benjamin When the local media is bought and paid for with government advertising dollars, you will never hear the truth. (Local Media Is Fake News) Did they ever tell you Connect Transit budgets a $12,000,000 loss per year so empty buses can drive all over Bloomington-Normal? I missed the bus fire at the […]
Re-posted only to change how it was originally posted. By: Diane Benjamin The Attorney General finally ruled on the Open Meetings Act Violation filed in 2013 by then Alderwoman Judy Stearns! A couple of weeks I wrote about Madigan’s failure to rule and asked readers to call. https://blnnews.com/2016/05/19/madigan-too-busy/ I know at least a few of […]
By: Diane Benjamin Luckily I have a huge network of people who want the truth told. The local media has failed miserably at being government watchdogs. Below is a post that WAS on Tari’s campaign Facebook page from 2013. It has since disappeared. It was sent to me MONTHS ago by a reader who copied […]
By: Diane Benjamin Watch one minute of the video below from Monday night. Start at 1:49. Poor Tari, two kids in college. Yes, us parent who have PAID for college feel your pain. But, Tari has no pain! His kids can attend IWU for free! Even support staff can now send their kids to IWU […]
By: Diane Benjamin I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character. Martin Luther King, Jr. Remember the IWU teacher (professor?) who wrote a book about the racist TEA […]
By: Diane Benjamin A reader said there are two polling locations: Centennial Christian Church on Grove St St Luke’s Union church (by State Farm headquarters). Registered voters either were notified by Becvote.org or they vote where they normally do. Confused? Check with them. Want to send a message to Tari Renner? Make sure his candidate […]
By: Diane Benjamin The FCC will rule to make the Internet a Public Utility on February 26th. The more than 330 page report is already written, even though the public can still tell them to keep their hands off, they don’t care. 3 Democrats will vote for Net Neutrality, 2 Republicans against it. 5 total […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Council did nothing to hold Tari Renner accountable when he attacked me in December of 2013: http://blnnews.com/2013/12/22/mayor-transparency-exposed/ The Council did nothing to hold Tari Renner accountable when he attacked Alderwoman Stearns in April 2014 in an open session meeting. Watch the video, Council members had to intervene to stop his attack: […]
The citizen below sent this response to Mayor Renner: Dear Mayor Renner, Thank you for your response to my email regarding your recent comments about Diane Benjamin on blnnews.com. I do not know you personally, and its not my intention to attack you; however, I am going to be candid with my comments and opinion. […]
By: Diane Benjamin The venomous comments made by Tari Renner on my website have nothing to do with our dislike for each other. His comments were meant to silence political opposition – Freedom of Speech! I was merely Tari’s latest victim. He claims I and people who agree with me launch savage attacks on him. […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Pantagraph and WJBC are in full MOVE ON mode. Tari’s forced apology is their evidence for burying the controversy. Alderman Scott Black wants nothing more than to forget his mentor’s foul mouth. Who says they get to decide Tari’s fate? I’ve received a ton of comments and emails from citizens either […]
By: Diane Benjamin 5 minutes after Renner’s phone call to me, that he obviously didn’t want to make, I got an alert on my phone from the Pantagraph stating he had apologized. 5 minutes after that the Pantagraph reporter called for a comment. Shortly after. her story was posted to the Pantagraph website. Looks suspiciously […]
I sincerely apologize for this story: http://blnnews.com/2015/02/11/pantagraph-covers-for-renner-facts-deleted/ I was outraged that you would use your adult son to justify your vile behavior. I shouldn’t have written it because your relationship with your son is between the two of you. Diane Benjamin Tari, none of this changes the fact that you posted comments un-becoming a mayor […]
By: Diane Benjamin Last night Bloomington’s Mayor left the following comment on this story: http://blnnews.com/2015/02/10/does-tari-know-that-judy-isnt-running/ This is what Tari claims is an attack on his son. A reader made this comment: I’m as conservative as they come, but why are you coming at a college kid and his girlfriend? Seems kind of creepy […]
By: Diane Benjamin The only interesting parts of last night’s Council meeting were the public comment and Aldermen comments at the end. IWU students have suddenly taken an interest in local politics. It doesn’t hurt that one is a Renner student and the other is his girlfriend – see below. From twitter: Brexton Isaacs retweeted […]
More Not In Our Town hypocrisy from Twitter: Is this where I’m supposed to say “I object to these words and the damage they cause. They have no place in our community.” (from the NIOT pledge – Intolerant words) By: Diane Benjamin If you watched the Bloomington City Council meeting last Monday you saw: Tari […]
A reader pointed out something I didn’t see: Renner saw Brexton in the audience and made sure he got a comment card and was able to speak. Other people have not been allowed to speak if they didn’t show up in time to fill out a card! Renner even had the Council vote to allow […]
by: Diane Benjamin This is a shortened version of Mayor Tari Renner’s attack on Alderwoman Stearns at the 4/28/14 City Council meeting. Please share this – the residents of Bloomington need to understand Renner conducted a pre-planned attack on Alderwoman Stearns – he is reading it!
