By: Diane Benjamin Why are tax dollars going to private institutions? Why did Unit 5 and District 87 get money for facilities when they conned people into voting for a 1% Sales Tax? Evidently no one on this list is capable of living within budgets based on the needs and ability of the people they […]
By: Diane Benjamin See this WGLT story: https://www.wglt.org/local-news/2024-04-30/isu-students-set-up-pro-palestinian-tent-encampment-on-quad The pictures say all you need to know about the “protesters”: They are all wearing masks outside on a beautiful day: Why wear masks? There is only one reason: To hide their identity. ISU has a “microaggression” policy. The protest is more of a macro-aggression against jewish […]
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 Even a ridiculous source like Wikipedia has numbers ranging from a low of 10-20 million to as high as 148 million. MILLIONS of people, if you call yourself a communist you support murder. This was obvious on the campus of Illinois Wesleyan University. The below is a screen shot from a Live […]
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 Vowing to uphold both the Constitution of the United States and the State of Illinois is beyond the left. Tari Renner proved that again at the emergency Liquor Commission meeting yesterday. See the short video clip as reported by Cities 92.9: https://www.cities929.com/2020/11/21/bloomington-mayor-renner-whines-at-liquor-commission-hearing-about-the-states-attorney/?fbclid=IwAR3IAg490VjyNCDqMzrrp8xgykB7fmsDgfxZdlbgmHMyl4m6kPGO9oEyrO0 Tari expect State Attorney Don Knapp to enforce Pritzker Executive […]
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 I wonder if Koos and Reece will admit the Executive Orders issued are now dead? Normal for Monday night: http://normal.org/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/3683 Is this in addition to what taxpayers already pay? Misc: It appears the discussion of paying property taxes by the Town of Normal on property that should be exempt must continue: I […]
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 […]
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 Kevin Gerrard, the guy who filed the ethics complaint with the City of Bloomington, also filed for Nikita’s browser history for the entire month of June. According to him, he filed the complaint and FOIA because HE is paying Nikita’s salary as a resident of Bloomington. One quick note about who filed […]
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 […]
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 Think back to when Bloomington’s Public Comment Policy was changed to 30 minutes. Tari Renner was out of the country, Karen Schmidt was acting mayor for that meeting. Since Renner has never been fond of Public Comment, and previously it had only been 15 minutes, he probably wasn’t happy when he got […]
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 Tari Renner believes in the top down approach to government. He wants total control of local economic development. Think about his hotel plans in downtown Bloomington that will steal business from existing hotels. HE wants to decide who succeeds and who fails. Understand now why he didn’t sign the loyalty oath […]
By: Diane Benjamin A public hearing was held on April 25, 2016 pertaining to MetroNet coming to Bloomington. http://www.cityblm.org/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=10172 This item was included in the documentation: It’s appalling the City thinks they can determine who is a “right” fit. These are the same guys who thought the Coliseum was the “right” fit. Secret: Tari and […]
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 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 […]
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 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 […]
By: Diane Benjamin A sociologist At Illinois Wesleyan University has written a book about the TEA Party. No, I have no plans to read it, and yes I did talk to the author. Just the blurb on the IWU website says everything I need to know. https://www.iwu.edu/news/2015/sociologist-sheds-light-on-tea-party.html When RACE is in the title of […]
by: Diane Benjamin How many Letters to the Editor has the Pantagraph refused to print supporting the Cities 92.9 flamingo campaign? Yesterday the Editorial staff wrote urging Bloomington to get busy fixing up downtown. It shouldn’t be a mystery why: They want to sell their building and there is currently no market for it. They have […]
by: Diane Benjamin These emails were received under the Freedom of Information Act. The email below from Karen describes the email exchange. Todd is Todd Greenburg – former City lawyer, Karen is Alderwoman Schmidt who works at IWU. Dear Todd – On our June 10, 2013 agenda, item 7K seeks a street and alley vacation. I […]
Below is a list of the top 50 people paid by the Town of Normal in 2010. Go to OpenTheBooks.com is you want to see names. Medium HOUSEHOLD income in McLean County 2006-2010 was $57,642. http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/17/17113.html 2010 Town Of Normal $156,585.31 2010 Town Of Normal $134,396.06 2010 Town Of Normal $122,905.14 2010 […]
It comes to no surprise to those of us “in the shadows“, as we have been tagged. To those of us “in the know”. Those of us who have been involved in this Main Street/Form Based Code debate with local government from the beginning have known all along something was amiss. And those of us in the know have been well […]
