By: Diane Benjamin That 23 minutes includes the Pledge of Allegiance, Public Comment, and comments by the Mayor, Billy Tyus, and Jeff Crabill at the end of the meeting. Tim Gleason was absent but Julie Emig was finally back to representing her Ward. Nothing was pulled from the Consent Agenda. No questions were asked about […]
by: Diane Benjamin Ward 4 Alderman Julie Emig was on sick leave until the end of November. She still wasn’t back Monday night. She hasn’t attended a meeting since September, her Ward has been un-represented for over 2 months. It’s funny to watch the Council continue to conduct business with 8 alderman instead of 9. […]
By: Diane Benjamin The meeting length will be determined by what is pulled from the Consent Agenda – it’s long. It’s difficult to understand why some Enterprise Funds have to balance or you get tax increases to make up the difference, but Capital Funds can be used to buy 3 new movers for the golf […]
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 FYI: While your retirement savings are being hit hard, so are the Defined Benefit Plans for Public Sector employees. You will get the bill since no one is willing to amend the Illinois Constitution. Redesigning the City website means Bills and Payroll have to be searched for now, somebody forgot to add […]
By: Diane Benjamin At Monday’s Bloomington Council meeting approving money for the Ecology Action Center was on the Consent Agent. Everything on it was passed with one unanimously vote including this to the Ecology Action Center: https://d3n9y02raazwpg.cloudfront.net/cityblm/5a1a631e-a62d-11ec-8a90-0050569183fa-36dc0a47-f3e1-4a7f-ab53-55227cac04fe-1654897109.pdf One problem – h/t a reader: Julie Emig is listed on the Ecology Action Center website as a […]
By: Diane Benjamin 1) We now have proof Unit 5 teaches kids what to think, not how to think. Follow-up to this story: https://blnnews.com/2022/05/04/normal-your-taxes-funded-this/ Doug Fansler sent a video of a Ted Talk to Chemberly Cummings after her Youth on a Mission promoted EV’s without considering all sides. The students obviously didn’t look for facts […]
By: Diane Benjamin Recap: Grant Walch was appointed Ward 1 Alderman – Jeff Crabill and Julie Emig voted against him. Evidently they didn’t like replacing a self-identified progressive alderman with a more conservative one. Road funding isn’t close to what it needs to be. The $7 million was increased to $9 million, factor in inflation […]
By: Diane Benjamin One of the policies instituted by Tari Renner was limiting discussion at Council meetings. Pre-Tari there were no limits, Agendas are now issued with the amount of time the Council will spend on each item. Why are your elected representatives not allowed to talk as long as they want? The Council represents […]
By: Diane Benjamin Did you know Jenn Carrillo won her seat with overwhelming support? Many people at Public Comment last night claimed she did. They are trying to re-write history, their claims are WRONG. A measly 716 people bother to vote from Ward 6 in 2019. Carrillo received 379 votes, Schmidt got 337. For the […]
By: Diane Benjamin Even though Jenn’s Democratic Socialists and Illinois People’s Action buddies appeared at public comment, the majority of the Council didn’t buy Jenn’s comments pertaining to Nick Becker and Sheila Montney had anything to do with freedom of speech. Video will be posted tomorrow, citizens did also speak appalled at her comments. You […]
By: Diane Benjamin Since Jenn Carrillo would have been laughed at, Jeff Crabill was the BLM representative last night. He wanted to approve last years police budget instead of the increased number. State Farm – make sure he doesn’t get a raise this year since he thinks public safety personnel don’t deserve one. The video […]
By: Diane Benjamin If you forgot the demands of the local Black Lives Matter group, see them here: https://blnnews.com/2021/03/12/open-season-on-police/ Demands include de-funding the police 50% by 2023. Jeff Crabill took the opportunity last night to oppose the re-appointment of Surena Fish to the Public Safety and Community Review Board (PSCRB) because she dared to oppose […]
Brief recap of tonight’s cannabis discussion: The city radicals lost on everything but dispensaries. No on-site consumption, no other type of businesses for now. Jenn Carrillo constantly spoke when not being recognized and then attempted to insult the other aldermen who didn’t agree with her social justice agenda. Crabill was right with her. Crabill.quoted studies.that […]
By: Diane Benjamin I’ve written about the Illinois Municipal league numerous times. If you don’t know much about them, start with this story from 2016: https://blnnews.com/2016/03/29/the-iml-scam/ IML is holding their annual conference in Chicago in September. Many local people will be attending at a cost of at least $310 each. From Bloomington, Tari Renner, Julie […]
By: Diane Benjamin According to the paper, Alderman Julie Emig has been named Executive Director of the Multicultural Leadership Program. https://www.pantagraph.com/news/local/mclp-names-emig-as-executive-director/article_f62cf167-1366-568a-8882-b239c781b9cf.html She sits one person away from the racists mayor and says nothing. Don’t forget, Not In Our Town hasn’t said a word either. According to the article: “A program designed to develop leaders […]
By: Diane Benjamin A comment was left on BlnNews last night that deserves a longer response than just my reply. The citizens of Bloomington need to understand who is REALLY responsible for the roads and new designs in recent years. It isn’t Jim Karch. The comment: Why are few roads getting fixed and those that […]
By: Diane Benjamin Last Saturday the McLean County Republican Party held a debate for the candidates running for Bloomington City Council. The only candidate to decline the invitation was Jenn Carrillo who is running to replace Karen Schmidt. The debate was filmed by the GOP and linked here in 4 parts, each around 15 minutes. […]
By: Diane Benjamin Clearly Emig is Tari’s pick for Ward 4, he’s holding an open house at his house for her. If you aren’t a left winger and want to attend, just show up. Responding on Facebook will get you blocked. Remember about a year ago when various Council people held “priority based budgeting” townhalls? […]
Julie Emig will stay on the ballot for Ward 4 Bloomington alderman. Failure to complete the blanks on petitions isn’t enough reason to kick her off. The Bloomington Election Commission so ruled. If elected, she will help spend more than $200,000,000. Feel secure now?
By: Diane Benjamin Municipal elections are by law nonpartisan. The theory is party doesn’t matter, everyone wants to do what’s best for the City. Ask those who voted against the wishes of voters if they did that when they voted for the Coliseum. Ask the recent council members if taking $40 million+ more a year […]
By: Diane Benjamin Follow up to this story: https://blnnews.com/2018/11/27/taris-candidates/ The below is posted on Jenn Carrillo’s Facebook page and copied to the Facebook page of at least one other candidate. It proves Jenn, Jeff Crabill, Georgene Chissell, and Julie Emig are running as a team. Would these 4 solve problems or create more? They can’t […]
By: Diane Benjamin The first day petitions for the City Council could be circulated was August 28th. That’s almost 3 months ago. Amelia Buragas finally decided on the final day that she wasn’t running again. She probably notified Tari a few days ago which led to a frantic attempt to get signatures for a candidate […]
I hear a challenge has been filed to Julie Emig’s petitions. By: Diane Benjamin Since yesterday was the deadline, this is what the April Bloomington ballot will look like. These are the only Wards being elected in this cycle. Amelia Buragas was the last rat to jump ship. She has been hurriedly replaced. The starred […]
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