By: Diane Benjamin You already know it if you read this story: https://blnnews.com/2023/11/29/connect-transit-wants-you-to-love-them/ The whole messaging campaign is supposed to be a secret until they develop some slogan EVERYONE can repeat over and over and over. They want a planned rollout. I bet you can’t wait to see how they counter all the “disinformation”. (like […]
By: Diane Benjamin Remember yesterday’s story where I told you the next Bloomington City Manager and Council can take the extra “enhanced revenue” and use it for things this Council didn’t pass? In other words, new people ignore what previous people did. The Connect Transit Board meeting last night proved that. The new General Manager […]
By: Diane Benjamin The easiest way to tell who supports which candidates for local office is to look at who collected signatures for them. You can see what each filed here: https://www.normalil.gov/114/Municipal-Elections Kathleen Lorenz: Chris Koos, Kevin McCarthy, and Sonja Reece Karyn Smith: Sonja Reece, Kevin MCarthy Andy Byars: John McIntyre (Byars says he’s republican), […]
By: Diane Benjamin h/t a citizen of Normal The video below starts where Chris Koos is introducing Julie Hile at 2:20:30. He instructs her that she has 3 minutes to speak. Hile starts talking at 2:20:48, she finishes at 2:25:30. Chris Koos: That’s way over 3 minutes. You didn’t stop her, therefore YOU have changed […]
By: Diane Benjamin Why did Chemberly Cummings, Julie Hile, and Bob Broad stand for last night’s Pledge of Alliance and not participate? Either they are all members of the Jehovah Witness church who refuse to say the pledge because they consider it idolatry, or they have some other reason. Chemberly Cummings has never said the […]
By: Diane Benjamin Usually some business comes before a Planning Commission if they need zoning changed for a specific business. This time it is the Normal staff requesting changes to zoning at One Normal Plaza. (More proof staff runs the Town, not the Council) Please note, government plans usurp capitalism and are destined to fail […]
By: Diane Benjamin Remember back to last year. Usually when a zoning change is requested it is because some entrepreneur wants to develop a property in a way it isn’t zoned for. That isn’t the case with One Normal Plaza. The Town is pushing allowing alcohol in the park. Yes, it is a park setting […]
By: Diane Benjamin City Manager Tim Gleason stated the City still has $100,000 to hand out to small businesses. I don’t know if this is the right page, but start here to see if you qualify: https://www.cityblm.org/doing-business/cdbg-cv-business-program The City anticipates ending COVID restrictions on June 30th. Vaccinations will still happen on a smaller scale at […]
By: Diane Benjamin More on the “Attack” Stan meeting last week. Attorney Brian Day spoke about 3 items-video below: 1) Day didn’t talk about Pam Reece’s procurement ethics, just Stan Nord’s. Day complained about Nord talking to local vendors AFTER the Town had already picked their favorite. Day left out the AFTER. The Town didn’t […]
By: Diane Benjamin http://bloomingtonil.iqm2.com/Citizens/FileOpen.aspx?Type=1&ID=1118&Inline=True In a perfect example of government believing individuals have no responsibility but government does: The McLean County Regional Planning Commission will make a presentation that includes this: Eliminate fatalities and life-changing injuries from our transportation system by 2030 That is the most absurd statement ever written with tax dollars. I can’t […]
By: Diane Benjamin Just a reminder: Chemberly Cummings wants to make laws in Springfield to control you, but she refuses to say the Pledge of Allegiance. She put the red sign over her camera. She hates America and is unfit for ANY office. She did not get her internet connection fixed, the quality is still […]
By: Diane Benjamin Last Wednesday Normal passed ordinances limiting gatherings to 10 or fewer people within the ISU campus area and additional bar and restaurant social distancing restrictions. This was in response to the skyrocketing infection rate of COVID in the campus and Uptown area. Town hall is located near the epicenter of the outbreak […]
By: Diane Benjamin Start with One Normal Plaza. STAFF convinced the Council to instigate zoning changes. The area residents only want ONE THING – alcohol sales banned in the park. Drive through – it’s a park like setting with narrow roads and family atmosphere. They want it to stay a tranquil place. STAFF refused to […]
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 […]
I just received another FOIA from Normal. Supporting the brewery was the building owner, Rob Morger. The Baby fold supported the zoning changes. By: Diane Benjamin Last night the group of citizens opposed to establishments selling alcohol from a building in One Normal Plaza met with Town staff. Normal brought the big guns: City Manager […]
By: Diane Benjamin Normal paid the McLean County Regional Planning Commission $54,000 as their last meeting: https://blnnews.com/2020/06/13/normals-asininity/ I previously wrote about Julie Hile’s involvement with the MCRPC here: https://blnnews.com/2020/05/21/progressive-julie-hile/ I received a copy of the contract Hile signed with the MCRPC. See it here: Vision_Zero_Contract-HG-20190619_(Final_Executed)_redacted Excerpts: The contract was sign in July of 2019, so […]
By: Diane Benjamin http://normal.org/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/3660 The Town of Normal is going together with the County, Bloomington, and BNWRD to fund hazardous waste collection days through the Ecology Action Center. PDF page 61: This is common sense since citizens expect nobody associated with the Town to profit off this contract. Too bad it didn’t apply to this: […]
By: Diane Benjamin Ever feel like government is conspiring behind your back to force their agenda on you? They are! Julie Hile is a progressive. She knows how you should live your life, your opinions are immaterial. All progressives want to reshape daily life to whatever their vision is. Hile has a long history of […]
By: Diane Benjamin Some people are more special than others. If Koos appoints you to a Board or Commission it’s because your ideology aligns with his. That is why one Normal seat on the Connect Transit Board is still empty. Koos must have run out of people who think like him. On the agenda for […]
By: Diane Benjamin The massive list of Normal’s spending for the last 3 years is a treasure trove of information. It’s pretty easy to search for questionable spending like the ones below. I search for all expenses marked sponsor, comment with what you think. I’m sure Normal thinks this is petty cash. I call it […]
By: Diane Benjamin The dates and locations seem to keep changing. Is Connect trying to keep the public from showing up? I hear the consultant won’t be there, did they get fired? I’m told Julie Hile will be leading, leading to where the Town of Normal and Connect Transit want the discussion to end up? […]
By: Diane Benjamin It could take a long time to report everything I received with a FOIA of emails between Stan Nord and Normal City Manager Pam Reece. One thing obvious is she doesn’t approve of Stan looking at what she and the “professional staff” do. Pam thinks Stan’s job is setting policy, not looking […]
By: Diane Benjamin The waste of valuable resources continued in March. The far right column is year-to-date, 3 months remain in their fiscal year. https://www.connect-transit.com/documents/April%20Connect%20Transit%20Board%20Packet%204-19.pdf Nobody should be surprised by Mike McCurdy’s comments in the article below. He is not listening to the people. He was appointed by Chris Koos who also doesn’t listen […]
By: Diane Benjamin The local environmental activists thought they had their plan to force EVERYONE to recycle in the bag. They spent two years meeting with people they call “stakeholders”. Even if you did hear about one of their public meetings or hearings, I bet you didn’t go. Details here: https://blnnews.com/2018/01/06/robustelli-wrong-scritchlow-right/ Their plans to use force […]
By: Diane Benjamin Last night Trustees RC McBride and Kevin McCarthy went out of their way to thanks the 5 citizens who spoke at Public Comment. They needed to because 3 out of the 5 were plants. Normal illegally requires citizens who want to speak to sign up hours in advance. That gives Koos and […]
It might seem to some local citizens, and even to many of our local city officials and elected council members, that the focus of sustainable issues, and thus, Agenda 21 – related projects, are issues that only us here at CITYWATCH are concerned about. Such is not the case. But, unfortunately, our community and city officials […]
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 […]
