By: Diane Benjamin Remember the Bloomington City Council voting down spending $270,000 over 3 years for a lobbyist? https://blnnews.com/2023/02/15/gleason-thinks-the-council-works-for-him/ Gleason wants grant money for the downtown streetscape. Does he know grant money is taxpayer money? Does he know the Feds spend more money every year than they take in? $31 Trillion in debt is meaningless […]
By: Diane Benjamin I filed a FOIA request with the City of Bloomington on January 31st when rumors started to swirl about a revote on hiring a lobbyist. Of course they delayed my FOIA until 4:30 today – after the vote. They claimed legal had to review. Ha Ha. Here is part of one email […]
Overheard while flying around: Bloomington City Manager Tim Gleason really wants the lobbyist the Council voted 5-4 not to hire. Money, money, money – never enough! Gleason wants a re-vote. The aldermen didn’t fall in line! Who is going to flip and change their vote? Does Deputy City Manager Billy Tyus still have a job? […]
By: Diane Benjamin Bills and Payroll: https://www.bloomingtonil.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/28905/638096498401870000 806 Employees, remember when the City had 650? Maybe shows aren’t booked because you have to pay up first? Your cost for empty buses: Agenda: https://d3n9y02raazwpg.cloudfront.net/cityblm/257b0a83-7d4f-11ed-9024-0050569183fa-a809f54d-d2d4-4538-9941-6f673252daac-1674252308.pdf National debt is now $31.5 trillion. That doesn’t include all the unfunded liabilities that can never be paid. Our national security is […]
By: Diane Benjamin On April 22nd the Illinois House passed HB 2523 116 to 0. For once every Democrat and every Republican agreed: https://ilga.gov/legislation/votehistory/102/house/10200HB2523_04222021_027000T.pdf What is HB 2523? This bill amends the language in the original bill that created the Police Officers Pension Investment Fund. Remember when pension funds were consolidated to hopefully perform better? […]
By: Diane Benjamin See Part 1 here: https://blnnews.com/2021/04/21/how-politics-works/ h/t a reader Excerpt from April 19, 2021 Normal meeting packet: https://www.normal.org/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/3953 From the list of Chris Koos campaign contributions: https://elections.il.gov/CampaignDisclosure/ItemizedContributions.aspx?FiledDocID=YIs54h%2fevxf7J8yKlr0dbQ%3d%3d&ContributionType=2YAmdxRebQQqctsvHCZ198%2f3abzMbtvHeOGYYfK0I884AkEx74lNcz3lvc4Cs7JKibdJ1GoqCdw%3d&T=637545917602780968 If his address didn’t tip you off: Figure out who he works for? https://www.cardinalinfrastructure.com/our-team His real name is Bennette Ressinke, the spelling seems to change depending […]
By: Diane Benjamin On November 5, 2018 the Town of Normal bought property at the corner of Hershey and Sheppard for a fire station. Remember, the residents in the area didn’t want it located there – the Town ignored their petition. The purchase price was $450,000 for 1.69 acres (according to GIS): http://normal.org/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/3107 Monday night […]
By: Diane Benjamin September report: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1pLCpemf28nZGauwhZ5Qw4vpqKGZvpJ0C/view Keep in mind this ridiculous use of your money happens across the country. Cheaper ways to transport people can’t be that difficult. Note below – ISU has a contract so the kids can ride for free. Expenses are almost 10 times Revenue! Boardings per hour is higher, total ridership […]
By: Diane Benjamin Only a tiny group of citizens want bike lanes. Tari Renner ran for office twice pledging to fix the roads. He obviously isn’t as serious as the people with damaged vehicles are. This is from 2015: http://www.cityblm.org/government/departments/public-works/streets-sidewalks/street-resurfacing The table shows how much money per year is required just to have TERRIBLE STREETS. […]
