By: Diane Benjamin Kathy Michael got the referendum court date moved to this Friday because early voting starts September 29th. (before any debates happen!) It will happen over Zoom so we can’t pack the court. Morning Giggles from League of Women Voters: The LWV decided as expected. When they picked Normal’s former City Manager as […]
By: Diane Benjamin Notice a problem (or two)? Problem 1 The Normal Election Commission (board) is now immaterial since they issued their ruling on August 30th against the 2200 citizens who signed petitions. The Circuit Court is now in charge of deciding whether the referendum is on the ballot or not. Problem 2 Mark Peterson? […]
By: Diane Benjamin A reader FOIA’d the Town of Normal over their “sympathy flowers” policy. The Normal taxpayers are paying for arrangements to be sent in sympathy to people Normal chooses to send them to. Picking Winners and Losers Normal? Are the people paying the bills ever told who flowers or plants are sent to? […]
By: Diane Benjamin Remember the sewer receipts fiasco between Normal and Bloomington? Normal finally figured out Bloomington had been collecting money from Bloomington water customers on sewers owned by Normal. It only took Normal 9 years to notice, even though Bloomington had attempted to resolve the issue previously. Stan Nord wondered why the 3/31/21 financial […]
By: Diane Benjamin Unit 5 has two unions. One is teachers – UFEA, the other is for professional staff – UFSPA. Both recommended three candidates for the Unit 5 School Board in the April 2021 election. They got two of the three elected: Stan Gozur and Kentrica Coleman. From their websites: http://www.ufspa.org/vote/ In 2023 FOUR […]
By: Diane Benjamin So close to $1 million lost: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1umwJzzqlOYT6z4QeSHLzRz4FKZi3Z8Oi/view Ridership has started to recover, it isn’t back: A few expenses paid: Connect still hasn’t found a new Executive Director. They do keep meeting in secret however. PDF page 25: Insurance coverage is going to cost $614,226 for FY 2022. That is a 16.5% increase. […]
By: Diane Benjamin Connect must be having a difficult time hiring a new General Manager. They are meeting again today in Executive Session to discuss “personnel matters”. Remember the corner by Portillos the buses can’t navigate? A reader received the email below from MARCH stating CT had contacted the Town of Normal for solutions: Nothing […]
By: Diane Benjamin See all first quarter campaign contribution to Chris Koos here, others might surprise you: https://elections.il.gov/CampaignDisclosure/D2Quarterly.aspx?id=Z24PjB%2frtA5MTMtkHT2GVw%3d%3d&T=637544171509537959 Connect Transit will likely be announcing the new General Manager soon. They are meeting in Executive Session tomorrow for “personnel issues”. https://www.connect-transit.com/documents/Meetings/AGENDA%20-%20SPECIAL%20Session%20%2004-22-2021.pdf
By: Diane Benjamin When Connect transit was trying to decide where the downtown transfer station should be, they stated many riders use the bus to get to the Laws and Justice Center or the Library. The location they picked is the farthest from either. Buses could have dropped people where CII East is now, it’s […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Connect Transit Board didn’t meet in December, so January 26, 2021 the Board will review November and December 2020. They finally achieved breaking through the $1,000,000 operating loss and did it both months: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1pH-FJxYfLWtjHzbnh98Ge3P6El4HURHu/view November 2020: December 2020: EVERY DOLLAR for “Assistance” is money government took from somebody who earned it. […]
By: Diane Benjamin https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-SgGF0uzhIlXeWqdYlJ0blXEhDPLrrfh/view I could write the same story as every other month. Expenses for October were over $1,1 MILLION, Income was a little less than $59,000, meaning a loss for ONE MONTH of $973,317. No big deal since government keeps throwing them millions of dollars to them to run empty buses. Of course […]
By: Diane Benjamin Figure out LIMITED Government yet? I remember posting about limited government years ago and getting comments like “you don’t want police and fire”. Obviously that isn’t what LIMITED Government means. Government uses your money for their folly because they can. You would have much more money in your pocket if government only […]
By: Diane Benjamin WGLT revealed why Mollie Ward was Renner’s pick to fill out the rest of Scott Black’s term: https://www.wglt.org/post/renner-tabs-fierce-advocate-west-bloomington-council-vacancy#stream/0 “Mollie Ward, left, of Not In Our Town, kicked off a vigil outside Bloomington City Hall in March of 2018 in a push for a welcoming city ordinance” Renner evidently wants the Council and […]
By: Diane Benjamin The conversation is continuing on the post Chris Koos made to Facebook. See the original story: https://blnnews.com/2020/07/19/koos-out-of-touch-or-out-of-his-mind/ Below are excerpts, Joel Studebaker got into lots of topics. The one that interested me was the empty first floor at 1 Uptown Circle. Note Cheryl Gaines claims renting it is up to the owner […]
Tari Renner goes to Streator to tell them how to run their City: https://blnnews.com/2019/10/31/streator-your-leaders-are-getting-advice-from-bloomingtons-mayor/ Where did Mark Peterson go? Pekin In case you forgot already, Peterson is the retired City Manager of Normal. He went there to teach them how to set goals: https://www.pekintimes.com/news/20190729/pekin-city-council-sets-city-goals-at-monday-special-meeting There is a huge difference between the goals people have for […]
By: Diane Benjamin The former Normal City Manager isn’t sitting back enjoying retirement on his fat pension, he has a new job: https://www.govhrusa.com/associates/mark-peterson/ Mark is a Vice President for GovHR! Click the link above to see his glowing resume. Quotes: Mark doesn’t mention the still empty first floor of 1 Uptown Circle. He also doesn’t […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Bloomington City Council doesn’t think they owe citizens anything. They can have their “secret meetings” (Executive Sessions) and vote to never release the minutes. Evaluations from Tom Hamilton are still a secret, of course the David Hales evaluations are a secret too. At the last meeting of the Normal Town Council […]
By: Diane Benjamin Earlier this month I reported Connect Transit gave Normal’s former City Manager a gift card to mark his retirement: https://blnnews.com/2018/05/21/899191-05/ While Connect Transit lost $899,191.05 in just one month, Mark Peterson got $50.00 or it: This receipt was received by FOIA.
By: Diane Benjamin Followup to yesterday’s story: https://blnnews.com/2018/03/16/hum-uptown-circle/ As reported yesterday, this new building in Uptown has no tenants on the first floor. The Town of Normal is renting the entire second floor: According to the Pantagraph from 7/4/2016: http://www.pantagraph.com/news/local/normal-eyes-design-contract-for-office-space/article_9d3ad5b1-f04d-5709-a834-2d10fe6db9eb.html The town will lease 13,780 square feet of office space for 15 years, with renewal options, […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Town of Normal picked their assistant City Manager to replace Mark Peterson. Evidently the search firm they hired couldn’t find anybody better than Pamela Reece. They throw away $20,000 to find that out though. Is Bloomington going to throw away money too? Steve Rasmussen is right there in front of them! […]
By: Diane Benjamin The story below appeared in the Pantagraph on October 21, 2003. It is available on microfiche at the Bloomington Public Library. Normal raised your property taxes this year by blaming pensions. They used the same excuse in 2003 and every year since. Instead of budgeting for expenses they have to pay, they […]
By: Diane Benjamin When the citizens aren’t paying attention to what their government is doing, you get the below. If you thought $100,000,000 was ridiculous for Uptown, be prepared for more folly. PDF page 59: http://www.normal.org/DocumentCenter/Home/View/7440 This statement is in the Town of Normal’s Annual Report: There is a good reason people want to work […]
By: Diane Benjamin Years ago I heard the developer of the Marriott felt he pulled off a legal robbery of the Town of Normal taxpayers courtesy of the hayseed Council hell-bent on a downtown hotel. The rich continued to get richer last night courtesy of the Normal Town Council. Two citizens spoke during public comment. […]
By: Diane Benjamin It’s getting harder and harder to see that ANY laws matter, at least for government. Officials can twist facts, feign illness, and violate the law knowing nobody is going to prosecute. The Town of Normal Council is doing their part Tuesday night: I don’t know if this “planning session” has taken […]
By: Diane Benjamin Just weeks ago City Manager Mark Peterson declared everybody racist – but he is determined to fix it: https://blnnews.com/2017/08/23/we-are-all-racist/ Normal is so racist in April they elected a black council member – Chemberly Cummings. According to a Pantagraph story, she thinks rural white teachers have never seen black kids before. I wonder what […]
I attended this event – Nick Adams has an amazing love for America AND Americans. He has a non-profit call FLAG. From their website: http://www.flagusa.org/ Its principal purpose is to educationally proclaim the greatness of America, and ensure that the next generation of American leaders understands what it means to be an American. Several members […]
By: Diane Benjamin Monday night the Normal Town Council met for over the usual 10-20 minutes. Most of the time was the discussion of community policing. Judging people on the content of their character and not the color of the skin is officially dead. RIP Martin Luther King. Police must now enforce social equity, not […]
By: Diane Benjamin I knew there was more to the pool story than Mark Peterson reported. My source tells me Peterson might not even know since he is probably relying on Angela Malone, head of aquatics. See Peterson’s version in this story: https://blnnews.com/2017/08/01/4-things-one-story/ I received an email from someone with intimate knowledge of the situation, […]
By: Diane Benjamin Mark Peterson – Normal’s City Manager – talked to WGLT yesterday: http://wglt.org/post/public-private-partnership-lacking-establish-sports-complex#stream/0 Peterson thinks taxpayers should pony up $20-$30 million for a sports complex! The total cost will be $50 million, but it’s not a Public-Private partnership. He doesn’t say where the rest of the money will come from or who will […]
I received the following email from Jason Chambers: Ms. Benjamin, I was contacted by someone asking about the prosecutor in the Preston matter and the possible cost. They indicated they had heard there was an expense in that regard from you. Just for information purposes, I wanted to let you know that there is no […]
Sorry, Fazzini’s final day was September 3rd. These are after he quit. By: Diane Benjamin Below are a couple more emails I received under the Freedom of Information Act from the Town of Normal. These will tell who Bloomington City Manager David Hales is: A guy who can’t make a decision. Note these emails are […]
by: Diane Benjamin Remember this email sent by City Manager Mark Peterson: This is a link to a story I wrote back in November: http://blnnews.com/2013/11/14/the-normal-city-council-should-fire-mark-peterson/ As reported, I filed a complaint against Peterson based on the Code of Ethics listed on the International City Managers Assoc website. I heard nothing from them for months. When […]
by: Diane Benjamin Remember this email? Remember how the City of Bloomington tried to hide it from a Freedom of Information Act request? Remember how I filed a complaint with the International City Managers Association since they “claim” to have a code of ethics? They still haven’t made a determination on my complaint. Ethics in […]
by: Diane Benjamin After I exposed the email written by Normal City Manager Mark Peterson (http://blnnews.com/2013/11/13/city-manager-mark-peterson-liables-me/), he wrote the following email to Bloomington Alderman Rob Fazzini: Fazzini then responded with this email: . Peterson doesn’t seem all that concerned on November 13th. Maybe today is a little more unhappy. I have filed a complaint […]
by: Diane Benjamin See this story from yesterday: http://blnnews.com/2013/11/13/city-manager-mark-peterson-liables-me/ The International City Manager Association has a code of ethics. Mark Peterson broke it by sending a lie laden, derogatory email to Bloomington Alderman Rob Fazzini who then forwarded it to MANY other people. At the very least, Peterson’s actions show a complete lack of intelligence. […]
by Diane Benjamin Yesterday Bloomington Alderman Rob Fazzini wrote a long email to me stating his position on the hostile takeover, nothing new that I haven’t already reported, just more dribble. For some reason, he copied the City Manager of Normal, Mark Peterson. Why? Normal is all about limiting citizen representation, so maybe Peterson is […]
