By: Diane Benjamin Faulty planning forced the citizens of Bloomington to pay for a Fire Station that has NEVER been used. Tom Hamilton thought Mitsubishi would bring another 10-12000 people to the southwest side of town. He guessed wrong and wasted millions of dollars! From Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_planning The most notable critique of economic planning came from […]
By: Diane Benjamin Ever since Tari was first elected, a never-ending supply of Master Plans covering everything in Bloomington has been produced at great expense. In order to get Council support they were sold as “advisory”. They never were meant to be advisory, they are considered law. The hard-core leftist on the current Council frequently […]
By: Diane Benjamin The short answer is because of the McLean County Regional Planning Commission. The MCRPC is an organization most citizens know nothing about. In 2013 a new executive director was hired: Vasudha P. Gadhiraju. The formerly conservative Commission took a hard turn to the left immediately after. According to the MCRPC website, 2013 is […]
By: Diane Benjamin Correction – approving Bills and payroll isn’t on the agenda, so they have nothing to pay! Surprise! http://www.cityblm.org/government/advanced-components/documents/-folder-500 Bills and Payroll is not posted for tonight’s meeting. The last time the City failed to post this days in advance of the meeting, a plane ticket for the mayor’s girlfriend was included. What […]
By: Diane Benjamin Couple more things on tonight’s agenda: 1) The parking ordinance downtown will be modified to keep City employees from just moving their car every couple of hours in the Government Center lot so they get free parking. 2) A brand new Brick Street Master plan will be adopted including: The next Council […]
By: Diane Benjamin To understand why the Council approved building a fire station on 6 Points Rd, you have to go back in time. The current Council is convinced Bloomington’s future is downtown. Just as they are wrong, history has proven development in SW Bloomington started and stopped. Mitsubishi hadn’t yet failed and reduced its […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Pantagraph filed this report from a meeting held last night between Parks officials and the public. http://www.pantagraph.com/news/local/bloomington-residents-urge-city-to-develop-parks/article_1a548766-9440-56e6-8d33-ddbe9d47f045.html First a quote from the article: Evidently Master Plans are only non-binding when they are created. Once approved they are thrown in the face of citizens who object. Think Bike Lanes and Complete Streets. […]
By: Diane Benjamin Renner didn’t ask to extend the time so everybody could speak, so everybody didn’t get to. Tari did make sure Mike McCurdy of Bike Blono, WGLT radio, and Connect Transit got to speak though. To hear all of the public comment – just hit play below. Then listen to the second Public […]
By: Diane Benjamin Update to this story: https://blnnews.com/2017/01/16/all-they-do-is-plan/ The new City of Bloomington website does not include packets from prior years. The packets are what contain all those pesky details that the City now evidently wants to hide. I can show you what was paid to the company that did the last update to the […]
UPDATE: See what the 2010 Plan cost HERE By: Diane Benjamin Under Tari Renner, taxpayers have been forced to pay for plan after plan after plan. Departments have been dragging their multi-million dollar plans in front of the Council for months while Tari claims it’s all a wish list. The wish of the next Mayor […]
By: Diane Benjamin Nothing citizens said at the Citizen’s Summit mattered. Nothing Bring It On Bloomington said mattered either. The Budget Task Force was a joke. The Downtown Stakeholders meeting held last night was equally for show, except the City most likely bought the food that was served. The stakeholders nixed a downtown hotel! Therefore, […]
By: Diane Benjamin Something happened at the Bloomington Council meeting last night that wasn’t on the agenda! I hope the Live Stream is permanently repaired before the next meeting. It didn’t work last night. Tom Dabareiner, Community Development, stated that a meeting will be held on September 22nd – but it’s only for the downtown […]
By: Diane Benjamin Back in 2012 the City Council passed an Action Plan: http://www.cityblm.org/modules/showdocument.aspx?documentid=4445 See page 10 What this means to you as a citizen Reliable utility services necessary for daily life Efficient traffic flow throughout the city Smooth rides on quality, well-maintained streets Customer-friendly, easily accessible city facilities and buildings City investing in the […]
