By: Diane Benjamin Since the Connect Transit Board failed to meet in March, at the April 28th meeting stats and financials for February and March were presented. April 2020 Board Meeting Packet Ridership was down since the college kids are mostly missing and businesses are closed: A graph like the above was not included in […]
By: Diane Benjamin Make sure you read to the bottom! http://bloomingtonil.iqm2.com/Citizens/FileOpen.aspx?Type=1&ID=1069&Inline=True Monday there is an ordinance up for approval to prorate refunds paid for video gaming licenses since these businesses are closed. See PDF page 374. Anybody else hold a license you can’t use? Demand a refund too, equality supposedly matters. PDF page 372 has […]
By: Diane Benjamin Budget – PDF page 56 https://www.cityblm.org/home/showdocument?id=24029 We have no idea when life will return to normal, but government needs to scale back now. The only receipts that may increase is the Utilities Tax since a lot of people are at home. All the X tax receipts will be effected, how many businesses will […]
By: Diane Benjamin WGLT wrote a story on March 6, 2020 stating: wglt.org/wages-flat-mclean-county-lagging-rest-us-economy __________________________ Tonight’s Normal Town Council agenda: https://normal.org/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/3580 PDF page 71: Normal gives Cost of Living increases twice a year! Normal’s own propaganda arm – WGLT – stated wages are flat for most residents. I saw a station selling gas for $1.88 […]
By: Diane Benjamin https://normal.org/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/3554 Monday night: Normal is paying the retro salary from last year’s budget: The population of Normal in 2019 was 54,742, a lot of the population are ISU students. Even with ISU, Normal is a small town. Bloomington’s City Manager earns $185,000 to run a larger city: https://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=18082 Pam Reece’s contract expires […]
By: Diane Benjamin Two new trustees will be sworn into office at 7:00. They were elected because Chris Koos did not want them on the Council. Stan Nord and Karyn Smith will need the support of citizens to stop this madness! http://www.normal.org/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/3285 Look at this spending. Get the idea government and quasi-government agencies know how […]
By: Diane Benjamin Last year Tari Renner, Scott Black, Steve Rasmussen, and Diana Hauman got the free trip to DC for One Voice. Participants are normally elected officials or the City Manager/Assistant. This year Tari took his good buddy Justin Boyd. It looks like he replaced Amelia Buragas. Justin is the guy who posted the […]
By: Diane Benjamin Meeting docs: http://www.normal.org/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/31937 In this story about Bloomington spending: https://blnnews.com/2019/01/26/bloomington-bills-for-monday/ I listed 4 payments to the EDC for $1600 each. It looks like Renner, Buragas, Mathy, and Tyus won the One Voice trip this year to Washington DC. Buragas is leaving the Council April 30th and Tyus is the brand new Assistant […]
By: Diane Benjamin Bills and Payroll: http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=17440 How did Alderman Hauman travel to One Voice in Washington DC for half the cost of Renner? https://blnnews.com/2018/04/03/remember-the-one-voice-air-fare/ Is your full service City planning to throw parties? Note it’s an Admin expense. The Springfield Lawyers are running out of budgeted funds, only $33,175 is left for April. (see […]
By: Diane Benjamin Monday 4/16: http://www.normal.org/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/2946 Nothing that will take time to discuss is on the agenda. They should discuss spending, but won’t. Below are items I found interesting. The last time Lyle Sumek “consulted” with Normal the Town offered buyouts to employees. What will be cut next? No expense was spared for a retirement dinner! […]
I found this on the City website under Staff Responses: http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=16236 By: Diane Benjamin Update to this story: https://blnnews.com/2018/03/23/bloomington-more-one-voice/ I FOIA’d the receipts to see why the cost was different for Black, Renner, and Rasmussen. Black drove himself to Chicago and flew from there to DC. Rasmussen left on a flight at 6:26 in the morning […]
By: Diane Benjamin Bill and Payroll for Monday: http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=16156 One Voice is an annual trip to Washington DC to beg for money. Instead of meeting with Illinois representatives IN Illinois, taxpayers are forced to pay for this farce. Just for Bloomington – 4 people went to Washington DC. Each was charged $1600 by Economic Development Council […]
By: Diane Benjamin For approval Monday night: http://www.normal.org/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/2919 See page 14 for what “buy local” looks like: Amazon, Amazon, Amazon, Amazon, etc etc – plus some others. Eating your money: Looks like a few more employees got free bus rides, who got the shirts? More money to non-profits, 2nd of 3 payments for the bike sharing […]
By: Diane Benjamin More info at: https://www.bnbiz.org/news/one-voice-projects-set-march-trip/ One Voice in Washington DC begging for money – $1,600 each plus other expenses:
By: Diane Benjamin http://www.normal.org/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/2899 Besides the final payments for Koos, Reece, and Aldrich to party in Washington DC at One Voice, questionable frivolous spending is down for Monday’s meeting. These items are contracted, so Normal can’t say now they made bad decisions: Why is Normal handing out down payment assistance? Vote buying? Now this […]
By: Diane Benjamin You get to pay for a bunch of people to gravel in Washington DC for money. It’s the annual One Voice trip which supposedly shows local officials standing united. The trip is March 6th to the 8th. The EDC has finally released what they are going to beg for: Maybe we should […]
By: Diane Benjamin Somebody finally got around to posting the Bills and Payroll: http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=15822 Diane Hauman is now going on the One Voice trip with Renner, Black, and Rasmussen ( https://blnnews.com/2018/01/26/more-government-travel-at-your-expense/) $1600 x 4 = $6,400 to visit the DC swamp instead of demanding in-district meetings with representatives. That number is before other expenses. Does […]
By: Diane Benjamin Source: http://www.normal.org/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/2882 (click any pics to enlarge) Plans and spending to replace the library continue: (If your income was down, would you continue with plans to build a new luxury house just because you want it?) Apparently Normal is sending 4 people to DC for One Voice – $1600 each. These are […]
By: Diane Benjamin On January 19th I reported three payments of $1,600 to the Blooming-Normal Economic Development Council: https://blnnews.com/2018/01/19/mondays-bills-foias-filed/ The three payments are for Tari Renner, Scott Black, and Steve Rasmussen to go on the One Voice trip to Washington DC: https://www.bnbiz.org/programs/one-voice/ The County and the Town of Normal will probably also be […]
By: Diane Benjamin Agenda and Bills: http://www.normal.org/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/2821 If you want to know why local government isn’t run for citizens, check out where they go to learn how to do their job. NLC is National League of Cities: http://citysummit.nlc.org/schedule/schedule-by-day/ One Voice is the biggest fleece of all! Big group goes to Washington DC to beg for money […]
By: Diane Benjamin This morning I attended the GOP breakfast because it featured the candidates for the Normal Town Council and Normal Township. Chris Koos made a comment about Uptown 2.0 I find hard to believe. He claims there isn’t enough retail and office space in Uptown now, so Uptown 2.0 is to provide more. […]
By: Diane Benjamin Committee of the Whole meeting Monday night: http://www.cityblm.org/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=11625 The minutes from the last Committee of the Whole meeting are on the agenda for approval. This is from those minutes: Bloomington will never have enough of your money with this Council and City Manager! Don’t forget all the taxes they have created or […]
By: Diane Benjamin From Bills and Payroll for Monday night: http://www.cityblm.org/index.aspx?page=242&parent=9535 ADMIN Rosie’s Pub $ 31.86 Business lunch T. Renner & J.Smart ADMIN Hansen Center $ 5.96 Business lunch T. Renner & A. Hays ADMIN Hansen Center $ 9.07 Business lunch T. Renner & A. Hays ADMIN Station 220 Inc $ 34.25 Business lunch T. […]
By: Diane Benjamin 39 people from Bloomington-Normal went to DC to get money. THIRTY-NINE! 2016 Annual Washington D.C. Fly-In Details Date: Tuesday, March 1 – Thursday, March 3 Cost: $1550 per person. This includes hotel (2 nights), receptions, most cab fares and most meals. Hotel: Four Seasons Hotel Washington D.C. There are three projects we […]
By: Diane Benjamin The One Voice trip has a lot of local people in Washington DC this week begging for money. Here’s a pic of the group with Mark Kirk: Then listening to Dick Durbin: The next one is the most interesting! Who is Julie Hile? See this story: https://blnnews.com/2012/09/13/your-personal-property-rights-hile-group-and-the-town-of-normal/ Hile was a speaker at […]
By: Diane Benjamin January P-Card items: See Bills and Payroll 2/22/16 http://www.cityblm.org/index.aspx?page=242&parent=9535 ADMIN City Council Expenses Hilton Capital $ 335.60 US Conference of Mayors – Lodging ADMIN City Council Expenses American Airlines $ 336.00 US Conference of Mayors – Flight ADMIN City Council Expenses American Airlines $ 25.00 US Conference of Mayors – Luggage charge […]
by: Diane Benjamin Last month Steve Stockton, David Hales, Rob Fazzini, and Jennifer McDade traveled to Washington DC to attend One Voice. The FOIA request for information on the topics(s) covered has not been received, but the expense reports for this trip have. The first question is: Why did 4 people have to attend when the […]
