Fruin showed up – vote was 8-1 to spend staff time and around $25,000 on consultants so the issue can be examined. An answer has to be reached in 4-5 weeks. NOBODY asked why the building owners haven’t been held accountable for the condition or how much they and the developer will make off taxpayers. […]
By: Diane Benjamin It’s way past time to quit calling local elections non-partisan when the candidates bring their ideology to their elected office. Voters deserve to know what the candidates will do when elected. Reading campaign literature where they call themselves fiscal conservatives may be enough to fool some people, but look deeper. When virtually […]
See update here: http://blnnews.com/2015/02/13/dear-tari-2/ By: Diane Benjamin The Pantagraph has posted their story on-line about Renner’s rant. Renner was on WGLT earlier today with the story that he was acting as a parent protecting his kid when he was attacked. Here’s the attack: I said “his son was Facebook friends with another IWU student – […]
by: Diane Benjamin Each Ward in Bloomington is represented by one Alderman. An attempt to change the system to some City-wide Aldermen failed miserably earlier this year. Obviously citizens want small wards with a personal representative on the Council. Unfortunately, most of the Council doesn’t work for you. Their attitude is “they hired David Hales”, […]
by: Diane Benjamin Mayor (less than) Transparency is busy stacking the Council. Scott Black quit the County Board to be a Renner puppet. Renner appointed Painter, so far nobody is running against her next year. Tonight Renner gets another appointment. The Council members made comments to Renner about his pick but they are still a […]
by: Diane Benjamin Did you ever wonder where Mayor Renner got the idea that Bloomington needed a Communications Manager? Try Normal: http://il-normal.civicplus.com/Directory.aspx?did=18 Staff Name Title Email Phone Fedden, Sandy Administrative Secretary sfedden@normal.org (309) 454-9503 Heffernan, Sally Assistant City Manager sheffernan@normal.org (309) 454-9504 Peterson, Mark R. City Manager mpeterson@normal.org (309) 454-9777 Reece, Pamela Deputy City Manager […]
by: Diane Benjamin Not only is buying the property south of the library for $250,000 on the agenda for the Monday City Council meeting, there’s more! One of their SECRET MEETINGS (Executive Session) is scheduled for 5:45. Guess what the topic is: What does it take to stop the spending? A hotly contested budget was […]
by: Diane Benjamin Besides calling Bloomington Mayor Tari Renner’s personal attack on Alderwoman Stearns a “heated discussion”, the media completely ignored what Renner’s veto threat meant for the City. Tari Renner was willing to put public safety at risk just to get a Utility Tax. Remember, any discussion of budget cuts instead of tax increases […]
by: Diane Benjamin Maybe Mayor Renner thought he could take Alderwoman Stearns out last night because the media has given him very little push back. It was irresponsible for Cities 92.9 to run Renners degrading comments about Stearns and StarCom for 2 days without fact-checking the Mayor. After all, he is a well documented liar. […]
by: Diane Benjamin Bloomington residents: Your taxes will be going up tonight. Council members who said they would never vote for this or that will. The potted plants will do as they are told. Attend tonight’s meeting or watch it live on-line. Any opposition to tax increases will be vilified and discussion cut off. […]
by: Diane Benjamin Last November the Bloomington City Council held a retreat. The big topic was a “Culture Change” at the City. I previously reported on it here: http://blnnews.com/2014/01/27/culture-tales-bloomington-council-retreat/ Remember, this is the retreat that triggered the Open Meetings Act violation filed by Alderwoman Judy Stearns. It also triggered Mayor Renner and David Hales hiring […]
by: Diane Benjamin In 2008 Doug Farr was paid $200,000 to design downtown Bloomington. $125,000 was paid by the City of Bloomington and $75,000 was paid by the Downtown Bloomington Association. Where did the Downtown Bloomington Association get the money? From the City of Bloomington. This information is from a July 1, 2008 article in […]
