IWU website says Renner is on sabbatical https://php.iwu.edu/directory/employees.php?netid=trenner This Press release was just issued: From: Nora Dukowitz <[email protected]> Date: Mon, Aug 28, 2017 at 3:51 PM Subject: Press Statement from Mayor Renner To: Media, Please see below for a press statement issued by Mayor Tari Renner: “I have informed the City Manager and the Mayor Pro-tem […]
By: Diane Benjamin Illinois politicians at almost every level don’t understand how to live within their means. They don’t believe you are entitled to spend your money how you want it spent. Quality of Life! They know what that is, you don’t. Chris Koos just got a nasty surprise: Funny how both mayors didn’t have […]
by: Diane Benjamin This is a Bloomington road that school buses travel on. It’s also close to an apartment complex. (different section of the same road) The City budget only spends $3.8 million resurfacing roads when more than $9 million a year is needed just to keep the roads rated poor. Tonight the Council will […]
By: Diane Benjamin A few notes that never made the news: Those 4 parking lots the City purchased from Frontier so the BCPA has more parking: What was the cost? To find out you have to dig deep in the packet – the cost isn’t on the agenda: Page 530 of the packet: http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=12738 The […]
By: Diane Benjamin Tomorrow will be a disastrous day for our country. Close to 50% of the population will despise whoever is elected. The results are immaterial. We are powerless to do anything about it. Quit stressing about things you have no control over! The D.C. and Springfield clowns all came from local government. You […]
By: Diane Benjamin Not only is Hauman not qualified to be mayor, she isn’t qualified to be alderman! Why? Because both are supposed to represent the people who elected them. She doesn’t. It is her fault that monthly City Manager reports are no longer published. The Council never voted, she just mentioned it was a […]
By: Diane Benjamin Eating at your expense and more: City Council Exp Arkansas Flag And Bann $ 100.96 8/15/2016 Banner pole for use by City Council City Council Exp Station 220 Inc $ 46.00 8/1/2016 Business lunch T.Renner & C.Koos City Council Exp Chipotle $ 14.95 8/2/2016 Business lunch T.Renner & M.Mwilambwe City Council Exp […]
By: Diane Benjamin Review of the downtown hotel timeline: May 2015 Jeff Giebelhausen wants the City to pay $8.2 million for “shovel ready” land. He wanted a fast answer – he claimed his option for the land had a time limit. It failed to get support of the Council. The proposal included tearing down the […]
By: Diane Benjamin Government wastes your money! Proof: An unused fire station and unused water tower. $$$$ – MILLIONS – $$$$ poof, up in smoke and nobody in jail. Those are just huge examples of utter incompetence. Many many more exist on a small scale. Just this week Council and staff time were needed for […]
By: Diane Benjamin Back on December 20, 2013, the Pantagraph thought a sitting Alderwoman filing a complaint against Tari Renner, David Hales, and the rest of the Council was a big story: http://www.pantagraph.com/news/local/alderman-stearns-alleges-open-meetings-act-violation/article_5b8974e2-6916-11e3-986a-001a4bcf887a.html How about reporting on what happened? Start by hammering Lisa Madigan for taking more than two years to issue a determination! The […]
By: Diane Benjamin Bills and Payroll for Monday night: http://www.cityblm.org/index.aspx?page=242&parent=9535 Is Tari doing “working/business lunches” by himself now? . City Council Exp Paypal Bn Mclp $ 250.00 MCLP Graduation Celeb S.Rasmussen, Mayor & Council City Council Exp Monicals Pizza $ 140.30 French student exchange luncheon with T.Renner City Council Exp Station 220 Inc $ 47.50 […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Pantagraph has a long history of “floating” ideas fed to them from local government. It’s always the first step in making happen what government wants to happen. Watchdogs they aren’t. The last example was “sharing sales tax” – first mentioned in the paper and expanded since. Sunday more ideas were floated […]
By: Diane Benjamin History isn’t taught anymore, so let me briefly recap. Before America declared that “Rights” come from God, not government, and the people can govern themselves – the entire world was a dark place. Capitalism didn’t exist. The people were government slaves without any possibility of creating a better life for themselves. America […]
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 The anonymous editorial writer at the Pantagraph jumped in this week to proclaim the greatness of Bloomington and Normal sharing Sales Tax. Citizens are being set up! Normal has 5 TIF districts that are costing them A LOT of money because revenues generated aren’t paying the interest and principle on all the […]
By: Diane Benjamin The next court date is Monday, April 25 – 9:30 am. Same courtroom as last time if you want to attend – 5D Judge Lawrence will decide whether the amended motion I filed is enough to proceed to a hearing. If he rules against me the citizens of Bloomington will never know […]
By: Diane Benjamin Congrats Bloomington! Every one of your elected representatives managed to attend the unscheduled Council meeting last night! Normal wasn’t happy when Bloomington announced Kroger was moving down the road and across the street. The story I’ve heard from numerous sources is that David Hales kept it a secret. Normal had NO IDEA […]
By: Diane Benjamin If you don’t pay attention to how Normal and Bloomington operate, once they start talking publicly about anything it’s already a done deal. Both Councils are stacked, so Renner and Koos can easily talk them into the latest declared “best practice”. Independent thoughts are too rare matter. Have some lunch. Here’s what […]
By: Diane Benjamin Of course the Bloomington City Council passed everything Tari Renner wanted last night. It’s all going to be great. Public Comment was stacked with former officials and friends of government who proclaimed the $1,400,000 land purchase brilliant, the east side TIF brilliant, and the downtown hotel brilliant. Except for the one guy […]
By: Diane Benjamin Did you know Tax Increment Financing (TIF) was outlawed in California? Way too much money was going to developers and campaign contributors and costing taxpayers money – so they were outlawed. (Note: California!) Bloomington wants one on the east side, one downtown, and it’s unclear if the downtown TIF would expand to […]
By: Diane Benjamin The City of Bloomington has a long record of making bad deals. MILLIONS were thrown away on an unused Fire Station. Probably MILLIONS more were thrown away on an unused water tower – someday I may FOIA the actual cost. The Coliseum is a disaster sold to citizens as never costing a […]
By: Diane Benjamin Here’s the CIAM contract: Management Agreement CIAM See page 6: CIAM contributed the concessions equipment in order to get the contract. They don’t own it! The City of Bloomington does. Let the spin begin!
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 Last night David Hales revealed his proposed budget with HUGE increases in spending. If the Council has a death wish they will pass it as proposed. History says the Council will tell David Hales to cut it. Hales already has the cuts lined up, citizens are being played. The Council just […]
By: Diane Benjamin David Hales is bemoaning taking $1.4 million from the General Fund to cover services because the fees charged aren’t high enough to cover the costs. News Flash: You weren’t fooling anybody when you hired yet another consultant to exam the City’s fees! $1,400,000 The General Fund is $94,553,780. That $1.4 mil is […]
By: Diane Benjamin More legal expense will be racked up tonight when the Bloomington Council meets in Executive Session. Yep, it’s a secret. I wonder if my case against the City concerning the Coliseum will be a topic. I wonder if my subpoena for City Manager David Hales is worrying them? Maybe, maybe not. I […]
By: Diane Benjamin From Bills and Payroll, Monday night’s Bloomington City Council meeting: http://www.cityblm.org/index.aspx?page=242&parent=9535 Just the beginning of the bills for Renner’s trip to DC: City Council Expenses American Airlines $ 305.20 US Conf of Mayors Wash DC Transportation for Mayor City Council Expenses US Conf Of Mayors $ 650.00 Reg. Mayor ‐ US Conf […]
By: Diane Benjamin Besides the two aldermen who didn’t care enough about their constituents (Painter/Hauman) to actually attend the Bloomington City Council meetings, one other moment proved the complete incompetence of government. Government uses your money, so logic, common sense, and fiscal responsibility don’t need to be deployed. Back in July of 2014 the Council […]
By: Diane Benjamin Chris Koos had years to destroy the citizens of Normal with higher taxes. Evidently they enjoy it since nobody fights back. Renner has had only a few years, but he’s making up for it by raising taxes wherever and whenever possible. Your property taxes went up without a peep Monday night. Send […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Saturday edition of the retreat has been cancelled. Tomorrow, expect a Pantagraph article saying the City decided to delay the meeting because they didn’t have everything ready. Truth is immaterial. The truth is: Somebody forgot to post it. Today’s Pantagraph story about the two-day retreat didn’t write itself. Renner is quoted […]
By: Diane Benjamin A few weeks ago the Pantagraph deleted and closed comments on a Letter to the Editor critical of Mayor Renner’s plans to redevelop downtown. https://blnnews.com/2015/11/05/pantagraph-reaches-a-new-low/ Yesterday a story about downtown redevelopment appeared – No Comments Allowed. The Pantagraph is a private company, so they can do whatever they want. However, citizens have […]
By: Diane Benjamin On October 31, 2015 the Pantagraph printed a Letter to the Editor critical of Mayor Renner and his plans to use public money to redevelop downtown. http://www.pantagraph.com/news/opinion/mailbag/downtown-financing-not-for-taxpayers/article_13e845ac-a6b8-5585-b601-426d46a64601.html It is surprising they allowed the letter since many are rejected, but now there is a new twist. All comments to the letter have been […]
By: Diane Benjamin Monday night the City Council approved: Consideration of adopting a Resolution endorsing BN Advantage: A collaborative economic development strategy for the Bloomington-Normal-McLean County Region The Vote was 8-1, Alderman Lower was the NO vote. . BN Advantage is composed of: EDC – Economic Development Council McLean County Chamber of Commerce Bloomington-Normal Convention […]
By: Diane Benjamin Oh, I forgot the Pantagraph doesn’t do investigative reporting. Printing ridiculous statements from Tari Renner and David Hales is better? For who? Your bottom line? The story today proves the Pantagraph is the last place to get news! David Hales claims to have investigated the accelerated payments problem for Sick Leave Buy […]
By: Diane Benjamin Normal raised the Sales Tax 1%. Now the City Manager seems to have dropped plans for a soccer field. Sunday the rag reported they won’t be doing any projects for at least a year. Was soccer a rouse? The whole 1% was a setup, only 1/4% was needed for so-called mental health! […]
Note: Share this post with your friends. The media isn’t going to tell them the truth! By: Diane Benjamin Poor Mayor Koos. Normal can’t steal more money from you unless Bloomington votes to steal more too. The media is allowing Renner to lie to you! Hey Tari: Why are tax receipts to date UP 3.9% […]
How did I forget? 5 years ago Tari, Bloomington wasn’t sending around $50,000 PER MONTH to Springfield for legal! By: Diane Benjamin Renner on WJBC: http://cdn.stationcaster.com/stations/wjbc/media/mpeg/Tari_Renner__Bloomington_mayor-1442412227.mp3 Renner on WGLT: http://wglt.org/wireready/news/2015/09/01831_09-15Renner_070330.shtml Tari Renner: We aren’t doing anything today that we weren’t doing 5 years ago. Inflation is causing the need for tax increases. 5 years ago […]
By: Diane Benjamin One of Tari’s favorite lines: We have a “Structural Deficit”. He uses it to say all expenses are fixed and there is nothing we can do about it but raise taxes. Sorry dude! Maybe you need a new economist, or at least a new line. According to this site: http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-structural-deficit.htm Structural deficit […]
By: Diane Benjamin The east side of Bloomington has been getting some better roads this summer. East Oakland is great now and part of E Washington. Still a LONG ways to go, but how’s the rest of the City? Evidently Fox Creek road is so bad that a motorcyclist lost control in a pot holes […]
By: Diane Benjamin On tonight’s City Council agenda (from the packet): CONSENT AGENDA ITEM: 7A FOR COUNCIL: August 24, 2015 SUBJECT: Consideration of approving the Council Proceedings of August 10, 2015. RECOMMENDATION/MOTION: That the reading of the minutes of the previous Council Proceedings of August 10, 2015, be dispensed with and the minutes approved as […]
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