By: Diane Benjamin Most council meetings are scripted. The Mayor and City Manager take their favorite aldermen to lunch at your expense and brief them on how to vote. If the ONLY conservative on the council, Kevin Lower, says anything – nobody but citizens care. Expect the next 2 years to be filled with 8-1 votes. Besides Public Comment being part […]
By: Diane Benjamin Quote from today’s editorial: http://www.pantagraph.com/news/opinion/editorial/editorial-united-front-is-only-way-to-drive-economic-development/article_942a3be9-533e-5f46-b2f8-d0f15d3ac211.html There must be a consensus to step forward as a group to support ideas or processes that are in the best interest of the county as a whole. I didn’t need to attend the joint Council + County meeting this week to know what was said. I […]
By: Diane Benjamin Last weekend a soccer tournament must have been held on the fields by the airport. Cars and kids were everywhere, so many that a Bloomington Police officer was on duty ALL day to control traffic. Did the soccer people pay his salary or the citizens of Bloomington? Both Normal and Bloomington are […]
By: Diane Benjamin Yesterday I posted the City Code section that spells out who is NOT allowed by law to vote on municipal contracts. http://blnnews.com/2015/05/20/conflict/ Jamie, you appear to be looking at running again for City Council against Alderman Kevin Lower. You and your wife own a downtown business. Read the law. You would therefore […]
By: Diane Benjamin Mayors indoctrinated to believe a city’s future is downtown have popped up all over the country. Where do you think Tari was trained? See this article http://www.salina.com/news/downtown-improvements-take-major-step-forward/article_886e78b7-5518-52de-8655-92062c1f2fba.html It’s short, not reading it is not an option! Don’t miss the end.
By: Diane Benjamin The Ensenberger building is held by the Huffs as Ensenberger Building Corp. They own other properties under Front N Center and Consolidated Properties Inc. To view the County Recorder of Deeds website you have to apply for access, so I will just give some highlights: No Ensenberger condo sales are listed since 2013, the only activity […]
By: Diane Benjamin Judy Markowitz will always be known as the mayor who inflicted Bloomington taxpayers with the Coliseum. Tari’s plan for his shrine can be seen here: http://www.cityblm.org/index.aspx?page=531 The City wants to pay $8.2 Million for blank land after Giebelhausen demolishes historic buildings. The Front and Center building is not in any danger of falling down, according to […]
By: Diane Benjamin Does government create economic activity? Tari Renner believes he needs to control what happens to downtown Bloomington. Obviously Chris Koos had the same thought when he created Uptown. Meantime, tax revenue is down in BOTH cities. Both mayors believe more government intervention is needed to force economic development and growth. Now they […]
By: Diane Benjamin Listen to the interview here: http://www.wjbc.com/2015/05/13/renner-tif-could-pay-for-downtown-development/ Tari seems possessed by Ronald Reagan. Lately he has been saying often that TIF’s were suggested by Reagan. Tari, Ronnie also cut taxes and created a boon in job creation and economic development. Reagan also wanted to stop funding for Regional Planning Commissions because they exert control from DC […]
By: Diane Benjamin Yesterday I wrote about the exchange at Monday night’s Council meeting between Alderman Lower and Public Works Director Jim Karch. Numbers to fix the roads were revealed, much higher than the current budget. http://blnnews.com/2015/05/12/13-7m-9-5m-what-tari-didnt-want-to-hear/ Karch referenced a report on the City website, I looked for it. I couldn’t find it, so I emailed Jim. […]
By: Diane Benjamin The bird-cage liner makes crystal clear today why NOBODY should ever read the rag again. Not only did they leave out Jim Karch’s statements concerning how much it will cost to fix the roads, some nameless person editorialized about Gov. Rauner’s “private meetings”. Gee, guys. Last night Mayor (not so) Transparency got […]
By: Diane Benjamin Tari didn’t want to consider any budget cuts last year, so he forced through 3 tax increases. Tari didn’t want to consider any budget cuts this year, so he is taking $3M from savings. Tari didn’t like the results the citizens summit and surveys, so he’s putting a commission together to study […]
By: Diane Benjamin Two schools of thought are in play locally: 1) Government exists to create Quality of Life – no specific definition 2) Government exists to provide essential services citizens can not provide for themselves – police, fire, streets, sewers etc Normal switched to option 1 when Koos was elected. Everything that happens there […]
By: Diane Benjamin The City of Bloomington has been trying to revive downtown since at least the 80’s. I don’t know when this program started, but I saw references on-line to loans being made through this program in 1982. Remember Chinatown nightclub and later the Xi Do restaurant (Bou Chu)? Chu borrowed $200,000 and received […]
By: Diane Benjamin Here is a summary of the downtown Bloomington deal: Remember the Life commercial – two brothers want their little brother to try it first? “Let’s get Mikey” Substitute Tari: Much more in the coming days!
By: Diane Benjamin A group called Prairie PAC donated $2500 to Renner for Mayor before Tari was elected. So who is Prairie PAC? According to the link below – Dick Durbin. https://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/lookup2.php?cycle=2010&strID=C00347195 Dickie’s side of the aisle loves to complain about Citizens United, the ruling that allowed PACs. They have no problem collecting money with […]
By: Diane Benjamin Today the Not In Our Town gang visited Checker Cab because of a sign owner Aaron Halliday had on his property. A protest was held outside his business over a joke. Question: Did you picket City Hall when Tari Renner violated the Not In Our Town pledge he signed?
By: Diane Benjamin Renner had a motion ready via Alderman Schmidt to move Public Comment to after the presentation last night by Giebelhausen. Mayor Transparency: Information should have been posted before the meeting so citizens could review it. Instead YOU chose to shut down citizens by presenting information without allowing citizens time to process it. Can we expect […]
By: Diane Benjamin Tonight the Bloomington City Council will hear from a developer who wants to acquire buildings downtown, tear them down, and then sell the blank canvas to the City. The price will be revealed tonight. Assume it’s high or it would have been made public before tonight. The agenda still says “possible vote”, […]
By: Diane Benjamin It is no accident that a special meeting was called for the City of Bloomington days after the new Council member took the oath of office and the others were sworn in. Renner has been possessed with downtown since being elected. The new Alderman has a problem though. Amelia Buragas’s father, David Dorris, is a property owner downtown. […]
See this post from earlier today: http://blnnews.com/2015/05/01/renners-email-campaign/ First email ——– Original message ——– From: Tari Renner <[email protected]> Date: 05/01/2015 4:03 AM (GMT-06:00) To: Subject: Election Day TODAY! Good morning all- You may have heard the exciting news about a developer who is interested in making a major investment into Downtown Bloomington! In fact, the City […]
By: Diane Benjamin Why should Bloomington and Normal not merge into one city? Since Normal already has offices nicer than most corporations, Uptown would be the new center of government. Citizens could save a ton of money on overhead and administration salaries. Koos is already running Bloomington anyway, so let the savings begin. A hotel downtown didn’t wait for a […]
UPDATE here: http://blnnews.com/2015/04/28/they-found-the-video/ I was flying around looking for video from last night’s Council meeting. The work session is on-line, but not the Council meeting. Was David Sage embarrassed when everybody in the room stood and applauded Judy Stearns while he sat? Was David Sage embarrassed by his fawning over David Hales and demand for a […]
By: Diane Benjamin The City of Bloomington staff REALLY hates answering Freedom of Information Act requests. Members of the Council think they shouldn’t have to waste valuable staff time answering requests from the public. So, instead of sending FOIA requests to explain the spending below, let’s play a new game: GUESS! Staff doesn’t want to be […]
By: Diane Benjamin Did you ever read a report on the Committee of the Whole meeting held last Monday with area legislators? Evidently the bird-cage liner didn’t want to report the tears from the mayor and council. Begging for funds to not be cut from the bankrupt State wasn’t colorful enough for them. Maybe if […]
By: Diane Benjamin Remember when Bloomington bought new garbage trucks and cans? Why doesn’t the City know how much money they are saving by automating? How many MILLIONS did that cost, evidently the Council didn’t ask how much would be saved before spending the money and now the City doesn’t know if they are saving money. […]
By: Diane Benjamin Below are some of the items on the agenda for Monday’s City Council meeting: Bills and Payroll: http://www.cityblm.org/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=8450 LEGAL Contracted 59,280.00 (Springfield law firm) LEGAL Outside Legal Co 22,519.42 The Council will also approve the payment to me ordered by the judge even though the check has already been cut. Budget: http://www.cityblm.org/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=8447 […]
By: Diane Benjamin Also received under the Freedom of Information act: So it looks like Hales, Schmidt, Sage, and Renner met to plan David Hales Performance Review. Sage slobbers on Hales at Council meetings – watch the videos. Renner made it clear at the Secret meeting resulting in Judy Stearns Open Meetings Act filing that […]
By: Diane Benjamin After the Bloomington City Council voted for the Coliseum – every member who voted YES left the Council. If citizens had elected like-minded people you wouldn’t be saddled with the Coliseum today! Failure to vote in local elections put aldermen on the Council who didn’t represent you! It’s happening again: Tari Renner […]
By: Diane Benjamin I hear this is his house. Evidently he is pleased with his appointee.
By: Diane Benjamin The City of Bloomington loves to justify spending with economic impact numbers. The Coliseum management claims they have generated MILLIONS and MILLIONS of dollars of local economic activity, the Zoo is getting ready to create their own numbers. If we just spend more . . . Meanwhile, tax receipts are down while […]
By: Diane Benjamin The following emails were obtained under the Freedom of Information Act – not by me, they were just forwarded to me. Below is City Manager David Hales’ salary for 2014: SALARY INSURANCE PENSION FICA MISC TOTAL COMPENSATION 176,439.00 11,449.32 […]
Update: See this story: http://edgarcountywatchdogs.com/2015/03/city-of-bloomington-loses-handwritten-foia-lawsuit-writes-check/ By: Diane Benjamin My first lawsuit against the City of Bloomington is now over – they finally paid what the judge ordered. I wonder how Tari felt signing the check? Is he admitting transparency only matters when he wants things transparent? Probably not. Maybe Tari can take a lesson from […]
By: Diane Benjamin Here’s the problem with candidates running for office: They are unwilling to stand on principles and values Almost every candidate tries to hide where they stand on the issues because they know they would not get elected saying what they really think. In 2013 I filmed Aaron Schock at a Town Hall […]
Update: The City promptly replied to my FOIA for missing information I amended the information received below in BOLD. See the receipts here: 201503241124_Redacted Even if only one person ate, why are taxpayers paying the bill? Does your boss pay for your lunch? By: Diane Benjamin http://www.cityblm.org/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=8396 ADMIN City Council Expenses American AI $ 384.20 […]
By: Diane Benjamin I filed the Freedom of Information lawsuit because the City denied 3 requests within about 2 weeks. Obviously they were hiding something, the biggest being Tari again calling people he doesn’t agree with “off their meds”. http://blnnews.com/2014/10/20/why-is-tari-allowed-to-denigrated-the-mentally-ill/ I received some others I didn’t expect, like Scott Black saying nobody important reads this […]
By: Diane Benjamin Mayor Renner has a limited supply of Democrats to appoint. Evidently that’s why Amelia Buragas was appointed to two positions by him. (Zoning Board of Appeals and Evergreen Memorial Cemetery Board: http://blnnews.com/2015/02/04/ward-4-forum-buragas/) With a limited pool of potential appointees, Renner appointed Amalia’s husband to the McLean County Regional Planning Commission. http://www.mcplan.org/department/board.php?structureid=16 The […]
By: Diane Benjamin Tonight the Bloomington City Council will hold more discussions on the Solid Waste program. Renner and Hales are not going to be happy until the fees are raised – they need the money for stuff they want, not stuff you want! David Hales can’t make a decision on anything. The consults hired […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Flex basketball team played at the Coliseum last night. I’d love to post pictures of the non-existent crowd – but the Flex put them on Facebook. You have to see them there: https://www.facebook.com/flexbasketball The page also has a pic of the sign the City is planning to replace – it appears […]
By: Diane Benjamin Taxpayers fund trips taken by their elected officials without having a clue what the agenda is. This year both Koos and Renner attended the US Conference of Mayor where they unanimously supported net neutrality – the government take over of the Internet. I just got this tip from a reader concerning last […]
