By: Diane Benjamin Remember when the City of Bloomignton introduced VenuWorks? Remember how VenuWorks was going to be ultra transparent? The City of Bloomington has a web page just to recap events at the Coliseum: http://www.cityblm.org/index.aspx?page=21&parent=10697 The last event posted is from September. The big concert last weekend isn’t posted. Thunder Hockey games aren’t posted. […]
Petitions for local office were allowed to be circulated starting August 30. Filing petitions starts tomorrow. Flying around I saw a bunch of people in the Christmas spirit at the Festival of Trees. They became unhappy to be assaulted by Renner volunteers wanting petitions signed! In 2 1/2 months Tari couldn’t get a minimum […]
By: Diane Benjamin 1) Tari Renner was on WJBC earlier this week with Scott Laughlin. One of the topics was public comment. Scott wondered why they bother or why they don’t set ridiculous rules like Normal and the County. Tari played along. What Tari should have said is the County and Normal’s public comment policies […]
By: Diane Benjamin A ruling that makes no sense was sent to me via email late yesterday. It contradicts everything that happened at the previous status hearing, but it’s still all good. The ONLY sad part is it looks like the City will not be paying my court costs, close to $400. Some of that […]
By: Diane Benjamin I thought Democrats were all about paying their fair share. Maybe that just means everybody else is supposed to – not them. Let’s revisited the assessed value of Tari Renner’s house. http://mcleanil.devnetwedge.com/view/RE/21-12-428-001/2009 He bought it in 2009 for $310,000, according to County records. I doubt this number is correct though since the […]
Tari responded to a public comment last night against Council policy. Yes there is case law that says the Bloomington ordinance is illegal because it violates free speech. How many other illegal laws does Bloomington have Tari? Should the citizens question more laws? Maybe illegal ordinances should be changed instead of just broken! By: Diane […]
By: Diane Benjamin I haven’t heard the commercial, but several people have told me they almost wrecked their cars when Tari Renner’s radio ad called on the community to “Buy Local”. Maybe the City of Bloomington should participate before Tari is sent out to lecture citizens. These totals are from last year, I could have […]
By: Diane Benjamin This FOIA request was filed by a citizen: USCC = US Cellular Coliseum Note: Denied in full Now see the reason the City of Bloomington used to deny the request: Law enforcement doesn’t mean “court case”. So, what is the City saying? Note: The request was for information from 2014 and 2015. […]
By: Diane Benjamin Of course the TIF District passed last night 8-1. Only Kevin Lower knows government doesn’t create economic development without taking your money to do it. Free markets are dead in Bloomington. I hear Giebelhausen is still planning a hotel for the Pantagraph building, not where the City wants one and not in […]
By: Diane Benjamin Sometimes my stories just write themselves. This is one of them. See today’s article in the Pantagraph about Tari Renner’s trip to Cuba: http://www.pantagraph.com/business/renner-reconnecting-bloomington-to-cuban-sister-city/article_5b63446a-77b9-588c-861a-05765c99bde1.html The article ends with this quote from Tari: Free Enterprise? Here? Let’s look at what the Bloomington City Council will be considering Monday night: http://www.cityblm.org/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=11529 See PDF page […]
By: Diane Benjamin A few weeks ago City Attorney Jeff Jurgens and Mayor Renner gave a talk at the Illinois Municipal League Conference. The topic was new media. I, of course, made sure I knew someone who would be in the room. The Edgar County Watchdogs and I were discussed at length. This is not […]
By: Diane Benjamin Note: I could keep posting links – but I’m severely bored. Besides, it’s obvious from the ones I have linked who votes to fleece taxpayers! Note #2: One name is missing from every Yes vote: Kevin Lower See this story from yesterday: https://blnnews.com/2016/10/02/renner-vrs-lower-vrs-hauman/ Below is the list from yesterday’s story. The nice […]
By: Diane Benjamin Two days ago Renner was on WJBC with Scott Laughlin. He gave the address for City Hall so citizens could send their health insurance plan summary sheet to him. I have to credit a reader for catching this, I didn’t. I was shocked Tari took Alderman Fruin’s suggestion to ask for the […]
By: Diane Benjamin See this previous post for a link to the WJBC interview: https://blnnews.com/2016/09/29/tari-on-wjbc-wiggling/ Tari took Alderman Jim Fruin’s advice and asked citizens to mail their health insurance plan summary to him. MAIL? Seriously, who mails anything! Okay, for the few of the computer challenged, put a copy in the mail to him. The […]
By: Diane Benjamin If Tari isn’t doing anything wrong with the Liquor Commission, like violating the Open Meetings Act, why did he fire the other commissioners and declare himself Liquor King? Remember when former Alderwoman Judy Stearns filed an Open Meetings Act violation against the City for Renner and Hales actions in an Executive Session? […]
By: Diane Benjamin Problems surfaced months ago with the Liquor Commission when Tari wanted to raise Liquor Fees and Video Gaming licenses. Tari conspired with one of the two other members of the Liquor Commission to make that happen. Citizens deserve open, honest, and transparent discussions, Tari thought otherwise. A citizens filed NUMEROUS Request for […]
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, […]
Guess who returned! Nora, since the media refuses to inform citizens, somebody has to. It’s the LAW: _______________________________________________ By: Diane Benjamin There used to be three Facebook pages and a couple of Twitter accounts dedicated to attacking me and some other local conservatives. Issues were never discussed, just attacks. The pages had very few followers, […]
By: Diane Benjamin This item is on the Agenda for Monday’s City Council meeting: At the August 8, 2016 meeting, Tari tried to abolish the liquor Commission and crown himself the only guy in charge. He took it off the agenda before anybody discussed it. See this post: https://blnnews.com/2016/08/09/tari-is-truth-too-difficult/ Jim Jordan is on the Liquor […]
By: Diane Benjamin A reader found this story from 2005 in Peoria Magazine: http://www.peoriamagazines.com/aa/2005/jun/silhouette It’s an interview with former Mayor Judy Markowitz when she left office. Quotes from the article: Are both running successfully yet? The BCPA is a big money loser, you already know about the Coliseum. (Another Coliseum story: http://ilnews.org/9870/financial-probe-of-coliseums-former-manager-may-involve-concession-money/) Every mayor since […]
By: Diane Benjamin Yesterday I obtain an email address for an officer with the State Police who has knowledge of the Coliseum investigation. I sent him an email stating not only concession commissions were an issue, but the CITY employees who allowed the problems to happen. It’s unconscionable that David Hales allowed CIAM to operate […]
By: Diane Benjamin The only Regular Agenda item tonight for the Bloomington City Council is the race to debt. (Capital Improvement Plan) For decades essential spending on roads, sewers, pensions, and maintenance have been neglected for “Quality of Life” items. Now, in an obvious election year proposal, the Council will debate borrowing money to fix […]
By: Diane Benjamin Tonight the City of Bloomington is meeting again. Locking your wallet against the current Mayor and Council isn’t going to protect the money you worked for – and they want. But it gets worse. It looks like somebody is trying to re-write history. This is a link to the packet for the […]
By: Diane Benjamin A public hearing was held on April 25, 2016 pertaining to MetroNet coming to Bloomington. http://www.cityblm.org/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=10172 This item was included in the documentation: It’s appalling the City thinks they can determine who is a “right” fit. These are the same guys who thought the Coliseum was the “right” fit. Secret: Tari and […]
By: Diane Benjamin Jamie Mathy has announced he is running for Alderman in Ward 1. WGLT has everything you need to know about Mathy: http://wglt.org/post/jamie-mathy-running-bloomington-alderman Mayor Renner and at least 3 UN-named aldermen attended his announcement. The goal of Bloomington’s leadership has always been to be just like Normal. Everything passes, there is very little […]
By: Diane Benjamin Hales is frequently praised for pulling Bloomington back from the brink of disaster, but Tari Renner claimed he did it when he became mayor. See his announcement for re-election. Both believe taxing people to death creates prosperity. For government it does, not so much for those not in or profiting from government. […]
By: Diane Benjamin On August 31st I posted the Coliseum timeline to show how long I have been trying to bring problems at the Coliseum to the City’s attention. https://blnnews.com/2016/08/31/coliseum-the-timeline/ Today I found another piece to the puzzle that I had forgotten. The City Council meeting where hockey was changed from professional to junior was […]
By: Diane Benjamin We are supposedly a Representative Republic where people are elected to represent us in government. If you’ve ever watched a Bloomington City Council meeting, it doesn’t take long to realize only 1 guy on the Council represents citizens. Of course, Kevin Lower. The rest are there to represent the City to the […]
I just sent this press release to numerous local media: Diane Benjamin BlnNews.com September 2, 2016 Press Release Bloomington City Manager David Hales needs to step down immediately Last week I obtained concession sale documents from the US Cellular Coliseum in Bloomington Il. These documents were only obtained because of a Freedom of Information lawsuit […]
By: Diane Benjamin Within a 1/2 hour of receiving the Coliseum Concession documents, I had the numbers plugged into the spreadsheet shown in this story: https://blnnews.com/2016/08/26/bombshell-sit-down-before-reading/ It wasn’t difficult and I did it for FREE! Last year David Hales earned almost $240,000: http://www.cityblm.org/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=10245 Hales didn’t have time in more than seven years as City Manager […]
By: Diane Benjamin Today the local media finally decided to report on the Coliseum: http://www.pantagraph.com/news/local/government-and-politics/city-examining-ciam-s-concession-sales-at-coliseum/article_32b4b33e-8f50-5782-a8be-4ea5a57fbf0b.html It needs a few corrections: I knew Renner was going to try to say the concession problems I’ve been writing about for YEARS only came to light under the new management of the Coliseum. The City is investigating other issues […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Illinois Municipal League has a conference in September. The IML is an organization that hasn’t filed tax returns in decades, their top employees got themselves State pensions even though they aren’t State employees, and they lobby Springfield for local governments – and against the citizens paying the bills. See these two […]
By: Diane Benjamin Last week I posted a story about documents I received showing concessions sales at the Coliseum from 2013 – 2015. https://blnnews.com/2016/08/26/bombshell-sit-down-before-reading/ I never would have received them if I hadn’t filed a lawsuit in 2015. The City of Bloomington did not suddenly discover problems existed when the new management took over. I’ve […]
By: Diane Benjamin April 14, 2014 was the Council meeting where CIAM’s management agreement was changed to allow Junior Hockey instead of Professional Hockey. The badly worded contract could have been scrapped and renegotiated, the City choose not to. I realize most readers NEVER watch the video’s I post. You prefer reading what was said, […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Pantagraph reported around 50 people showed up yesterday for Tari’s big announcement. I hear 25 of them were media. If you can read the Pantagraph on-line, the comments aren’t promising for his 2nd run: http://www.pantagraph.com/news/local/government-and-politics/elections/renner-touts-city-progress-wants-nd-term/article_512365c5-7492-5c1f-b834-e6b3fb38c2f5.html Tari claimed he stabilized Bloomington’s finances. I thought David Hales did that in 2008 and 2009 […]
By: Diane Benjamin In about 30 minutes Tari Renner is announcing his bid for re-election. He is doing it in front of the Route 66 Visitors Center located inside the McLean County Museum of History. That building is owned by McLean County. Campaigning inside City Hall is illegal. Campaigning inside the Law and Justice Center […]
By: Diane Benjamin It’s great to have a plan, but Bloomington is going to create debt that future Councils have to deal with. Tari Renner promised to fix the roads. He didn’t promise to raise taxes to do it, and he sure didn’t say it would take borrowing tons of money to do it. Keep […]
By: Diane Benjamin Tari was on WJBC again this morning: Tari Renner Bloomington Mayor 8-10-16 Starting around 12:40 Tari discusses the Liquor Commission yet again. Kudos to Scott Laughlin for questioning some of Tari’s statements. Tari is trying to justify the Open Meetings Act violations by using State Law. He seems to forget Bloomington is […]
By: Diane Benjamin If you missed Jeff’s comments at last Monday’s Bloomington City Council meeting, just hit PLAY below. He spoke during Public Comment, not on an agenda item. I’ve been thinking a lot about the proposals for a downtown hotel. From on-line comments and emails, there is a lot of support for a hotel […]
By: Diane Benjamin See this post from 7/22: More-tari-eating-by-himself? A list of P-Card charges from June are included. Mayor Renner attended the US Conference of Mayors in Indianapolis, the hotel bill was $1,044.52. The conference was June 24 – June 27. USmayors.org/84thAnnualMeeting This is a copy of the bill – obtained under FOIA: $756 was […]
