Tari, It’s wonderful that the Illinois Policy Institute rated Bloomington’s website 100% on their 10 point scale. It’s great that citizens can see information without filing FOIA requests. But that’s just a website Tari, and only 10 things IPI thinks are important. You now have the opportunity to prove you are really transparent. (Of course, […]
Re-posted only to change how it was originally posted. By: Diane Benjamin The Attorney General finally ruled on the Open Meetings Act Violation filed in 2013 by then Alderwoman Judy Stearns! A couple of weeks I wrote about Madigan’s failure to rule and asked readers to call. https://blnnews.com/2016/05/19/madigan-too-busy/ I know at least a few of […]
By: Diane Benjamin 2013 is the budget Tari inherited when he took office. 2017 is all his. I hope the local media quits letting Renner state he isn’t doing anything new and the budget is just increasing 2% per year. Both are lies. Look at Legal expenses: 2017 Total Legal $1,325,308 FY 2017 Budget Detail […]
By: Diane Benjamin Earlier this week I recapped all the taxes you probably didn’t know about: https://blnnews.com/2016/05/31/taxes-you-probably-didnt-know-about/ I’m taking the same list and adding the Budget from 2013: FY 2013-10010 Non Departmental 2017 has a line that transfers $1,504,300 out of the total, so the real difference from 2013 to 2017 is $19,503,030. Some of […]
By: Diane Benjamin I’ve posts lots of stories about the detailed Bloomington budget for this year. It was all information the Council and the Budget Task Force never saw. Why? They weren’t supposed to know details, it makes cuts easier. It gets better. Today I received the 2013 detailed budget via the Freedom of Information […]
By: Diane Benjamin Citizens have forgotten history. Getting away from repressive government is why people took a treacherous journey by boat across an ocean to get here. It’s why they fought a war to found a new country. They wanted to be free. Free to practice the religion of their choice. Free to govern themselves. […]
No – you aren’t safe. Evidently everybody can’t attend, so they changed the meeting from Committee of the Whole to Special Meeting. By: Diane Benjamin Mayor-Developer Renner just can’t stop creating his version of utopia in Bloomington. He’s the king of paying people (with your money) to create economic development. The local, state, and […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Mayor was on WGLT yesterday: http://wglt.org/post/bloomington-mayor-tari-renner-tif-district-downtown-and-city-manager-hales#stream/0 Much of the conversation was the same as his WJBC interview this morning. WGLT appears to love him and wants him re-elected since the host brought it up over and over. Renner plans to tout his record of creating minimum wage jobs to win! Expect […]
By: Diane Benjamin Renner was on WJBC this morning: https://audioboom.com/boos/4550788-tari-renner-bloomington-mayor-5-11-16?t=0 Update: I think the interview has been moved – try this link: https://audioboom.com/boos/4551685-tari-renner-bloomington-mayor-5-11-16?t=0 He REALLY hates video gaming because the machine owners are making way too much money. He actually mentioned a guy who told him he invested $1 million in his business, Renner calculated […]
By: Diane Benjamin State Farm isn’t growing here. Formally local jobs now exists in other states. Send Mike Madigan a thank-you card. A recent report rated all 50 States from Best to Worst for business. See this story: http://chiefexecutive.net/2016-best-and-worst-states-for-business-full-list/ Celebrate now – Illinois is number 48. Businesses and jobs will never return to Illinois as […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Pantagraph sells papers by printing feel good stories complete with heart-grabbing pics. The objects get their names in print and therefore buy copies for family and friends. If some actual news was mixed in they would sell a lot more, but they can’t afford investigative reporting. (Or they chose not to) […]
By: Diane Benjamin Luckily I have a huge network of people who want the truth told. The local media has failed miserably at being government watchdogs. Below is a post that WAS on Tari’s campaign Facebook page from 2013. It has since disappeared. It was sent to me MONTHS ago by a reader who copied […]
By: Diane Benjamin The next meeting of the CIRA (Central Illinois Regional Airport) Board of Commissioners is May 10th. Since the April meeting, Minutes for January-March have been posted on their website: http://www.cira.com/ See the bottom of “About CIRA” If you missed previous stories, CIRA was violating the Open Meetings Act by not posting meeting […]
By: Diane Benjamin http://www.cityblm.org/index.aspx?page=21&parent=9539 The award-winning City Manger monthly reports won’t be winning any more awards of they don’t exist. See the link above, nothing has been posted since January. David Hales doesn’t do these reports. The departments compile the information and hand it to Administration. Administration either: hasn’t put it all in a PDF […]
A few weeks ago the bird-cage liner’s Steve Vogel wrote his column about Normal and Bloomington sharing sales taxes. Magically, the plan gets floated now by Renner and Koos. Is Vogel a prophet? Or does local government conspire with Vogel to “float” ideas to gauge response before they make fools of themselves? It’s not the […]
By: Diane Benjamin On March 31st I gave you the budget history since Tari was elected Mayor: https://blnnews.com/2016/03/31/in-honor-of-taris-re-election-bid/ There was very little discussion last night before the budget passed as proposed – 6- YES to 2- NO. David Sage was first – he’s very concerned but voted YES anyway. Keep listening through Jim Fruin’s comments. […]
By: Diane Benjamin The State of Illinois has the highest effective tax rate in the Country and is still buried in debt. Bloomington isn’t far behind. Can the Council really be irresponsible enough to pass the proposed budget? Tari Renner is up for election EARLY next year. So is Scott Black, Jim Fruin, Joni Painter, […]
By: Diane Benjamin Bloomington taxpayers have been abused by their government. Government’s job is not to run people’s lives with subsidized business, subsidized economic development, and subsidized entertainment. Taxpayers get to pay for “Quality of Life” as defined by government, it has no resemblance to what most citizens pick as “quality”. Tari Renner has […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Total Budget Tari inherited in 2013: $167 million http://www.cityblm.org/index.aspx?page=21&parent=7074 Tari’s first budget – 2014: $169.4 million http://www.cityblm.org/index.aspx?page=21&parent=7073 2015 Budget: $180.4 million http://www.cityblm.org/index.aspx?page=21&parent=6501 2016 Budget: $186.3 million http://www.cityblm.org/index.aspx?page=21&parent=8220 Proposed 2017 Budget: 206.9 million (Evidently the stacked Council is going to pass it as is) http://www.cityblm.org/index.aspx?page=21&parent=9844 Spending increased $39.9 million in 4 years! […]
By: Diane Benjamin David Hales can’t make a decision to save his life, but firing him will not change the tax and spend trajectory Bloomington is on. Hales is doing what Tari tells him to do! Want proof? See this email Tari sent me in 2013: Tari was responding to this email from me: Put […]
By: Diane Benjamin In America citizens should be able to speak out against their government. Since “We The People” is rapidly disappearing as government grows bigger and bigger and the media fails to hold government accountable, it’s rare to see citizens with something to lose stand up against oppression. A group of Bloomington business owners […]
By: Diane Benjamin The below is from the actual information the City of Bloomington submitted to the State of Illinois: http://tinyurl.com/hja4y6k When spending is $22 million more than revenue, of course they have to steal more! This is for the year ended April 30, 2015. It takes them a LONG time to release the information. […]
By: Diane Benjamin David Hales finally finished the January 2016 City Managers Report: http://www.cityblm.org/index.aspx?page=21&parent=9539 Attendance at the BCPA was dismal, but I guess that can be expected for January: The most interesting part of the report is tax receipts – see page 19. Except for Auto Rental, all other taxes are above projections. The additional […]
By: Diane Benjamin Illinois Comptroller, Leslie Munger, posted this video on Facebook recently. I guess she assumes everybody is on Facebook, if you can’t see it and aren’t on Facebook, that’s why. It’s a devastating look at Illinois finances. Bloomington is right behind Illinois now. Buying votes with projects citizens don’t want, control development, and […]
By: Diane Benjamin Remember when Tari Renner made a BIG deal about the Not In Our Town pledge in December 2014, then violated it a few months later with his rant on this site: http://blnnews.com/2015/02/11/tari-attacks-me-again-not-in-our-town/ Evidently the yearly pledge drive is dead, or maybe they just don’t ask Tari to participate anymore. They were MIA […]
By: Diane Benjamin Two months in a row Renner bought former Alderman Rob Fazzini lunch: http://blnnews.com/2015/10/23/september-eating-at-your-expense/ For new readers, when Fazzini was an Alderman he created lots of news by saying things like “A gas tax doesn’t raise the price of gas”. http://blnnews.com/2014/01/27/culture-tales-bloomington-council-retreat/ Fazzini was also behind the failed attempts for Modified Wards and Paradigm […]
By: Diane Benjamin Transparency must be dead: No Coliseum reports have been posted on-line since 4/30/15. (Meanwhile the media is instructed to report false information about real losses) City Manager Monthly Reports haven’t been posted since December 2015. Sewer rates will increase: This is from the Budget Work Session for 2017. Providing the sanitary sewer […]
By: Diane Benjamin Practically since Tari became mayor, the citizens have been told the Front and Center building can’t be saved. Now Jeff Giebelhausen thinks it can be a hotel. Here’s the problems: Hotels and convention centers are a dime a dozens. Spend time on Google and see all the failures. Bloomington has convention centers: […]
By: Diane Benjamin I’ve talked to 3 people who attended the Giebelhausen event last night. Here’s the summary: Not many people attended Opposition far out-numbered supporters No new facts were presented Giebelhausen dreamed of more than one hotel downtown Nothing is going to happen without taxpayers being at risk Profit-sharing is the way he is […]
By: Diane Benjamin You have a chance to start over Tari. Ending the relationship with CIAM will give the Coliseum one last chance. Start telling the truth or the reset will flop. Listen to this the interview Tari had yesterday with WJBC’s Dan Swaney: http://www.wjbc.com/2016/03/07/central-illinois-arena-management-withdraws-from-coliseum-contract-talks/ Tari states he didn’t think anything the City was negotiating […]
By: Diane Benjamin Can anybody remember Tari Renner campaigning 4 years ago for transparency at the Coliseum? Got one of those short campaign video clips talking about the Coliseum Tari? Tari claimed that on WJBC this afternoon with Dan Swaney discussing the exit of the current Coliseum management. Both men know about my lawsuit – […]
Update: The Pantagraph article was down, but now it’s back with a few changes. It still dodges the truth. If you are on Facebook, Renner For Mayor is asking for feedback about the Coliseum: https://www.facebook.com/Tari-Renner-for-Mayor-25094354134/?fref=ts By: Diane Benjamin Tari Renner wrote an article for the Pantagraph today and made it look like the City reporter […]
By: Diane Benjamin Bloomington’s illustrious Mayor Renner was interviewed on WJBC yesterday. Hear it here: https://audioboom.com/boos/4222686-tari-renner-bloomington-mayor-2-24-16 Credit goes to Scott Laughlin for calling Renner out on the budget task force sham since all we’ve seen are massive tax and spending proposals ever since. But, it’s only another $20,000,000. If the population is still anywhere near […]
By: Diane Benjamin Scott Black was missing last night! More proof the elected Council representing the voters is just a campaign slogan. I had to laugh during a discussion about the proposed storage facility in south Bloomington and the Zoning Board of Appeals. Nobody showed up to protest the ZBA approval, even though the meeting […]
By: Diane Benjamin Jeff Giebelhausen has a long history of doing redevelopment projects for government. When taxpayers can be put on the hook for paying part of the cost, projects the private sector would never touch are suddenly attractive. Tari salivates over downtown Bloomington, therefore Giebelhausen is on it! Here’s one of Giebelhausen’s past projects […]
By: Diane Benjamin Watch this short campaign video Tari made in 2013 while running for office. Very close to the end he claims infrastructure can be improved without raising taxes. Funny how he stumbled over the proper words though. Since Tari became Mayor, $10,000,000 has been borrowed for roads with plans to borrow A LOT […]
By: Diane Benjamin Tari talking points: The big picture on the budget is that: 1) we are not doing anything that the city didn’t do three, four or five years ago 2) our revenues were flat and our costs keep going up a little over 2% each year How much truth is in Tari’s statements? […]
By: Diane Benjamin I’m sure you’ve seen Bloomington’s symbol: What the symbol means is listed on the City website and in the presentation for Tuesday night. It isn’t new, no Tari didn’t change or create the definition: According to dictionary.com: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/progressive 1) Favoring or advocating progress, change, improvement, or reform, as opposed to wishing to […]
By: Diane Benjamin Monday night the Council is holding a Work Session to hear the results of the Fee study. See the packet information here: Fee Study Enterprise Funds were created to raise taxes. Solid waste pickup was included in the taxes you already paid just 10 short years ago. Monday night the Council will […]
By: Diane Benjamin I was contacted over a year ago by a company who saw some of my posts on the Coliseum. YES – there are professional arena managers, your government chose not to talk to any of them. The current Coliseum management continues to under perform based on what citizens were told when the […]
