Koos Does More Comedy

By:  Diane Benjamin Mayor Koos appeared on his favorite radio station last week.  He again mentioned spaces in Uptown that aren’t good for retail because parking in front of the door doesn’t exist.  Why did Normal build 3 parking garages and take away on street parking then Mayor? Read the story and listen to the interview […]

More Normal emails – Wild Country

By:  Diane Benjamin City Manager Pam Reece sends emails to the Council advising them on various issues.  The Trustees can not respond to Pam and the entire Council without violating the Open Meetings Act.  All deliberations and discussions are required to be in public. Pam does hold 2 on 1 meetings with Trustees to get […]

Stan Nord on property taxes and the role of Trustees

By:  Diane Benjamin Last night Stan Nord proved again why he was elected.  His comments weren’t until the end of the Council meeting:  1:49:05. The Town of Normal has leases that do not benefit taxpayers.  One of these leases is set to automatically renew in December.  I believe he was talking about Wild Country, they […]

Pam Reece is aggravated with Stan!

By:  Diane Benjamin Pam Reece can’t understand why Stan Nord is questioning the actions of past Councils.  If Pam can’t understand why Stan was elected, she had an opportunity handed to her: Stan has raised questions about a number of issues.  Some of them included Town owned properties being leased for much less than market […]

Can Chris Koos be Trusted?

By:  Diane Benjamin Two of this weeks top read stories were about Koos lying to the media.  I hope you noticed the media hasn’t issued a correction! I don’t know how you could have missed these stories, but if you did: https://blnnews.com/2019/07/31/did-chris-koos-lie/ https://blnnews.com/2019/07/31/did-chris-koos-lie-part-2/ Last night I was wondering what possesses a supposed public servant to […]

Who’s best interest is Normal using?

By:  Diane Benjamin Make sure you read to the bottom! 1) Remember the deal Terri Ryburn got for the property at 305 Pine Street? Rent for her to live there is $120 a year Normal paid off her mortgage – $228,550.50 + another $5000 Normal bought the lot next door for $24,000 Terri gets to […]

Normal’s Rental Properties

By:  Diane Benjamin I filed a FOIA with the Town of Normal after learning they paid more than $7000 a year in property taxes on the property leased to Dan Brady for $1 a year. What I received appears to be missing some information, but below is what I have figured out so far.  It […]