COMMENTARY
Good Monday Morning!
Locally, McLean County news is centered around the Bloomington budget, gravel pits and property rights along the Bloomington/Normal Main Street Corridor. (State Highway 51) The long-awaited Task Force begins the first of its sessions next week (we hear); and will be coordinated by The Hile Group; proponents of the form-based code, who have been hired as the “facilitator”; at a cost of $25,000 for approximately five or six meetings.
And don’t forget the rally tonight at 7:00 p.m. at the Doubletree Hotel in Bloomington for IL GOP nominee for Governor, Bill Brady, as Brady wraps up his statewide “thank-you” fly-around in his hometown of Bloomington.
BLOOMINGTON BUDGET
Three work sessions are upcoming for discussion of Bloomington’s proposed budget, to be presented by City Manager David Hales; beginning tonight. While there are”no tax increases”, the garbage fee doubled-going from $7 to $14 monthly. The first budget proposal work-session is tonight at City Hall; 5:00 p.m.
GRAVEL PIT – “If at first you don’t succeed. . . . “
The gravel pit, shot down once before by the McLean County Board, is proposed (again) for the Southwest side of Bloomington, across the street from Fox Creek Elementary School; and may be brought up by some parents at this week’s Unit 5 School Board meeting. Some parents are still wondering why Unit 5 School Board members don’t speak out against the gravel pit; now proposed to be mined even closer to the school.
At the last Zoning hearing, testimony was given on the dangers of the silica dust created by gravel mining. Here are three links to further information, in case you’re doing your gravel pit homework today. (Links provided by Southwest Bloomington Association (SWBRA) President, Rex Diamond. They also have a website with more information: www.nofoxcreekpit.com
United States Department of Labor, Mind Safety and Health Administration.
This is a simple table on deaths per year of non-workers.
http://www.msha.gov/SOSA/previousfatalstats.asp
OSHA Fact sheet on crystalline silica
http://www.osha.gov/OshDoc/data_General_Facts/crystalline-factsheet.pdf
A very simple explanation on what PM2.5 particles are and how they
can travel very far. It also describes their effect in simple to understand
language
http://www.airinfonow.com/html/ed_particulate.html
Zoning Board hearings on the latest Special Use request, may wrap up next week; then it again goes before the McLean County Board for a vote.
I have a question: Who will be mining the gravel pit? That was a big factor in testimony the last time around.
Second question: Also last time around, the proponents’ testimonies were how McLean County needs gravel; now the gravel is nearly an afterthought; with most all discussions centered around the subdivision and lake that will purportedly be developed after that pesky gravel that’s in the way of the lake, is mined. I thought this Special Use Permit was for a gravel pit? Just wondering.
MONDAY-NATIONAL HEADLINES
Health Care Push Comes Down to Obama & Pelosi – Hook & Levey, LA Times
The Health Care Jam – Mark Penn, MarkPenn.com
Controlling Costs, Expanding Coverage – Jonathan Cohn, The New Republic
Obama Unable to Face Up to America’s Problems – Simon Heffer, Telegraph
Faux White House Intrigue Obscures Deep Disarray – Al Hunt, Bloomberg
6 Reasons Obama is Still the Favorite in 2012 – Carl Cannon, Politics Daily
Meltdown of the Climate Campaign – Steven Hayward, Weekly Standard
We’re in Trouble When Volcker is the Radical – Robert Kuttner, Huff Post
U.S. Must Learn From California Troubles – Michael Barone, DC Examiner
An Irish Mirror in the Financial Crisis – Paul Krugman, New York Times
Are Millennials a Chump Generation? – Robert Samuelson, Newsweek
The Scandalous Empire State – David Paul Kuhn, RealClearPolitics
Democrats’ Three Big-State Hopes – John Heilemann, New York Magazine
Where Are Obama’s Foreign Confidants? – Jackson Diehl, Washington Post
President Obama’s Iraq Dilemma – Peter Beinart, The Daily Beast
Patriotism Triumphs at the Oscars – Nile Gardiner, The Telegraph
Inside Thomas Friedman’s Nonsensical Mind – Jonah Goldberg, Natl Review
Politics Nation: The Week Ahead: Up In The Air| Massa Resigning Today
Is the WH Playing a Double Game With House Dems? – Wall Street Journal
Are You or Have You Ever Been a Lawyer? – New York Times
Stop the Orgy in Congress – Washington Times
A Japanese 9/11 Fantasy – Washington Post
SOURCE
Pretty funny actually; Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin were the hosts, and I thought they were the best in a long, long time. Did you watch?
