Saluki Smash

 Still waiting to see when Saluki Smash will open. Not much activity on social media. Originally the rage room was supposed to open last summer, then fall of 2024. Not much activity for the past few months.

Carbondale Brand

 Following up from a post of a few days ago, what is Carbondale's brand?  Decades ago, it was as a railroad town, hence the overwide town square. For the last 60 or so years, the community's brand has been as the home of SIUC, which means the image of the community is strongly linked to how well SIUC is doing, although, save at the entrances to the city, it has been hard to tell it. For years, The Chamber of Commerce has been painting paw prints leading from the entrances of the city to the campus , but if you did not know that the university's mascot was a dog, you would have no idea why they are there. In the past year or so, the Saluki Pride Committee has arranged to have murals celebrating SIUC painted on buildings throughout the city, with a selfie station on the side of Big Chill, so that is a start.

City Council Candidates

 The League of Women Voters of Jackson County will host a forum with questions for this year's city council candidates this Thursday at 6:30 p.m. CT  .  It is on Zoom so here is the link to register.

SIUC Welcome Center

 Drove by the in-progress Welcome Center this past weekend while attending Salukicon and once again thought how the money used in its construction could be better used in rehabing so many of the buildings on campus. Roofs that have leaked for a decade, HVAC equipment so old maintenance has to hunt for parts on eBay, a shiny new building is not going to fix those problems.

Snow

 Well, for all the trepidation about yesterday's snowstorm, aside from a number of shutdowns it caused very little interruption in daily operations, at least as far as I can tell. Traffic was moving along normally this morning and even the side streets were passible. No power went out as far as I can tell and the sun actually melted areas where most of the snow had been scraped off.  SIUC reopens at 6 a.m. tomorrow. I guess Cape Girardeau got hit a bit harder as the SEMO campus does not reopen until 10:30 a.m.

Potholes

 After this front moves through  and through the spring, the city needs to work on repairing potholes.  There is one in East Main just across from Consume that has blown the tires out of at least two people that have hit it.

Snow

 Looking at the RADAR , it looks bad but not as bad as I had feared. About a quarter of the front has passed Carbondale as of 5:30 p.m. and the snow is very fine. 

Thai Taste

 Was talking with one of the staff members at Thai Taste and the restaurant was slammed for Valentines Day. It closed for lunch at 2 p.m. today and the kitchen was still cooking at 2:45. Evening dining had several dozen reservations by late afternoon.

Chocolate

 Expect to pay more for chocolate today as chocolate candy prices are up 10 to 20% over this time last year.  This is because raw chocolate prices have nearly tripled since last year as a result of poor cocoa harvests in Ghana, the primary producer of cocoa, over the past three years. Other countries are planting more cocoa plants but it will be 5-6 years before they are ready to harvest.

Longbranch Reopening

 Looks as if Longbranch Coffee House will reopen Feb 14th as Branch Cafe and Market. Hours for the weekend are 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and the business is repositioning itself as an organic vegetarian cafe, incorporating the Town Square Market. Since most people go into work at 9, I think they are leaving business on the table by not opening until 9.

Jo-Ann Fabrics and Crafts Closing

 Joann Fabrics and Crafts has declared bankruptcy for the second time in a year, citing sluggish sales and inventory issues. The company will close 500 of its 800 stores and, unfortunately, Carbondale's location is on the list. This leaves Wal-Mart as the only place in the area to purchase yard goods.

Planning Commission

 Planning commission meets tonight at 6 p.m.  topics on the agenda include a request to amend the owner occupancy requirements for short term vacation rental units. I would assume changing them to not require that an owner live on the property. Also the East Walnut Street Energy Collective is requesting a permit to install a solar farm just west of Reed Station road.

Parking

 The Multi Modal building at the corner of Walnut and Illinois took out a big chunk of parking the Hilton was using for its customers, making it that much harder for the hotel to attract customers.  No one renting a room at the Hilton is going to want to park in the Civic Center parking lot and walk across the busy three lane street to get to their hotel room. In today's society, people do not want to walk far from their car to where they are going.  Ideally, you are able to park your car in a location from where you can the the entrance of the facility to which you are going.

From what I hear, the owner of the Hilton has bought several of the lots adjacent to the hotel along Walnut Street with plans to raze them for parking but only one house has been pulled down and there are still For Sale signs on a couple of others.

IHOP

 I thought Applebee's might be moving into the eastern half of our local IHOP (International House of Pancakes), as the company which owns both chains has done in other locations. However, there is a For Rent sign up in that half of the building so I guess the company has other plans for both buildings.

Planning Commission

 Here is the agenda of next Wednesday's Planning Commission meeting

Looks like we have some interest in a solar farm on the east site of town.  (Anyone remember the failed attempt to put a solar farm on the contaminated Koppers property in the northeast part of town. Too much local opposition.) and possibly revising the owner occupancy requirement for AirBnB units in town.

1. Call to Order and Roll Call

2. Approval of Minutes: January 29th, 2025

3. Citizen Comments and Questions

4. Report of Officers, Committees, Communications

5. Public Hearings/Plan Review

PC 25-07: Justin Zurlinden is requesting a text amendment to Title 15 of the Carbondale

Revised Code relative to the owner occupancy requirement of Vacation Rental Units in the

PA, Professional Administrative Office and PAR, Professional Administrative Office

Residential, districts.

PC 25-08: East Walnut Street Community Energy Initiative LLC is requesting a Special

Use Permit to install up to a 3.6 Megawatt (MW) solar farm on parcel 15-16-300-026 off

East Walnut St and west of Reed Station Rd, which is zoned LI – Light Industrial.

6. Old Business

a. Update on City Council Business

7. New Business

8. Adjournment

Evolve

 Apparently it took going through three different developers before the city could find one who would build it given the parking situation. There really is not enough parking at Evolve to serve all the tenants which caused the first two to pass on the opportunity. From what I understand, and if someone knows better please let me know, the building has been devalued at least twice since it was build.

Town Square Market

 It looks as if Town Square Market is closing its North Washington location. I remember reading it will combine operations with Longbranch Coffee House when Longbranch reopens after its remodeling. Given the size of Longbranch prior to its remodel, unless they expand space greatly, Town Square Market will have to cut its product mix drastically.

University Mall

 I took a walk through University Mall this afternoon and things look bleak. In the retail part of the facility there are two not-for-profits:  the Science Center and the African American Museum. There are two outside facing businesses:  AMC Theater and Ross Dress for Less. In the mall remain 4 for-profit businesses:  Claire's , Embroidery Station, Finish Line and Hot Topic.  Maruices, Rue 21, Magikal Hippie and Hemp 'n Stuff have moved out since the last time I walked through.

Cave In Rock Ferry

 For those of you wanting to experience a southern Illinois tradition, the Ohio River Ferry Authority has secured another licensed pilot and the Cave In Rock Ferry resumed regular hours today. If you visit Cave in Rock, a trip across the Ohio on the ferry, just to turn around and come back, is certainly worth a half hour or so of your time.