Downtown

 I attended a meeting with a few other downtown business owners and one of the problems downtown faces is an overabundance of destination stores. Most of the businesses in downtown are restaurants or bars or hair stylists. While people do pub crawl, with the other two, their customers visit and leave. There are not a lot of shopping options in downtown. Customers leave my store or Priority Sports with their purchases, hop in their cars and leave 

PK's Beer Garden

 Is no more.  The Hilton is building a parking lot on the north side of the building and the alleyway will once again be used for traffic. I assume the smokers will all migrate into the alley when needed, watching out for cars, or the front sidewalk. 

Solar Bear

 Solar Bear snuck up on me this year but apparently started about 11 a.m. this morning with the focal point the section of West College between University and Poplar. Although I saw very little foot traffic while driving on Walnut this afternoon, there are about 500 drunk college students blocking the streets in that section of town.

Off the Rails

 Off the Rails concert tonight featuring Chicago Farmer and the Fieldnotes and Lucas Wayne and the Cottonmouths. Estimated attendance for the first Off the Rails earlier this month was between 300 and 400 people. Given that students are back and moved in and the temperature is more moderate, I would expect to see another 200 to 300 people .

West Coast Vibes Dispensary

 Carbondale has another dispensary in downtown.  West Coast Vibes Dispensary is located in University Plaza next to Q Massage. That makes, by my count, at least three dispensaries in town, with a fourth coming in the old Pizza Hut building, and that does not count the place where you can get CBD hemp extract.

Hangar 9

 Hangar 9 reopened last night. According to a friend that was there, the place was packed earlier in the evening, then cleared out some after 10 , then saw an influx of people again to pack the place about midnight.

Preservation Commission

 the Preservation Commission meets this Monday at 5:30. Appears there is some concern over the status of the Paul Simon Federal Building, which was listed earlier this year as a potential sale by the administration. No further word or announced arrests regarding last June's defacement of the building

Roll call 

Approval of Minutes: July 21, 2025

Communication and Reports:

a. Educational and Technical Assistance Committee

No Report

b. Nomination and Hardship Committee

No Report

c. Work Plan Committee

No Report

d. Certificate of Appropriateness Committee

No report

e. Preservation Month Subcommittee

No Report

Old Business:

None.

New Business:

a. Review with possible action on draft letter on the Senator Paul Simon Federal Building

b. Discussion with possible action on the selection of commission members to serve on the July 4th sub-ommittee

Comments from the public, commission members or staff 

Adjournment

Letter

 since Rep. Bost is only holding photo ops and private meetings to discuss the Large Lousy Law, I sent a letter to the editor of the Carbondale Times pointing out some additional things included in the bill. You can find it in the August 15 issue of the Times.

Off the Rails 2

 Talking with Matt at Carbondale Main street, the estimates for the first Off the Rails concert were between 300 and 400 attendees.  When I stopped by between 8 and 9 p.m., I saw quite a bit of space in the crowd but it was still pretty warm which likely kept people away,  However if that many people came out in muggy weather like this, I imaging the August 29th event will see between 500 to 1000

Big Beautiful Bill Tour

 Rep Mike Bost is hosting a series of private events starting today and ending on the 27, highlighting the benefits of the "Big Beautiful Bill" (who names a law that anyway?). None of these events are open, as far as I can tell, to the public and the closest one to Carbondale, in Murphysboro, is a webinar.  No visits to hospitals or health care organizations and no visit to the VA.

Off The Rails

 the first Off the Rails concert of the fall takes place tonight, featuring House of Soul and Funky Mojo Daddy. This means Washington Street between Main and Walnut will close until sometime around 10 p.m.

Students Back

 SIUC reopens August 18th so students will return or move in this upcoming week. Expect to see lots of drivers unfamiliar with Carbondale's one way streets turning the wrong direction onto them and likely a number of accidents or near misses.

West Hospital Drive

 Ever wonder why we have a block long West Hospital Drive in downtown Carbondale? It is the block long street that runs just north of FirstMid Bank, linking University and Illinois.

Here is a link to information about the hospital which stood on the FirstMid property until 1971. It opened as Holden Hospital, affiliated with the Methodist Church, in 1916 and remained an independent organization until 1965 when it merged with Doctor's Memorial Hospital, now simply Memorial Hospital. Most of the hospital complex was razed in 1971 after the building sold to FirstMid with the last structure pulled down in 1976, replaced by what is now the FirstMid parking lot.

SIUC students, from what I have heard, liked to use the hospital grounds for recreation as it was the only large green space in downtown. Now the West Hospital Drive sign is the only indication of how early Carbondale became the health care center for the region.

Nina's Panaderia

 La Unica Panaderia closed for about a month for remodeling and reopened yesterday under the new name Nina's Panaderia. They have added new tables and display cases for the pastries and removed several of the refrigerated cases. At least for today, the business is opening on Sunday.

Jimmy John's

 Appears the S. Illinois Jimmy John's workers are on strike,. Sign on the door reads "On strike.  Overworked and Underpaid". Apparently there is a Jimmy John's Union but the website does not appear updated since 2014.