Small Towns

There used to be a lot of small towns in the area that have vanished with the trains and the growth of automobile use. Reed Station was located where Reed Station Road intersects with Highway 13 east of Carbondale, while Mount Carbon was located at the intersection of  Old Highway 13 and Highway 127. Texas Junction and Carbon Lake were both located just outside Murphysboro and were absorbed as the town grew.  The junction where the Ava Blacktop splits off Northbound 127, where the recently opened Southpaw Bar and Grill is?  That used to be Harrison. And of course, anyone driving south on 127 will see the sign for Etherton, now just a collection of houses adjacent to the abandoned railroad bed.

South 51 Closed

South 51/ S. University Ave will close for 24 hours for sewer repairs, from 5 am. March 28 to 5 a.m. March 29th between Walnut and Mill. Side streets crossing University will remain open but drivers will not be able to turn south on 51.

Community Survey

 If you want to complete the community survey and aid Zo Agency with its research developing comprehensive marketing plan, here you go.  I think we have done this a couple of times before.  Not sure why the town does not reach out to a perfectly good Univeristy and have them do the reserach instead of hiring an agency though.

Horstmans Cleaners

 If you missed it, Horstman's Cleaners, a fixture of downtown Carbondale since 1925, has closed permanently. The demand for dry cleaning has dropped markedly over the past couple of decades and, as workers age out of employment, dry cleaners are replacing them with robots.  The price of roboticized dry cleaning has also dropped. whereas it used to be that it was only cost efficient for dry cleaners with a staff of 100 or more to add robots, they are cheap enough now that cleaners that would employ a staff of 10 can do so.

From wnat I have heard, some of the equiptment Horstman's used also broke down and it is not cost efficient to replace it. Whatever the reason, another bit of Carbondale history is gone.

Tandoor &Tadka Closed

 Looks as if Tandoor and Tadka has closed. Not sure if or when  the restaurant will reopen but it sure has a lot of health department violations to correct

Tree Sale

 Keep Carbondale Beautiful will have its spring tree sale this Saturday from 8;30 to 2 p.m. at the Town Square Pavillion.  Shrubs ar3 $35 and trees are $40

City Council Meeting

 Well, this morning's city council meeting was quite well attended, so much so that some of the city council members had problems finding parking spots before the meeting started. From what I gather from attendees, only one person spoke in favor of the proposed ordinance banning camping on public property in city limits.  Everyone else opposed it.  Granted the current encampment on East College is quite an eyesore but the city did bring it upon itself.  The prior encampment was located in the woods south of where the current encampment is and Levels on East Grand and out of sight until the city decided to move it. Now we have the encamment in a much more conentrated and visible location.

City Council Meeting 2

 From what I have heard the agenda for Friday's 9 a.m. meeting discussing an ordinance regulating public camping within the city limits.  No action will be taken at this time. This is likely caused by the homeless campground that has sprung up near the cooling center across from Victory Dream Center. Fining people for camping there likely won't do much good since if you are camping outside in the city limits, you probably do not have enough money to put a roof over your head, let alone pay a fine.

City Council Meeting

 Must be important because there is a special meeting of the city council at 9 a.m. this Friday.  Ufortunately, I cannot get the agenda to load so have not a clue as to what the topic is.

SIMMS

 Well apparently the official name of the multi modal station is the Southern Illinois Multi Modal Station (SIMMS). I would think naming it for someone important in Carbondale history would be a nice touch and the official drop off point for passengers is still not ready.

The City of Carbondale announces that the planned relocation of the transit and passenger drop-off entrance at the Southern Illinois Multimodal Station (SIMMS), originally scheduled for March 18, 2026, has been postponed due to construction-related issues.

As a result, the current temporary transit and passenger drop-off entrance on South Illinois Avenue will remain in use until further notice.

Passengers, transit users, and drivers should continue using the existing entrance and follow current signage for drop-off and pick-up at SIMMS.

Streets

 I see the city has been doing some work patching holes on West Willow. for some reason, despite the concrete slab construction, the holes get really bad in some locations along there. Unfortunately, the patching consisted of filling the holes with asphalt and tamping it down so it will probably wash out in the next rain.  Street needs resurfacing but that probably won't happen until after the Wall Street and Poplar Street construction is finished.

Heather Heaslett

 I saw the Heather Heaslett campaign using an old fashioned method of compaigning today. Guy walking around the downtown area with campaign signs on his front and bank and using a bullhorn to solicit votes.  Have not seen that method of campaigning in years.

Meet and Greet

 I stopped by Sunday's candidate Meet and Greet. Suprised at the lack of information there about the candidates. Only two had brought any campaign literature and there was not a lot of information about postions on it. I did see Tamiko "TC" Mueller there, who is running in the Democratic primary for the 59th State Senate seat.  Here is her Balletpedia page as well as her Facebook campaign page.

Nobody approached me as I walked around, though to be fair, I did get there late in the evening and did not approach anyone either.

Candidate Meet and Greet

 Meet and Greet with three local candidates at Pag's tonight from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. No indication in the article as to what each is running for but I think Mueller is a candidate for State Representative

Gunfire

 Had several incidents of shots fired in town in the past week.  A couple of 14 year olds shot at houses on North Bridge and S. Beveredge. No one hurt but there was damage to houses.  There was also another instance of shootings over at the Fields.

Trees

 I really wish the city woud put some trees back in place along West Main and West Walnut.  A number of them were removed several years ago because of age and disease nd the spaces where they stood still sit empty. We are a tree city so lets put more trees in.