RIP George Sheffer

 Civic leader, and owner of Murdale True Value for over 30 years,  George Sheffer passed away in his sleep this past Friday night. I got to know George first as a lay minister at St. Francis Xavier church where he was active as a lector and eucharistic minister and later when he started the paw painting program through the Carbondale Chamber of Commerce. In more recent years, he had acted in an advisory capacity to the city, drawing on his decades of business experience.

I last saw George at reconciliation/confession during Holy Week before and he looked in good health and spirits then.  A friend saw him and Diane, his wife for those who do not know the family, during mass on the 19th and said he looked fine as well.

Update:  here is George's obituary from Meredith  Funeral Home

Signs

Since I was discussing signage yesterday, the sign directing people to Carbondale Main Street , the Chamber of Commerce and Station Carbondale needs updating. Ever since it was installed, the only drivers who could see it easily were those turning onto  Illinois from Marion as the arrows were installed parallel to Illinois avenue. Rotate it 90 degrees so that drivers heading North on Illinois can see it.  Also, since the Chamber of Commerce moved its offices to the Dunn Richmond Center, taking its name off the sign is overdue as well.

Music Trivia

 continuing the music theme of the past few days. The Chamber of Commerce is sponsoring a music trivia event the evening of the 29th.

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.

Celebrate 618

 Celebrate 618, sponsored by the Carbondale Chamber of Commerce takes place this week, since 6-18 falls in the middle of the week. A number of local businesses are offering 618 themed specials good 6/17 through 6/21. A few though, are only available on 6/18 so take advantage of them today.

William Lo

 William Lo, Executive Director of the Carbondale Chamber of Commerce and General Manager of New Kahala, was the recipient of the Outstanding Service in Leadership award during the Asian Pacific American Heritage Month ceremony in Chicago today.  If you haven't joined it, check out the Southern Illinois Eats page he moderates on Facebook

Paw Prints

 If you have noticed the paw prints on the main streets and a number of piece of private property, those are a fund raising and civic project of the Saluki Pride Committee of the Carbondale Chamber of Commerce. Each summer, recruits volunteer to spend 2 Sunday mornings painting prints on east and west 13 and north and south 51 as well as side streets such as Giant City Road and East Grand Avenue. All of the street pawprints point towards the SIUC campus, while the ones on private property point wherever the property owner wants. Getting a print painted in your driveway costs $100 with the money going to pay for the ones on the streets and to help fund the Chamber's Saluki Stay Scholarship.

Job Opening

 The Carbondale Chamber of Commerce has a job opening for a marketing and office manager. Looking for someone with 2+ years of experience. Pay is $14-$15 per hour for what looks like a 40 hour week. Might be a good fit for someone retired who is looking for work and does not plan to leave the area. If they dropped the 2 years work experience requirement, the Chamber could likely hire a recent SIUC graduate, although not sure how long they would stay around.

Chamber Executive Director Position Open

In case you are looking for work and have the skill set, the Executive Director position for the Carbondale Chamber of Commerce has opened up. Jennifer Olson, the current ED has resigned and will take a position as ED of the Greater Egypt Regional Planning and Development Commission starting July 27

Chamber of Commerce Interview

WSIU interviewed Chamber of Commerce President Jennifer Olsen this morning on the effect of the stay at home order on local businesses. I don't thing unemployment benefits will have as much an effect on employees as she comments. Although there are instances of people making more filing for unemployment than they did working, the increased unemployment benefits are only temporary.

Shop southern Illinois

If you happen to follow the Shop southern Illinois Facebook page, there is a weekly contest running giving away a basket of prizes from various Chambers of Commerce. Like, comment and share each week's post for a chance to win that week's basket

500 Jobs

According to the Carbondale Chamber of Commerce, there are at least 500 jobs unfilled in the healthcare industry in the southern Illinois region south of I 64. They pay an average $45000-$50000 per year and are not just in the medical field but also in maintenance, transportation, administration and security. If you are interested, I would suggest contacting the Carbondale Chamber for more info on which health care operations to contact.

New Chamber Members

Here's a list of new Chamber of Commerce members for 2018. Nice to see businesses joining:
Christina Pisoni of State Farm
Wild Thyme Books
carGO
Southern Illinois Airport Authority
Olive Branding International Educational Services
Illinois Heartland Library System
Salvation Army of Southern Illinois
Cash Store
Sterling Sofa Company
Panic Room
HomeWise Senior Relocation
C. H. Electrical
Omar's Food Mart
RE/MAX Above and Beyond
Illinois Game 7, LLC

Ribbon Cuttings

In case you like attending ceremonies, there are a couple of ribbon cuttings taking place this week. Friday Oct 5 at 11 a.m. a cutting will celebrate the new solar installation at Gaia House on South Illinois and then Saturday Oct 6, also at 11 a.m. there is a cutting at the new Family Drug on the far west side of town, located in what was the short lived Doctor Donuts. Family Drug should do a lot better there than Doctor Donuts, since a pharmacy is more of a destination store that a donut shop is. We are willing to make more of an effort to get our prescriptions then we are doughnuts.

Ribbon Cutting

Short notice but there is a ribbon cutting for the new Sterling Sofa Company on Giant City Road at 11 a.m. tomorrow morning


The Carbondale Chamber of Commerce will hold a ribbon cutting at 11:00 a.m., Thursday, September 13 for the grand opening of Sterling Sofa Company. The retailer is located at 695 N Giant City Road.

Sterling Sofa Company specializes in providing designer styles and comfort for all furnishing needs. Sterling Sofa Company is the sister store to Sterling Mattress Factory.

The ribbon cutting is part of Sterling Sofa Company’s grand opening. Representatives of the Chamber and business will participate in the ceremony and light refreshments will be served. The event is open to the public.

tonight At the Varsity

Following up on yesterday's post, tonight at 7 p.m. at the Varsity Center is a panel on seeking solutions for Southern Illinois. Rather surprised that no one from the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute is on the panel. Wonder if anyone will make note of the return southern Illinois gets on its taxes? The region received about $2.50 from the state for every $1 in taxes sent to Springfield

 President and CEO of the Carbondale Chamber of Commerce, Jennifer Olson, is a panelist for NPR Illinois' Election 2018: Seeking Solutions forum on Thursday, August 30 at the Varsity Center in Carbondale.

Olson will be joined by fellow panelists Dr. Kyle L. Harfst, Executive Director of the Office of Economic and Regional Development and Matt Donkin, Superintendent of Frankfort Schools District 168.

The forum will focus on Southern Illinois' access to healthcare, education, and economic opportunities. Panelists will comment on the issues Southern Illinois faces and discuss how to improve the region's access to vital services.

"It is important for those that are voted into office to understand the barriers to economic opportunity and what can be done to improve access in Southern Illinois," Jennifer Olson said of the event.

Topics will also include the impact of population loss in Illinois on state finances. The panel will answer questions from the moderator, NPR Illinois News Director Sean Crawford, and audience members.

Doors open at 5:30 p.m. and the forum begins at 7:00 p.m. The program will run live on NPR Illinois and NPR Illinois' Facebook from 6 p.m. -7 p.m.

For more information, contact the Carbondale Chamber of Commerce at 618-549-2146 or info.carbondalechamber.com.

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Streetscape Ribbon cutting

The city in conjunction with the Chamber of Commerce, will hold a ribbon cutting at 11 a.m. next Monday to celebrate the completing of phase 2 of the Downtown Streetscape project. The ceremony will take place in front of City Hall. The next phase of the project, completing the work along Illinois between Main and Marion, will go on hold for a year or so while the city focuses on other projects and decides what do to with the awning that extends almost to the street in front of Priority Sports and The Door. I doubt, given the design of the streetscape as it has been implemented so far, that the awning will remain in its current state.

Potential SIUC Students

There are 70 potential SIUC students visiting Carbondale from China this week . The university, Chamber of Commerce and the city have worked putting together a schedule of events to keep them busy and, from talking with a few of the students yesterday, they seem pretty impressed with the school and Carbondale. A couple of them were already talking as if they planned to attend SIUC starting next fall, so that's a good start.

At one time, SIUC was renowned for its outreach to international students and had the 2nd largest number of Indian students in the US. Unfortunately, other universities, over the years, targeted international students as well, pulling a good number of them away from Carbondale.

Erika Harold

Got to hear the Republican candidate for Attorney General this afternoon at the Chamber of Commerce round pies straight talk event. Most of the discussion with Erika Harold focused on combating opiod addiction in Illinois, although there was some discussion of workman's compensation reform and removing some regulations to make the state more business friendly. One topic she is interested in is prison reform, especially stopping using Illinois prisons as holding cells for the mentally ill. She also mentioned the possibility of reinstating work release programs for prisoners, which Gov. Rauner apparently put a halt to and which Chief Grubbs supported reinstating, as he said Carbondale had used them for decades without any problems.

Chamber Letter In Support Of Multi Modal Center

The Carbondale Chamber of Commerce sent the letter below to the DOT supporting the city's request for funding for the proposed multi-modal center. Not sure what will come of it due to the lack of any significant funding for infrastructure improvements from the current administration.:

The Honorable Elaine L. Chao, Secretary

United States Department of Transportation

1200 New Jersey Avenue SE

Washington, DC 20590

 

Dear Secretary Chao:

 

I am writing on behalf of the Board of Directors of the Carbondale Chamber of Commerce to express our support of the City of Carbondale's application for the Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development (BUILD) grant for $14.64 million through the U.S. Department of Transportation, for the Southern Illinois Multi-Modal Station (SIMMS) project. This grant will allow the City of Carbondale to complete design and construction and will also help generate much needed economic activity within our region.

 

In a rural area like Southern Illinois, transportation is often cited as a key impediment to connecting qualified workers with jobs. SIMMS will provide an opportunity to improve public transportation throughout the region and doing so, will provide opportunities to many low-income residents to access jobs, educational opportunities, and healthcare. Collectively, these improvements will improve the quality-of-life for many of our residents.

 

In addition to the improvements that the SIMMS project will provide for public transportation, this project would be a significant infrastructure investment to our region and would generate many high-quality construction jobs for the area which will generate additional economic impact. As such, we strongly support the use of BUILD funds to help facilitate the development of this critical project for Southern Illinois.