Highway 13 Parking

 Not sure how possible it is but I would like to see the left hand turn lane in the 200 block of West Main turned into on street parking. It would really help Thai Taste to have a parking space there for customers picking up orders and parking in front of the store for Nina' Panaderia, allowing customers to park in front of the store in order to run in and pick up their purchases, rather than parking behind the building and climbing a flight of stairs to get into the bakery or walking all the way around to the front. 

Tourism

 Carbondale is not a tourist town. It does not have the attractive and shoppable downtown needed to pull visitors in visit the downtown area.  It does not look "quaint", nor does it have the type of shops that would pull visitors in to the downtown area:  gift shops, artisanal crafters or antique shops.

What it does have, and this is something city government should push extensively, is adjacency to thousands of acres of national forest, state parks and wineries.  We have the lodging in both traditional hotels, motels and B&Bs  to serve as a home base for those coming to Southern Illinois to visit those attractions and the city needs a focal point where visitors can pick up information about local attractions. There is a small display last time I looked in the multi modal station. I hope the city puts in a much more fully stocked display to which we can send visitors.

Entertainment Pavilion

 Scheduled for completion next summer.  I hope, now that the city has spent $1.5 million on it, we get use out of it and that the parking area gets sealed and restriped after the pavilion gets completed.  I would like to see the city's hosting of the Sunset Concerts moved there and that the city never closes the Strip down again for a concert. close Washington Street down and use the stage for any downtown activities and concerts. The city still hasn't come up with a name for it.  From what I recall, when they solicited suggestions, the overwhelming choice was the Robbie Stokes Entertainment Pavilion or something similar , but have not heard anything since then.

Bandana's

 According to their signage Bandana's is reopening in the near future. Aside from a food truck or so, I think that will be the only dedicated BBQ restaurant in town.

Most Expensive Building

 Talking with someone in a position to know during the Homecoming concert, according to them the Multimodal transit center is the most expensive building built in the state of Illinois in the last 10 years, with a cost running around $800 per square foot.

I must say, there is a lot of empty space inside, both horizontally and vertically. There is a lot of empty vertical space inside the architect put in there to comply with the city's downtown requirement of having facades at least 2 stories tall. Instead of putting a second floor in, there is just a lot of open space, which will require heating and cooling.

In addition, there are more meeting spaces in the north end of the building. Did the city need them? It already has space at the Dunn Richmond Center, in the Student Center, in the Civic Center, even the old Train Depot building. Local groups also meet in the Public Library and in various churches. It seems we have far more meeting spaces that we have meeting space need.

Repaving

 Gov. Pritzker was in the city this week, announcing among other things, the awarding of a $2 million grant to resurface streets in the Arbor district. The area covered includes:  West College Street from South Forest to South University avenues; West Cherry Street from South Oakland to South Illinois avenues; and Poplar Street from West Mill to West Oak streets

I really hope the city can then come up with money to resurface the section of Poplar between Oak and Sycamore as that stretch of street is in pretty rough shape. Not to the point that someone driving on it will blow out a time but still bad.

Finish Line

According to their post on social media, The Finish Line athletic shoe store  at university Mall will close on Nov. 15. No clearance sales, just come by stuff before another mall store closes its doors.  I think that leaves about half a dozen still operating out there.