Off Premises Signage

 The city approved 6-1 an amendment to an ordinance at its last meeting allowing for the placing of off premises signage along East Main and East Walnut between Washington Street and Lewis Lane. However, the businesses wanting to place off-premises signage must have frontage along those right of ways.

The same ordinance was a major point of contention when the city was working to get Kohl's to open a storefront in Carbondale. One of the things Kohl's insisted on was an amendment to the same ordinance allowing it to place a sign on Highway 13 pointing towards the Kohl's location on Giant City Road.

Shots fired

 Apparently shots were here in the West Cherry, West College, South Forest area east of Poplar about 4 this afternoon. Officers were still in the area about 7 p.m. walking down West Elm, I gather to see if they could get any more information.

Harbaugh's Cafe

 I see by their social media posts that downtown staple Harbaugh's Cafe has opened a location in Marion and is currently holding a soft opening with a grand opening sometime in September.  Glad to see they are dooing well enough to have a second location.

Moka Coffeehouse

 Looks as if downtown Carbondale will get a new coffeehouse in the near future.  No opening date posted yet but signage is up for Moka Coffeehoue in the empty Geologic Oddities space in University Plaza on S. Illinois.

Property Taxes

 Given the hue and cry over Walker's Bluff Winery's recent announcement they were closing the facility due to high property taxes, here a basic overview of property taxes in Illinois and how they are calculated. With some exceptions, property taxes are assessed at 33% of the fair market value and, if oounties assess the value above or below that amount, an equalization factor kicks in to adjust the value back to 33% .  If you are not happy with property taxes, it is not all the fault of the country board.

Solar Bear

 Although I have not seen much publicity for it (granted I am not the target market either) but the annual Solar Bear event takes place this Friday and Saturday. It looks as if Levels has taken over from Pinch Penny as the main bar hosting Solar Bear drinking but there typically a lot of people congregate along West College between University and Poplar, with fraternities sponsoring a lot of house parties.  From what I have heard, last night was no busier than normal, though there were two stabbings on N. Washington near Washington and Main last night.

Update:  West College between S. University and S. Poplar is currently blocked off for Solar Bear partying.

Job Search

Seeing posts on social media from people looking for work certainly struck me when I was chatting with a restaurant owner earlier today. They have a number positions open and had open interviews a couple of weeks ago. They interviewed 30 people and called back 8 of them to offer them a position.  Of those 8 who apparently were still looking for a job, only 3 showed up.