After thinking about them a few days, some musings on Tuesday's city council meeting:
1. Council could save about 30-45 minutes each meeting if assorted council members would quit pulling items out of the consent agenda for individual votes. I counted six items pulled from this week's agenda, only one of which did not pass unanimously. Yes, I know you want to thank people who worked on projects or feel residents of the city should know why the city does certain things, but isn't that what council comments are for?
2. Having Panda Express next to Great Wall, assuming the renovations preclude its reopening, should not hurt Great Wall's business much. The two businesses cater to two different market segments, with Great Wall going after the "I want a variety of Chinese food and plenty of it for dinner" segment, while Panda Express, with its stated focus on takeout and drive through (it will be one of the first stand alone franchises in the chain) will target those who want to pick up something quickly and eat it at home. Those Chinese restaurants in town that focus on delivery and takeout, China Express and New Kahala Fast Foods, have more to fear from Panda Express.
3. The change in the ordinance to allow restaurants selling alcohol to remain open past 2 a.m., as long as they only sell food, passed unanimously. A good move, though in the past restaurants have gone after this license as a means of skirting the cap on liquor licenses in the city, then would up deriving more of their revenues from liquor sales than the 49% allowed by the license.
4. Halloween returns to the city (not that it every really left, it just went underground) with a whimper, not a bang. As councilwoman Adams noted during the meeting, given the amount of controversy that has surrounded the issue, no-one from the community came to speak in favor of or opposed to the issue, though council members said they had received a number of emails on the topic. As Chief O'Guinn noted, fully 70% of of the force had never experienced a "Carbondale Halloween" and SIUC has cycled through 3 full classes since the last one. Only those who lived here during the 90s remember the event and the vast majority of them weren't concerned enough about its return to come speak to council, though they may very well have sent letters. Unoffical Halloween has been a fairly quiet event since its inception and, if the city and bars treat Official Halloween as another big sales day, it should remain quiet as well. I hope.
Comments are welcome.
1. Council could save about 30-45 minutes each meeting if assorted council members would quit pulling items out of the consent agenda for individual votes. I counted six items pulled from this week's agenda, only one of which did not pass unanimously. Yes, I know you want to thank people who worked on projects or feel residents of the city should know why the city does certain things, but isn't that what council comments are for?
2. Having Panda Express next to Great Wall, assuming the renovations preclude its reopening, should not hurt Great Wall's business much. The two businesses cater to two different market segments, with Great Wall going after the "I want a variety of Chinese food and plenty of it for dinner" segment, while Panda Express, with its stated focus on takeout and drive through (it will be one of the first stand alone franchises in the chain) will target those who want to pick up something quickly and eat it at home. Those Chinese restaurants in town that focus on delivery and takeout, China Express and New Kahala Fast Foods, have more to fear from Panda Express.
3. The change in the ordinance to allow restaurants selling alcohol to remain open past 2 a.m., as long as they only sell food, passed unanimously. A good move, though in the past restaurants have gone after this license as a means of skirting the cap on liquor licenses in the city, then would up deriving more of their revenues from liquor sales than the 49% allowed by the license.
4. Halloween returns to the city (not that it every really left, it just went underground) with a whimper, not a bang. As councilwoman Adams noted during the meeting, given the amount of controversy that has surrounded the issue, no-one from the community came to speak in favor of or opposed to the issue, though council members said they had received a number of emails on the topic. As Chief O'Guinn noted, fully 70% of of the force had never experienced a "Carbondale Halloween" and SIUC has cycled through 3 full classes since the last one. Only those who lived here during the 90s remember the event and the vast majority of them weren't concerned enough about its return to come speak to council, though they may very well have sent letters. Unoffical Halloween has been a fairly quiet event since its inception and, if the city and bars treat Official Halloween as another big sales day, it should remain quiet as well. I hope.
Comments are welcome.
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