Two Questions for Nathan Columbo

 Asked two questions of city council candidate Nathan Columbo (waiting for responses from others I have contacted):

1) What do you bring to the council that other candidates do not? I bring the ability and the tools to communicate with Carbondale residents enmasse and in real time about issues on and off the city council agenda 2) What changes/improvements in Carbondale would you work towards during your term? Rebuilding Carbondale's Population, Increasing the amount of owner-occupied housing, reinvisioning the economic drivers of Carbondale

City Council Candidates

 Have requests in with some of the city council candidates for answers to the following questions. Will post whatever responses I receive:

1)  What do you bring to the council that other candidates do not?

2) What changes/improvements in Carbondale would you work towards during your term?

COVID 19 Numbers March 23

The infection rate is up about 9% nationally Locally:

Friday March 19 Jackson County 4718 infected, 71 dead, 4590 recovered, Randolph County 4026 infected 83 dead 3934 recovered, Union County 2171 infected, 31 dead 2129recovered and Williamson county 7213 infected 119 dead 6869 recovered.

Friday March 23 Jackson County 4765 infected, 72 dead, 4638 recovered, Randolph County 4039 infected 83 dead 3940 recovered, Union County 2176 infected, 31 dead 2136 recovered and Williamson county 7252 infected 119 dead 6898 recovered.

DQ Robbed

 Heard that the downtown Dairy Queen got broken into and both cash registers stolen. Hope there was no cash in the drawers. General retail operating procedure is, unless you are open 24 hours a day, to pull cash out of the drawer at close and lock it up, putting it back in the register the next day.

Benches

 CMS receive an $8500 grant to install some more benches in the downtown area. Putting them streetside along Washington next to the concert area would not be a bad idea, providing seating ones events start taking place there again. Hoping the reference to having architecture and design students design the benches meant SIUC students. I have noticed the city, and even the University itself, prefers to pay outside consultants to develop logos and designs rather than turning to the various departments, in some cases among the best in the country, at SIUC

Campus Comics

 Campus Comics, located for years on South Illinois and more recently on East Main Street, has announced they are closing their Carbondale location and moving to a new spot in Murphysboro on Walnut Street near Murphysboro's Liberty Theater. Apparently opening under a new name as well.

Hump Day Market

 The Hump Day Market, in the Gold Gym/ CVS parking lot on the west side of town, returns for its second year on April 7.  This will be the second go round for a Wednesday afternoon farmer's market in Carbondale. Carbondale Main Street hosted one downtown in the area around the square fountain for a few years but vendor attendance got rather sporadic towards the end.

City Council

 Listening to the City Council meeting and members discussing appropriations for the upcoming year's budget. So far, council has voted to reduce the amount requested by Carbondale Spring for its food initiative from $10,000 to $5000 for a 1st time request. Three other first time requests got funded at half the requested amount. Southern Illinois Music Festival gets the money that would normally go to the Sunset Concerts since the Concerts will not take place again this year.

Denny's

 Apparently Denny's is currently following the model developed by Harbaugh's and Sunny Street Cafe and only having limited hours. Currently the restaurant is only open 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. but is looking for additional staff , anticipating moving back to longer hours. Kinda surprised it reopened but it is the only place, of which I know, where you can get a sit down breakfast on the west side of town. 

Covid 19 Numbers

 Friday March 12 Jackson County 4699 infected, 72 dead, 4590 recovered, Randolph County 4016 infected 82 dead 3916 recovered, Union County 2164 infected, 31 dead 2121 recovered and Williamson county 7140 infected 117 dead 6857 recovered.

Friday March 19 Jackson County 4718 infected, 71 dead, 4590 recovered, Randolph County 4026 infected 83 dead 3934 recovered, Union County 2171 infected, 31 dead 2129recovered and Williamson county 7213 infected 119 dead 6869 recovered.

Cedar Lake Improvements

 The city announced a $120,000 grant from the state for improvements at the Cedar Lake boat launch. The money will go towards the following:

 The grant will be used to construct an accessible floating dock at the existing boat launch, install a floating dock for canoe and kayak use, install new restroom facilities, and build a picnic pavilion.

Are there other things the money could go for? Sure. Street repairs come to mind but when someone offers you money for a specific use, it is a far better idea to take the money that is offered for that use, rather than to forgo the money at all.

Denny's

 Looks as if the Denny's on the west side of Carbondale has quietly reopened. Not sure what their current hours are but have seen people going inside the past two mornings. Do wonder if they ever paid their employees the back wages some were complaining about not getting when the restaurant closed last spring.

Evolve

The Evolve complex was supposed to help revitalize the south end of Illinois Avenue but 4 years after its opening, that end of downtown is still pretty empty. There are at least half a dozen empty storefronts in the immediate area with most empty for a couple of years. Bringing a good sized community of college students into downtown has not translated into increased foot traffic frequenting the area. The pandemic has quite a bit to do with it, of course, but those businesses were not seeing customers frequenting them even before March of last year.

Flash Flooding

 NWS has issues a flash flood warning until 9 a.m. tomorrow. Be careful if driving across any low areas with water on the road.  Better to go around if possible than getting your car flooded out or washed away.

Cricket

 Cricket, the wireless phone service provider, has shuttered its offices at the corner of Illinois and Mill and relocated to Murdale Shopping Center, in the old Radio Shack location. I guess the plan to take advantage of the student traffic next door in Evolve did not pan out. In fact, that end of Illinois has quite a few empty storefronts compared to the northern end

Longbranch

 Over the weekend, Longbranch Cafe got hit with a lawsuit by the Department of Labor, alleging that management improperly withheld tips  to pool and pay out to all employees and then paid overtime based on non-tipped wages. Federal law allows restaurants to pay servers a reduced wage under the expectation that the employee will make up the difference in tips, meaning, of course, that customers directly pay part of the employee's wages. I have read a number of complaints about pay and working conditions at Longbranch for the past year so interesting to see someone filing a claim against the business.

COVID 19 Numbers

 Friday March 5 Jackson County 4669 infected, 68 dead, 4562 recovered, Randolph County 3998 infected 82 dead 3893 recovered, Union County 2155 infected, 31 dead 3101 recovered and Williamson county 7094 infected 116 dead 6849 recovered.

Friday March 12 Jackson County 4699 infected, 71 dead, 4590 recovered, Randolph County 4016 infected 82 dead 3916 recovered, Union County 2164 infected, 31 dead 3121 recovered and Williamson county 7140 infected 117 dead 6857 recovered.

El Paisano

 Looks as if El Paisano is moving closer to re-opening in the old Mississippi Flyway location. There is now a banner out front announcing "Opening Soon".

Rain

 So far at least an inch of rain in Carbondale but no flooding that I have seen. The NWS reports that streets in Marion have seen significant flooding since the rain start with at least one car stopped by the water. Rain is supposed to continue through Saturday with another 1-2 inches falling. Glad we have pretty good sewer systems, though I have not seen the intersection of Mill and Illinois or Cherry and Illinois, which are prone to flooding. 

Candidates Forum

 Another opportunity to meet the city council candidates, this time tomorrow night courtesy fo the League of Women Voters

This Thursday, March 11, is the Carbondale City Council forum sponsored by the League of Women Voters and hosted by the Carbondale Public Library. 

This election is critical to the future of Carbondale - as is every City Council election. Please register and attend.

How to connect:

Here's the link to the Library list of events, with links from there to sign up https://carbondalepubliclibrary.org/register/.

Thursday, March 11, 6:30-8:30 p.m. - Candidate Forum: Carbondale City Council. Hosted by the League of Women Voters of Jackson County

Sign-up link:

https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_5emrs48CS1mB2KCPHIBo8g

City Council

 Fujiyama got cited by the city 8 times for seating people inside in violation of  COVID restrictions, Don Sol got 2 citations and Sergio's 5. There was, I believe, a $700 fine for each violation. City council tonight voted to waive the fines and just charge the restaurants $300 each in court costs. Loos and Bradshaw voted in opposition to this, the other council members voted in favor.  Meanwhile The Door on S. Illinois keeps merrily meeting maskless.

Liquor Control Commission

 Liquor Control Commission and city council meet tomorrow night. I spotted this of note in the LCC agenda:

2.1 Minutes from the Local Liquor Control Commission Meeting of December 22, 2020 

2.2 Approval of a Change in Officers for MOD Super Fast Pizza, LLC d/b/a MOD Pizza, Located at 1370 East Main Street

2.3 Approval, Denial, or Modification of Report and Recommendation in 2020-13 Makon Hap Inc. (dba Fujiyama's Steakhouse), 2020-14 Mendez Family Inc. (dba Sergio's Cantina), and 2020-15 Don Sol Inc. (dba Don Sol) 

The restaurants cited in item 2.3 are some of those reported cited as getting fined by Jackson County for violating dining restrictions during the recent restrictions on inside dining. Mary Lou's got the public notice but I heard that Fujiyama's Sergio's and Don Sol were among the unnamed restaurants that received a notice and fine as well.

COVID-19 numbers for March 5

 Friday Feb. 26 Jackson County 4638 infected, 68 dead, 4527 recovered, Randolph County 3976 infected 82 dead 3882 recovered, Union County2139 infected, 30 dead 2089 recovered and Williamson county 7034 infected 116 dead 4252 recovered.

Friday March 5 Jackson County 4669 infected, 68 dead, 4562 recovered, Randolph County 3998 infected 82 dead 3893 recovered, Union County 2155 infected, 31 dead 3101 recovered and Williamson county 7094 infected 116 dead 6849 recovered.

TJ's Fine Jewelry

 According to their sign, TJ's Fine Jewelry has moved from its East Main location to 1227 West Main, into the building formerly occupied by Jane's Consignment Shop. An interesting decision since Carbondale's growth has definitely skewed to the east side  and few jewelry stores locate in stand alone locations like Jane's.

Resdiential TIF

 The city is looking for a consultant to help develop plans to expand TIF districts into adjacent residential areas. Of course, doing so would require declaring those residential areas as blighted.

City Council Candidates

The Daily Egyptian gathered the candidates for the upcoming City council elections, in a safe way of course, and asked them the following questions:

What is your idea of creating positive contributions to Carbondale during your term if elected? How do you plan on doing so? Please be specific.

Community members have expressed a concern about a lack of accountability and city council member engagement. If you are elected how do you plan to stay engaged within the community and contribute to an increased level of accountability. 

In general the candidates said they would be "accessible"  although that means different things to different candidates while their responses to the positive contribution question are all over the board.

Best Buy

 Best Buy has removed the exterior sign from its building but apparently the store is still open for business. Final closing takes place some time this month.

Christmas Banners

 Looks as if Christmas is almost over. The city is out taking down the Christmas banners handing on Illinois Ave. I still see quite a few houses with lights on them and at least 2 Nativity scenes. I do hope the city decides to leave the lights up on the light poles around the square as they certainly brighten it up after dark.

COVID -19 Rates

 COVID 19 infection rates have declined sharply for the past month or so but are starting to uptick again, about 2% or so the past week. It appears people and governments, with the declining rates, are getting a bit confident that the trend will continue and relaxing  masking and social distancing as we did last summer, which led to a large increase in cases in the fall.