Carbondale Tourism

 Carbondale Tourism has moved its offices out of the 126 S. Illinois location. I had noticed the offices were starting to look a bit sparse the past couple of months and now there is a large For Rent sign in the front window.  I remember discussion several years ago of shuttering that office and moving it into the City Hall complex so maybe that finally happened.

Mike Bost

 Listened to Rep. Bosts telephone town hall tonight and to hear him tell it, we are a weak and feckless nation in the eyes of the other countries of the world with rampant inflation caused by Biden's policies and open borers across which flow thousands of undocumented migrants and pounds, if not tons, of drugs every day. A start to cure this would involve immediate authorization of the Keystone XL pipeline and authorizing drilling wherever oil companies want to stick a well.  Sheesh.

Streetscape

 The city will start a third phase of the downtown streetscape project after the first of April. Plans involve working on the streets north of Main from Monroe to Oak. 

City Wide Cleanup

 Keep Carbondale Beautiful will organize a city wide cleanup on April 23. I remember Glenn Poshard complaining about the trash on the west side of Carbondale, back when he was President of SIUC. I think it is much better not than then but the town can always use litter pickup.  Email  eepcb1326@gmail.com for Details

Stop Light timers

City would install sensors on stoplights on lights in downtown instead of relying on timers. It is quite frustrating to sit at a light, with no one else around, waiting for the light to turn. Surely there are lights with sensors on them that would change when there is no one else around.

Cameras

 Given the number of accidents that take place at intersections in Carbondale, it might be a good idea for the city to install cameras at the intersections of 13 and Giant City Road as well as both intersections of 13 and Illinois and 13 and Walnut. Not wanting them there for ticketing purposes but if drivers knew they were on camera at that location, they might drive more defensively and there would be less question as to whose fault the accident was.

There was an accident at the corner of Main and Illinois about a week ago and one car wound up on the sidewalk next to Thai Taste. Happily, it did not hit the building as happened two previous times.

Newspaper Consolidation

 read in Harper's Review this week that roughly 25% of US newspaper have shuttered since 2005 and that, of those remaining, investment firms own half. most investment firms focus on increasing "cost efficiencies" at the papers they own, which generally means cutting local staff and using more materials from wire services. Also the research I have read indicates that communities without a local newspaper have higher taxes and lower voter turnouts, since most local residents do not pay close attention to the activities of city government and are not nearly as engaged as communities with a newspaper.

In addition, local papers are the primary source for coverage of local high school and colligate sports. Local radio and tv stations only devote a few minutes of time to local sports, which papers devote dozens of column inches to the topic and the sports section is generally the most avidly read section of the paper.

Illinois and Main Intersection

 Not sure what can be done but there are quite a few wrecks at the intersection of Main and Illinois. , two of which have rammed into the wall of Thai Taste, necessitating the restaurant's closure until the wall's repair. Another one took place this past Sunday night. From what I could tell, one car headed west on Main when another one turned left from Illinois onto Main, directly into the first one's path.

I know cars regularly make left turns from Illinois onto Main on red from both the left and center lanes, setting up the potential for an accident. Maybe putting up a sign saying "No left turn on red" ?  Likely will not stop people who want to do it but might make them double check before pulling into oncoming traffic.

Housing Liquidation

 Should you be in the market, now apparently is a good time to pick up rental properties in Carbondale as several landlords are liquidating properties. Of course, that also indicates they do not see a large influx of students anytime in the near future. Anytime rental agencies and construction companies cut back in a market, that's a bad sign as they are some of the most optimistic businesses out there.

Home Rentals 2

 Asking around today, Home Rentals is not closing up. Instead the agency wants to liquidate over 100 properties and there is a discussion among the anancy principals as to whether to sell off and shutter the company or to keep going on with a smaller portfolio of properties.

Home Rentals

 From what I have heard, the selloff of Home Rentals properties preceeded the agency shutting down. At least the website has not been updated, it appears, since sometime in 2020 as they are still looking for renters for the 2020-2021 school year.

City Council Meeting

 City council meets at 6 tonight . Here is a link to the agenda and zoom session should you want to watch. Looks like a discussion of the proposed residential TIF district and allocation of COVID relief funds are on the agenda.

Papa John's Closed

 According to some posts on Facebook, the Papa John's Pizza on East Grand has closed and the search function on Pap John's website indicates the closest location is in Marion

LCC and City Council Agenda

 Agenda for Next Tuesday's LCC and City Council Meeting. Chalky's is the latest edition of the bar to go in at the ole Knight's Inn complex on the west side of the city.

Here is the link if you want to watch the meeting

1. Preliminaries to the Local Liquor Control Commission Meeting

1.1 Roll Call

2. General Business of the Local Liquor Control Commission

2.1 Minutes from the Local Liquor Control Commission Meeting of December 14, 2021

2.2 Application for an On-Premises Secondary Liquor License from Chalky's, LLC d/b/a Chalky's at 500 New Era Road

3. Citizens' Comments for the Local Liquor Control Commission

3.1 Citizen Comments for the Liquor Commission

4. Adjournment of the Local Liquor Control Commission

4.1 Time of Adjournment for Local Liquor Control Commission

5. Preliminaries to the City Council Meeting

5.1 Roll Call

5.2 Citizens' Comments and Questions

5.3 Council Comments, General Announcements, and Proclamations

6. Public Hearings and Special Reports

7. Consent Agenda of the City Council

7.1 Minutes from the City Council Meeting of February 22, 2022

7.2 Approval of Warrant for the Period Ending: 02/18/2022 for the FY 2022 Warrant 1427 in the Total Amount of $2,100,822.79

7.3 Approval of Wells Fargo Warrant for the Period Ending 01/31/2022 FY 2022 Warrant # WF 01/2022 in the amount of $120,045.78

7.4 Award the Purchase of Three (3) F-150 Hybrid Vehicles from Vogler Ford of Carbondale, Illinois in the Amount of $138,000; and

Award the Purchase of Two (2) F-150 Lightning Electric Vehicles to Feldman Ford of Detroit, Michigan in the Amount of $106,956

7.5 Resolution to Participate in a Cost-Sharing Agreement with the Illinois Department of Transportation to Provide $9,660 in

Matching Funds for IDOT Project "Carbondale ADA Improvements with Pushbuttons at Giant City Road"

7.6 Resolution Authorizing the City Manager to Enter into an Economic Development Tax Increment Financing Agreement with Helen

L. Wallace, Inc for a Redevelopment Project at 317 East Main Street

7.7 Award of Contract for the Central Laboratory and Water Plant Office Security Upgrades (CIP No. PB2004) to J & L Robinson

Development & Construction Co., Inc. of Carbondale, Illinois in the Amount of $185,900

7.8 Approval of Consent Agenda Items

8. General Business of the City Council

8.1 Discussion and Approval of the Termination of Leases to the Carbondale Park District for Evergreen Park and the Super Block

8.2 Amend the Application Process for American Rescue Plan Funding

8.3 Approve FY2022 Purchases and an Ordinance Authorizing a Budget Adjustment to Increase FY2022 Expenditures in the Amount

of $172,610 for the Purchase of Equipment

8.4 City Council Discussion of Architectural Design Standards to be Applied to Initiatives Such as Residential TIF

9. Executive Session

9.1 Executive Session to Discuss the Purchase of Real Property for Use of the Public Body, Including Meetings Held for the Purpose of

Discussing Whether a Particular Parcel should be Acquired

9.2 Return to Open Session

10. Adjournment of the City Council Meeting

10.1 Adjourn meeting

Don Luna

 New Mexican restaurant, Don Luna, going into the old Arnold's market building on South 51. Already have locations in West Frankfort and Harrisburg so glad to see a location opening here.

Mask Mandate

 Checked with the city and the city masking ordinance expired at the same time the state one did. Granted not a lot of stores were enforcing it. Stores still do have the right to require their customers to mask when they enter but doubt I will see a lot of stores requiring that. Post office and Walgreens have signs up saying "masks required" though.

John A Logan House

 House on West Oak once owned by General John A Logan will be town down by SIH to expand its campus. Universities, hospitals and churches are notorious for not worrying about the historic significant of properties they own when they need to expand. I expect all of the properties along West Oak across from Memorial Hospital to be torn down over the next few years as SIH continues to expand.

Shredding Day

 The JCHd will host a free shredding drop off day for Jackson County residents on April 23. click here to schedule an appointment

Code Red

 According to the news this morning, Jackson County is switching to the Code Red app for emergency notifications. If you want to download it, here is a link to the website.