Stop Lights

 I know I have complained about this before but I really with the city would synchronize the red lights on Illinois and University better. It really wastes gas for the light to change, you drive two blocks, stop again, wait, the light changes and you drive another 3 blocks before having to stop again. All of those cars idling wastes a significant amount of gas.

Register to Vote

 The Carbondale NAACP is registering people to vote in the SIUC Student Center from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. tomorrow. Get registered if you aren't or stop by and say Hi if you are.

Raisin' Cain

 Raisin' Cain opened in Marion today and people were just a bit enthused. Just imagine if we could get that sort of turnout for a local business opening. Certainly did not see that kind of enthusiasm when Taste Buds Snacks opened

Solar Bear

 Solar Bear still is lumbering along, even without the support of Pinch Penny Pub. I saw one group of students on West Mill at 10 a.m. with a "U Honk We Drink" sign out in front of their house and reports are there are over 1000 people congregating on West College, with red Solo cups abounding and even an inflatable water slide.

Off the Rails Concert

 Thee is another Off The Rails Concert tonight with Jeremy Todd playing from 7 to 8:30 and Doom Gong from 8:30 to 10 p.m. Concert will take place in the Washington Street Event Space. Still not sure why the city has the south end of the space fenced off. Seems they would leave it open for concerts until construction started.

Wendy's

 From what I have heard, the work being done at the Wendy's location on East Walnut is remodeling the restaurant for a reopening later this year. Hopefully they will be able to staff the location as they did have some problems there under the past management.

Student Arrested

 It didn't take long for an SIUC student to get arrested on campus, less than a day after move in started. Apparently, said student took a liking to another student's bicycle and, not understanding the concept of personal property, decided to appropriate it. The original owner took umbrage at this and, when confronted, the first student decided discretion was the better part of valor and decided to flee

Appears they were not very practiced at the whole fleeing business as the police caught and arrested them quite handily. No other major problems, so far as I have heard.

Closing the Strip

 Carbondale Main Street announced that the State has approved officially closing Illinois Avenue from the intersection of College all the way north to Elm street for a Homecoming concert. This will be quite a long closure with the three block stretch shutting down at 11 a.m. Friday morning and reopening at 2 a.m. Saturday morning, then I figure it will close down again later Saturday morning for the Homecoming parade.

Rather interesting that the first concert starts at 6 second concert starts at 8:30. I would think, if they are targeting college students, they would start later in the evening as that is when students would start coming out.

Square Hangers-on

Drove around the square to see what the situation is about 10 p.m. Thursday night there were only about 4 people sitting around but Friday night there were well over a dozen in the eastern half. Police or the city had put up barricades partially blocking access to the parking area but it was fairly easy for anyone who wanted to drive a car into the parking area if they wanted. The only businesses I saw open in the area at that time were Tres Hombres and ABC Liquor. I am not certain as to what the answer is but, if the people there are driving away customers from Tres Hombres and keeping students away from downtown, something needs to be done.

Welcome Center

 I do wonder if $6 million is enough to cover the cost of the new Welcome Center going up across from the Student Center and it seems like something else the University does not really need. Instead of fixing the already existing buildings on campus, the university has decided to put up this new unneeded building.  Quigley Hall has had leaks in the ceiling for well over a decade now and most of the HVAC systems on campus have to be repaired with parts sourced from eBay, rather than from normal parts suppliers.

Parking is not really the issue as current demand only uses a bit less than 50% of the available spaces. However, convenient parking will be taken away as the new building will remove about 100 commuter spaces used by students attending classes in Quigley, Faner and Parkinsons.

Downtown Crime

 Several representatives from downtown organizations and businesses spoke to city council about the alcohol, drug use and homeless congregation on the east side of the town square. Tres Hombres has even had to reduce its hours because customers are worried about all the illicit activity taking place in the parking lot across from the bar and grill. Carbondale Police average one call to the parking lot per night.

Part of the problem is the ordinance allowing public consumption of alcohol in the downtown area. Councilman Loos says the ordinance was passed in expectations of creating a Carbondale version of Memphis'  Beale Street. Unfortunately the problem with that is that Carbondale no longer has a concentration of bars along Illinois Avenue. The plan was for patrons to go to one bar and then spend the evening bar hopping, without having to worry about carrying open containers from one bar to another. That was fine back in the 1990s, when patrons could move from Tres Hombres to The Cellar to PKs to Boobys to Hangar 9 to Stix to American Tap to Sidetracks to 611 Pizza to Gatsby's and back. 

Now, if my count is correct, there are Tres Hombres, The Cellar, PKs, Booby's, Hangar 9 and Trax. Hardly enough to create a steady flow of foot traffic from one location to another, much less justifying carrying an open beverage out on the street.

Vandalism Suspects Arrested

Well that was fast. Police have announced 5 suspects arrested in the case of the Splash Park Vandalism last week. All juveniles, one went to a juvenile detention facility and the others were released to their parents.

If found guilty, I hope they get multiple  thousand hours of community service. Much more useful than locking them up.

Saluki Express

 I see the Jackson County Mass Transit Authority is taking over Saluki Express operations. From what I understand, JCMTA lost a significant amount of grant money, so in order to recoup some funding, the organization bid on Saluki Express transit. Saluki Express will now have 4 main routes, one serving locations on campus every thirty minutes, one serving the east side of town, one the west side and a fourth coming in from the South side to the center of campus.

JCMTA will still serve outlying areas of Jackson County and paratransit services will still be available as normal. However, the service will no longer provide door to door transit for those not registered with the operation.

Tandoor & Tadka

 New Indian restaurant Tandoor & Tadka opening this Saturday in the vacated (and short lived) Gud Fud location at 715 N. Giant City Road. Same strip location as Moe's Southwestern Grill.

Splash Park Vandalized

 The Super Splash Park is closed today. Someone broke in last night and vandalized the pool area throwing furniture into the pool and overturning counters. Hopefully the pool will reopen tomorrow

Not sure how much of a coincidence it is but a group of thugs also vandalized the Brookside Apartment complex last night. Shortly after midnight, they pulled fire extinguishers off the walls and knocked on residents doors. When the door opened, the vandal sprayed whomever opened it with fire extinguisher foam. This happened to several residents of the apartment complex.

Chango's

 It appears, according to posts on Facebook, that Chango's has reopened in its old location at 519 S. Illinois, next to Sal's Bistro.

Veo Scooters

 Not sure if the city will do any enforcement but here are the regulations regarding Veo Scooter usage in Carbondale. I have noticed the "lucky" zones marked off at various locations around town, primarily downtown, and a number of scooters parked there, though I am not sure how many of those are parked by riders and how many by the Veo Scooter Collectors. since users have to pay by credit card and must submit a photo of the scooter to end the ride, charging fines for improperly parked scooters should be easy to charge and collect:

-Ride in the same direction as traffic and obey all lights, signs and signals

-Riding on sidewalks is permitted when deemed to be the safest option, but ride slowly and exercise extreme caution in pedestrian areas

-Must be 18 years or older to ride

-Only one person on an e-scooter at a time

-E-scooters should be parked in the following locations:

-in designated parking hubs

-in public right-of-way areas – for example, the grassy space between the curb and sidewalk

-on the edge of a sidewalk leaving at least 3 feet unobstructed (some sidewalks may be too narrow for e-scooter parking)

-E-scooters may NOT be parked in the following locations:

-on private property-in a way that blocks pedestrian, wheelchair, or vehicle access

-E-scooters should be parked up-right, using the kickstand

In coordination with City staff, VEO has taken the approach to financially incentivize the service to encourage safe riding and parking. At any given time, various parking hubs are designated as “lucky zones”, labelled on the app’s map with a $ symbol. Riders that park in a lucky zone will receive a discount on their ride!

Alternatively, riders not parking correctly may notice a difference in violations. Riders who improperly park an e-scooter now receive only one warning, as opposed to two as was the case previously. Fines have increased from $5 for the first violation and $10 for the second, to $10 for the first and $15 for the second violation.

Improper parking is detected by VEO with the assistance of the photo required to be taken by the rider in order to end their ride.

VEO and the City encourage community members to report improperly parked e-scooters when possible!

There are several ways to report:

-Use the City’s SeeClickFix app

-Use the Help Center in VEO’s app

-Call 1-855-VEO-2256

-Veo’s social media: @VeoMobility

For more information contact Public Relations Officer via call or text at 618-713-0711.

Water Supply

 Missed the cutoff point by .3%

o our residents- 

Our water system recently violated a drinking water standard. Although this was not an emergency, as our customers, you have a right to know what happened, what you should do, and what we are doing to correct this situation. Surface water systems (or groundwater under the influence of surface water) using conventional filtration treatment (enhanced coagulation or enhanced precipitative softening) must demonstrate that Total Organic Carbon (TOC) removals are in compliance with either the Step 1 TOC removal requirements or meet the requirements of alternative compliance criteria. Our supply was unable to meet the requirements during the 2024Q2 monitoring period (2nd quarter 2024). 

What should I do? 

You do not need to use an alternative (e.g., bottled) water supply. However, if you have specific health concerns, consult your doctor. 

What does this mean? 

This is not an immediate risk. If it had been, you would have been notified immediately. 

Total organic carbon (TOC) has no health effects. However, total organic carbon provides a medium for the formation of disinfection byproducts (DBPs). These byproducts include trihalomethanes (THMs) and haloacetic acids (HAAs). 

Drinking water containing these byproducts in excess of the MCL may lead to adverse health effects, liver or kidney problems, or nervous system effects, and may lead to an increased risk of getting cancer. 

What happened? What is being done? 

The City of Carbondale tests monthly for TOC removal in the treatment process. A 45% removal rate is required as a precaution to limit the formation of DBPs, which are potentially harmful above certain levels. TOC compliance is measured as a running annual average (RAA). The City of Carbondale’s RAA is typically 46 – 50%. In June, the RAA was 44.7%, falling short of the 45% required for compliance. DBPs, which are directly affected by TOC, were also sampled in June, with all samples testing safely within compliance. Additionally, the monthly TOC removal for July was 48.4%. 

Customers do not need to take any action. The water is safe for normal use. TOC does not have any health effects, but is monitored since it may affect other water quality parameters. This is a required public notification. 

For more information, please contact Clayton Greer, Water Treatment Plant Superintendent at (618) 529-1731 option 2. 

Old Phoenix Cycle Location

 From what I am hearing, the plans are to put a cannabis smoking lounge in the old Phoenix Cycle location. Consume wanted to put a lounge in the Newell Building but apparently plans for that fell through, possibly because, from what I understand, a location with a cannabis store cannot have any other businesses in the same facility.

I would figure a similar regulation applies to a smoking lounge which would be why the other businesses in the Phoenix Cycle building were moved out. 

Charging stations

 Unless you want to charge up at your home, there are five EV charging stations located in Carbondale, one bank at Vogler Ford, Bantera Center, Home 2 Suites, Ward Chrysler and Auffenberg's .

Free Water at Schnucks

During the hottest parts of the day, Schnucks is offering free water. Limit one bottle per person. During the week, the civic center is also open, though I do not think the city is promoting it as a cooling center. Water fountains are available there as well.

Hollywood 22 Vape

 Hollywood 22 Vape has expanded to a second location. It has taken over 618 Vape, which was located in the Wall & Grand Center at the corner of, well, Wall and Grand. By my count, that puts three vape shops in Carbondale, about half what the city had about 10 years ago but still shows there is a significant demand for the product.