City Council Meeting

Special city council meeting Wednesday night, the night after the meet and greet with candidates for the city manager position. Since it is an executive session to discuss employment issues, my guess it is to consider the three candidates for the position select one. Hopefully Stan Reno is not one of them as I would not like the city to have to start a search for another chief of police.

Saluki Tax

 If I remember correctly, the increase in the sales tax voted for by the city council to help fund the Student Services Building, Saluki Stadium and renovations of the SIUC Arena expires in 2027. Basic sales tax for Illinois is 6.25% and Carbondale's sales tax is 9.75%, one of the highest in the state. Unless council is lobbied by residents, the council will likely vote to amend the ordinance setting that rate, as it did the last time a portion of the sales tax was set to expire. If you think the sales tax is too high, complaining about it on social media will do little good, unless you also direct your complaint to city council members as they are the ones who will either let it expire or vote to amend the ordinance to keep it in place.

Downtown Vacancies

 Took a walk along S. Illinois this week and noted that the vacancy rate in storefronts north of West College is almost zero, with the recently shuttered Hangar 9 and Stix the only empty locations in the area. South of West College is a different story with at least 8 empty storefronts in the area between College and Mill. Due to the steps leading to them, it will be very hard to fill the empty locations behind Trax as most customers will not want to climb the steps to get to them.

Christmas

 Given the kickoff to the season in Carbondale that the Lights Fantastic parade provides, the city and local organizations should take advantage of that attention with a "Christmas in Carbondale" or some similar page listing all of the Christmas related events taking place in the city through the season. Something similar to Carbondale Halloween, making the city's downtown a focus of Christmas related activities.