Polar Bear

This year's Polar Bear event appeared fairly quiet, though there was a heavy police presence. I drove out by the area on East Grad about 10 p.m. Saturday night and the sidewalks and lots were full. Winston's Bagels appeared doing a steady business as did Don Taco and I counted 3 police vehicles passing the area within as many minutes.  I did hear a report of pepper grenades requested alter in the evening, but whether they were used or not, I don't know. The crime map for the weekend does show a number of events in the area.

Compared to that area, the Strip was dead, in spite of the assorted "Puck Finch" events. Fat patties, Stix and Pags were all pretty empty, though I did see a small crowd at Sidetracks. It will be interesting to find out how booked the hotels were this year.

City Council Meeting

The city council meets tonight at 7 p.m.  Not a lot on the agenda but I expect what is on there to produce a lot of discussion.  Up after the warrants is the contract for funding between the city and the reconstituted Convention and Tourism Bureau (Notice:  I sit on the board).  The board is requesting $75,000 from the city in order to have funds to hire both an interim and a permanent executive director for the CCTB as well as pay outstanding bills.  Once the CCTB has this amount on hand, it can then request matching funds from the state.  The major sticking point in the contract is likely the city's stipulation that the CCTB have a fully functioning website up and running within 90 days.  While the CCTB does have a website, and its functionality was one of the complaints laid against the previous CCTB, getting it to the level stipulated by the city in the contract within 90 days would be pretty difficult.

Next on the agenda is an ordinance allowing video poker terminals, and similar games that pay out free games or credits redeemable for cash, in establishments that have a liquor license.  I think we will see a lot of discussion on this but that it will pass.

Water and sewer fee updates are again on the agenda as well as approving a feasibility study expanding the TIF district to include more of downtown.  I expect that one to pass with minimal discussion.

Tourism part 13

In case you missed the city council meeting last night, and from the number of empty seats, a lot of people did, the Council spent 2 hours discussing what do do about the lack of a tourism bureau and eventually decided ask City Manager Kevin Baity and city staff to recreate the Convention and Tourism Bureau in such a form that the newly reconstituted entity retains certification and the $60,000 grant from the state.  Council directed Baity to have a proposal ready for the next council meeting but since that is August 7, the August 21 meeting date is more likely.  Under state law, Baity would only have 48 hours to hammer out a contract in order to get it posted with enough advanced notice for the August 7 meeting.

Early on in the 2 hour meeting, Chris Wissmann strongly advanced reasons for turning over tourism duties in toto to Southernmost Illinois but the weight of the rest of the council was against him.  Corine McDaniels pushed strongly for reconstituting the existing bureau under city control with the organization committing to assume the roughly $30,000 in debt accumulated by the old Bureau, which, if the discussion by the council carries through, will be retired by city funds.

The city reconstituting the Bureau is also contingent upon the members of the current BoT of the Bureau resigning, which interim executive director Richard Wright said would happen by the end of the week, with the exception of Councilman Wissmann. The seven people nominated to the board by Mayor Fritzler last April (note:  I am one of them), would then assume seats on the new board and start a search for a new executive director, likely first appointing another interim director.

The Carbondale Observer has some thoughts on the topic

More on CCTB Budget

If you missed it, the Carbondale Times has a breakdown of where the money goes for the Carbondale Convention and Tourism Bureau.  The CCTB's total budget runs a hair over $405,000 with most of that ($317,500) coming from the C'dale hotel/motel tax. The rest comes from the county, state and various grants. 

47% of that goes for salaries. Another 30% goes for insurance, administration, rent and technical support (which I assume includes the CCTB website). That leaves about 23% of the budget for promotional activities and special projects.  Since from what I see from the CCTB's strategic plan, most of its focus is on promoting Carbondale and the region, I would think a greater percentage of the budget would focus on those activities.

Mayor Fritzler's proposal to pull $120,000 from the CCTB budget would reduce the CCTB budget by 30%. According to CCTB executive director Debbie Moore, if this cut takes place, the Bureau would have to eliminate the following:

 --match a $37,500 U.S. Department of Agriculture grant to support the use of locally grown specialty crops.

-- a proposal to the  Illinois Office of Tourism for a tourism attraction development grant.

--cultural heritage partnership project  for a proposed single-day heritage festival in the city. Among event sites listed were the Varsity Center for the Arts and the Fuller Dome Home.

--community youth golf team and expanded efforts to bring Amateur Athletic Union tournaments to the park district's Hickory Ridge Public Golf Center.

--CCTB's  development of arts-centered marketing designed to bring cultural tourists to the city.

--New visitor guides

--Community contributions to Lights Fantastic Parade, July 4 fireworks display, and CMS Friday Night Fair

From what I see, if the proposed $120,000 cut goes through, the CCTB would, at least according to Executive Director Moore, cut almost all of its promotional activities, which is the primary reason for the organization's existance in the first place and rely on the Bureau's website for outreach and promotion.

Wine Tourism Impact

A blog reader pointed me towards this study on southern Illinois wine tourism published the fall of 2010, co-authored by Nicole Davis, the daughter of CCTB director Debbie Moore. 

There are a few interesting things in the paper. First is something that was left out.  I'm rather surprised to see no research on how wine tourists heard about the area, as that would give indications as to where local wineries, B&Bs and the CCTB could best spend advertising dollars to reach this comparatively high income group.

Secondly, out of town visitors split their time roughly equally between stays in hotels and bed and breakfasts while a surprisingly large number of local wine fanciers opt to book rooms in B&Bs or camp, skipping hotel lodging completely.  I'm not surprised that they are foregoing hotels, but rather at the large number that choose to stay in a B&B, rather than go home after visiting the winery.

City Council Meeting

Sat in on part of the city council meeting last night.  Missed the vote on the chicken ordinance but it passed, though with a limit of 20 licensed coops in the city at any one time.  Some of the details from the ordinance:

oops and enclosures must be covered in mesh, and they must be kept dry, clean, odor-free and in a sanitary manner.

- The odor of chicken waste must be contained to the property of the chicken owner. No more than three cubic feet of chicken waste may be stored on property at any one time. Composting of chicken waste is encouraged.

- Coops may not be located in side or front yards, and they must be at least 15 feet from the property line and 25 feet from neighboring residences.

- Coops must have at least 4 square feet of floor space but no more than 40 square feet. They must be at least 5 feet tall, but cannot be taller than 8 feet.

No indication who will handle inspection of the coops.

Discussion of funding of assorted community organizations took up the couple of hours of the meeting, with the main focus on Mayor Fritzler's proposal to pull $120,000 in funding from the Carbondale Convention and Tourism Bureau's and distribute it among other organizations, several of which had apparently been asked in January to present proposals for what they would do with additional funding.  Apprently, cutting the hotel/motel tax was not given consideration.

Councilwoman Jane Adams had a number of questions for Bureau Director Debbie Moore, most of which, of those I caught, concerned the Bureau's website. Adams appeared especially concerned that Moore devoted more time to her personal website than she did to the CCTVB's site and that Moore's website ranked higher in Google rankings than did the Bureau's.  Moore responded that the Bureau's website was under construction and appeared to take offense at Adams' questions regarding her personal website.  It does appear that the current version of the  Bureau's website is fairly recent, as the event calendar shows no events in the area prior to this month and several of the pages (favorite food events, camping, favorite grocery shops) are blank.

Mayor Fritzler cut off Adams' questioning before she had finished, appearing to want to give other council members time to ask questions of the CCTVB.  However, Councilpeople McDaniels, Monty, and Jack, preferred to make comments about the proposed shift in funding from the CCTVB.  All three were opposed, or at least concerned that not enough time had been devoted to the proposal.  Still seems there is acrimony between Fritzler and Jack as both men accused the other of interrupting him.

Several people got up to defend the CCTVB, includingformer mayoral candidate Sam Goldman, CCTVB Board chair Trace Brown (and owner of the Holiday Inn), and the manager of the Super 8, as well as a student in the SIUC Hospitality program, who spent much of his time behind the podium attacking Mayor Fritzler for stating on his official biography that his only goal as mayor was to help SIUC (it's not, you can read the whole thing here), then wanting to strip money away from CCTVB which would harm the Hospitality Management program at SIUC, and the organizer of a Marine reunion in Carbondale last year, who said the CCTVB had been quite helpful in organizing their reunion last year.

A couple of people, including me, got up to say that the CCTVB had not been particularly helpful in putting gone events in Carbondale (I have helped put on annual gaming conventions since the early 90s in Carbondale and have gotten little if any help over the years from the CCTVB, so am likely viewing the CCTVB with a jaundiced eye).  Had to leave soon after that, so am not sure what time the meeting wrapped up.

City Council Meeting

The City Council meets tomorrow night at 7 p.m.  Not a lot on the agenda, but I expect quite a few community organizations to show up to defend their various requests for funding.  The Convention and Tourism Bureau, which is funded by a hotel tax, some of which Mayor Fritzler has proposed directing into the city's general fund, has requested $317,500, more than all the other organizations combined

The other organizations requesting funding, including unsolicited requests of $40,000 from the Varsity Center for the Arts and $35,680 for Attucks Community Services, totaling, by my count, a bit less than $290,000.  I see a couple of interesting requests:  $9,900 for the I Can Read program, funding for which was removed then reinstated when former Mayor Brad Cole funded a summer reading program in conjunction with the Carbondale Elementary School, $1000 for the Spirit of Attucks annual school reunion, and $14,045 for Saluki Express, which was launched and is primarily funded by student fees but does provide transport throughout Carbondale.

I expect to hear the most discussion over the unsolicited requests from Varsity Center for the Arts and Attucks Community Services, as they account for roughly 25% of the requested non-Convention and Tourism Bureau funding.  I would expect Councilwoman McDaniels to argue strongly for restoring funding for Attucks Community Services as she has typically supported funding services the organization provides.

Convention and Tourism Bureau Move

Looks as if the Convention and Tourism Bureau has completed its move to the old Power Players building on South Illinois, just north of Kaya.  No signage out yet, though, so assume they are not officially open for business.