West Sycamore

West Sycamore is still torn up for about a five block stretch, along with a couple of blocks of sidewalks.  The city stopped work on this prior to IDOT's resurfacing work on West Main and I have seen no sign of work taking up again on it since then. Although drivable, the street is certainly rough, especially on the south side and the sidewalks under repair are nothing but dirt and gravel.

Seems like an awfully long time to put a street repair project on hiatus.

Bike Lane 2

The stretch of road in Carbondale that really needs a bike lane is the 2 block section of Poplar that runs betwix Main and Walnut.  Poplar serves as the major artery of transportation for those living in the near Northwest section of Carbondale to get to SIUC. The residential area north of Main has low enough traffic flow that bicyclists can move along the streets with safety, while Poplar south of Walnut has bike lanes on both sides of the street.

It is only that one short section of the street where both two wheeled and four wheels drivers funnel towards the university that is not relatively safe.  I regularly see bicyclists riding on the sidewalk (illegally) and cars swerving unnervingly close to bicyclists traversing that stretch.

I do not know if regulations regarding the width of roadways would allow part of the street to be marked off as bike lanes.  Widening the street to allow lanes is not an option, as there is very little setback of private property from the street.  Maybe the city could at least paint "sharrows" on the street, as Cape Girardeau has done on some streets.

Bike Lane

Noticed that the recent resurfacing of West Main has included a bike lane on the north side of the street.  Given the number of people I see biking along West Main and cars either swerving or slowing down to avoid them, this is a good addition to the street.

Unfortunately, I am not certain how much use the lane will ultimately prove as it peters out half a block west of the intersection of Main and University, forcing bicyclists to merge back into westbound traffic

Tree Sale

In case you are looking for fall plantings:

A one-day sale of trees and other native perennials will be held on Saturday, October 5 from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Carbondale’s Murdale Shopping Center.  Once again, Green Earth and Keep Carbondale Beautiful are teaming up to make it easier for property owners to plant natives, all from Forrest-Keeling Nursery.  Experts will be on hand to advise shoppers on best practices.

Halloween Ball

Looks as if the weekend of October 26 will be quite busy:

The WDBX Halloween Costume Ball will be October 26th, from 7-11pm, at the Garden Grove Event Center (formerly Sportsblast) in Carbondale. Tickets are $30 each, with large group discounts available. The Well Well Wells and Hobo Knife will perform, and we will also have a costume contest with prizes. Tickets are available at Arnold's Market, the Neighborhood Co-Op, Dayshift, Plaza-Wuxtry Records, Navreet Kang Insurance, and online at http://www.brownpapertickets.com. All proceeds will benefit WDBX 91.1 FM.

Trick or Treat Hours

Looks as if hours for Trick or Treating (or as I used to call it "extortion by the cut") will take place from 5 p.m to 8 p.m. on Oct. 31:

Mayor Joel Fritzler has proclaimed Thursday, October 31, from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m. as the official "Trick-or-Treat" hours for Carbondale children.
The Mayor is encouraging residents to indicate their willingness to welcome the children by keeping on their porch and exterior lights. He also urges that "Trick-or-Treaters" wear reflective tape or clothing and encourages parents to check all treats for potentially harmful objects.
Mayor Fritzler and the members of the City Council ask for the cooperation of all citizens in making this a happy and safe occasion for our community.

No word yet on when Trick or Treating on main Street, Murdale Shopping Center or at the Mall will take place but I would expect them to take place on Oct. 26th as typically these events take place the Saturday before Halloween  It also appears the group behind "Unofficial Halloween" has set Oct 25 and 26 and the dates for this years events.

It will certainly be intersting to see how the elimination of the requirement that bars on the southern end of Illinois close during Halloween affects turnout.

Reopenings

Both Melange and Club TwoThirteen have reopened in recent weeks, Melange under new management and Club TwoThirteen apparently under the previous management.

It will be interesting to see what each one does differently.  They apparently did not do well enough following their previous marketing strategies to remain viable so doing the same thing again will probably wind up with the same results.  One possible change for Melange would be removing the wall the previous management put up surrounding the patio. While it did block people on the patio from having to see the Strip and the people on it, it also prevented people walking along the Strip from seeing people eating on Melange's patio and enjoying themselves and considering doing it themselves.