Curbside Tasting

Curbside Bar and Grill will hold a tasting/open house from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. tonight.  No cost and the blues group Well Well Wells will play as well, well, wells.  Took a look around this evening and the place has undergone extensive remodeling with two pool tables added as well as a card room cum lounge in the back.

State Of The City

Sitting in at the annual State of the City Address.

Speech just ended after about 56 minutes.

Mayor asking people to join any of the sixteen committees that the city has: planning, sustainability, human relations etc.

Inviting attendees to visit new design center in the Old Train Depot.

Getting much more cooperation from IDOT recently, i.e. Bike routes and crosswalk out by university mall.
Mayor indicates that he hears from businesses that city is not business friendly and from residents that the city is too business friendly.

 So far, the mayor has given reasons for keeping the portion of the sales tax devoted to paying off CCHS bonds in place and raising the sales tax some more to:

Coven required payments to city pensions
Repair the town square pavilion
Repair the greenway bike path
Renovate the Varsity Center for the Arts

Expect the west side fire department to open in January. The emergency service department will move out to the city hall basement to the new fire station son after.

Do have to wonder why Director of Public Safety Sean Henry wanted to give his background in his presentation?

City manager Baity is now talking about planned bike paths.

93% of city residents are participating in the electric aggregation program.  Average household savings are $68.

Now talking about new businesses that have moved or relocated in town. Half a dozen new business have opened in University Mall and another two dozen or so throughout town.


Chancellor Chang and Baity are meeting regularly to discuss how to use the school of architecture and Paul Simon Public Policy Institute, and other university resources, to help redevelop downtown .  Hopefully Carbondale Main Street involved in theses discussions.

Snow Routes

Here's a link to the snow route map for Carbondale. Red marked streets are cleared first, then green marked ones.  The city will tackle streets unmarked on the map only after those two are in good shape.  I was slightly bothered to see so much effort put into incremental clearings of Main and Illinois when there were so many side streets that shell has ice and snow coverings.

City Hall Closing

Due to the weather, City Hall closes at noon today:

In view of deteriorating weather conditions, Carbondale City Hall will close at 12:00 (noon) today, December 6, 2013. City Hall offices will reopen on Monday, December 9, 2013 at 8:00 a.m.

The Police Department, Fire Department, and Public Works will continue to operate.

Lights Fantastic Parade Cancelled

According to this post on Facebook, tomorrow's Lights Fantastic Parade has been canceled and will not be rescheduled for  to the following reasons:

rescheduling isn't an option due to various factors, including paperwork with IDOT, SIU graduation next week, etc. the city used brining solution on sidewalks and streets before the sleet started, and we have many other steps to ensure a safe and enjoyable 23rd Annual Lights Fantastic Parade!

There may be a float viewing next Saturday though. 

Kia Dealership

Just noticed that Ward Chrysler Kia has opened a Kia exclusive dealership in the empty dealership complex on San Diego Road east of Carbondale.  Since that spot has sat empty ever since the Honda/Kia dealership there decamped for Marion, it is good to see another business open there, especially since I believe it falls within Carbondale city limits, generating more sales tax for the city.

Updated to correct the previous delaership as noted in the comments.

Update:  According to an email,  the dealership property was annexed by  Carterville after a lawsuit.

City Council Meeting

City Council meeting tonight at 7 p.m.  Should be a short meeting as the only things on the agenda are a hearing on an annexation agreement and the consent agenda.  Of course, never underestimate the ability of the city council to stretch out what should be a short meeting into a multi-hour one.