Chamber Gets National Recognition

From an email sent out by the chamber of commerce:

A program designed to urge area residents to complete their holiday shopping in Southern Illinois has garnered national recognition.

            Shop Southern Illinois, a cooperative effort of 17 area chambers of commerce, placed second in the third annual national Chamber Innovation Award Competition, a program which celebrates and shares inventive ideas from chambers across the nation. Nearly 100 entries were received from Chamber organizations in the United States and Canada. Awards were announced Wednesday at the annual conference of the Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives held in Savannah, Ga.

            Shop Southern Illinois featured a website where area residents could learn some of the reasons why it is important for Southern Illinoisans to shop locally and where they could take an online pledge to do most of their own holiday shopping in the region. By making the pledge, participants were entered in weekly drawings to win prizes which were donated by businesses.

A full marketing plan supported the program. Local and regional media ran promotions as public service announcements free of charge. The campaign included television and radio commercials featuring Southern Illinois University Men’s Basketball Head Coach Barry Hinson, who urged area residents: “Don’t cross the river and don’t go online. Do your holiday shopping right here, where we all win.”

Southern Illinois Chambers cooperating for the effort included Benton/West City, Carbondale, Carmi, Carterville, Chester, DuQuoin, Hamilton County, Herrin, Jefferson County, Marion, Metropolis, Murphysboro, Nashville, Pinckneyville, Saline County, Union County, and West Frankfort.

“It’s very exciting to have our Shop Southern Illinois program recognized on a national scale,” said Les O’Dell, executive director of the Carbondale Chamber of Commerce. “The effort is the ultimate in regional cooperation -- 17 chambers and businesses all over the region all working together with one goal: making area residents mindful of the importance of supporting our own communities and region.”

Area Chamber leaders plan to continue the two-year-old program in 2016 and are pledging to use the $500 cash prize from the competition as prize money for this year’s Shop Southern Illinois campaign.

The contest was sponsored by Minnesota-based ChamberMaster, a company that provides membership database software to Chambers of Commerce.

Bike Path

The bike path connecting the town square to campus, meaning that downtown cyclists will no longer have to ride on sidewalks on on heavily trafficked Illinois or Unverstity Avenue, is coming along nicely. This shot is taken looking north from College St. Currently, the concrete strip extends from the Square all the way to College.

Small Town Illinois

The Southern has a good piece looking at the economies of Alto Pass, Makanda and Cobden. Of the three, Cobden is the only one that is self-sustaining. Residents of Cobden do not need to leave the community in order to procure the basics of today's lifestyle, though the town does not offer a great selection.  Cobden has the Dollar General and a gas station, which provide a selection of products and fuel for residents.  Alto Pass has Grammer's Market, which provides the selection of products but has no gas station, while Makanda, "The Valley of the Arts", has neither, with residents having to drive to Carbondale to shop.

The ability of residents to travel both allows these small communities to survive and at the same time prevents them from growing.  Residents of all three communities can easily get to Carbondale to work, meaning they can have an income while still living in a small town. However, it also makes it easier to leave town to shop, meaning there is little incentive for more stores to move into the community.

Food and Beverage Tax Forum

Quite a few restaurant and package liquor owners showed up for the Chamber of Commerce's meeting yesterday to discuss the new tax on prepared food and alcohol sales in Carbondale. Money raised by the tax will go to fund police and fire department pensions as well as downtown revitalization projects.

Most of those in attendance agreed with Mayor Henry, after an explanation, that the city needed more money to pay those costs, though a few advocated looking for the always popular "waste" in city expenses. Two major concerns were advanced by attendees:

1) Carbondale would have the highest tax on food and alcohol in the state, and possibly in the nation.
2) The tax is unfair, in that it targets a specific class of businesses, rather than spreading the cost out citywide, as an increase in the overall sales tax would do.

Mayor Henry said an overall increase had been considered but shelved due to complaints by sellers of higher ticket items such as furniture and cars, as increases in the sales tax on those items would raise the price significantly more than would the increase in tax on a dinner. However, he aid the council would go back and take another look at a sales tax as well as other options for the food and beverage tax, such as a graduated introduction.

Several restaurant owners, as well as the Chamber, said they had received a number of messages and complaints about the tax, with customers threatening to take their business to lower taxed restaurants in Carterville, Marion and Murphysboro. The extra time this would consume however, makes this pretty unlikely. Carbondale's population doubles during the day and those people who come to town to work are not going to take the time to drive to another city to save the tax. 

First Officer Shot in Over 45 Years

Officer Trey Harris was the first Carbondale police officer shot in over 45 years.  The last time it happened was during a shoot-out by officers with members of the Black Panther Party back in 1970. The gun battle between the two groups took place at a house in the 400 block of North Washington and lasted over 2 hours.

Saluki Pride Pawprints

If you find your self driving around Carbondale this Sunday morning, keep an eye out for the Saluki Pride pawprint painters. Members of the Carbondale Chamber of Commerce Saluki Pride Committee and members of the SIUC football and volleyball teams start repainting the pawprints around town at 6 a.m.  two Sunday mornings out of the year. Two teams were out painting last Sunday and another two expect to finish the job this Sunday.

Saturday Wreck

Two car accident about 4:30 p.m last Saturday at the corner of Main and Illinois. From video of the accident, it appears the overturned truck heading north on Illinois ran a red light in front of 3 cars heading west on Main. It managed to avoid the two cars in the south and middle lanes but not the one in the north lane. The truck's occupants and driver of the car were all hospitalized with at least, according to the Southern, one person killed.