Polar Bear

 With the shuttering of Pinch Penny, Polar Bear apparently died a quiet death this year. For about a decade, on the last weekend of January, Carbondale would see an influx of students and others converge on Pinch Penny for drink specials all weekend. Other bars would host competing events (Puck Finch) and the Grand Avenue area would fill with drunk students, and others. One year, it got so bad the Univeristy set up a hydration/first aid station at the coner of Grand and Wall. None of the other bars in town appear to have th space or inclination to carry on Polar Bear.

I did note a couple of large house parties the weekend before in the Unviersity/Poplar street area the weekend before with 'caution" tape up and lots of broken glass covering the road on S. Beveridge Street the morning after.

Outside Advisors

 I have noticed both the city and Univeristy tend to hire outside advisors when making decisions like this.  the city also hired an outside firm to design the new city logo and, under Rita Cheng, the university hired an outside marketing firm to advise in the rebranding and marketing of SIUC. Only thing that came out of that initiative was some banners along the streets on campus.

Always bemused me that neither the city nor the administration  make  more use of the people and departments on campus. SIUC has some very qualified desingers and resarchers and an entired department of amrketing that the administrations could take advantage of but nope, got to an outside firm instead.

Town Square Music

 It would appear that bright lights and loud music do very liitle to move away the people who congregate on the town square around the fountain during most of the year. WArm nights you can hear the music from a block away and people still congregate there.

Tipping

 The Economist has an interesting story on tipping in today's economy. Tipping is common in the US, India and much of Africa but frowned upon throughout Europe, where a service harce is added in lieu of a tip, and Asia. Research shows that customers tip about the same, whether the service is good or poor. They also are a good way for the recipient to avoid taxes, as cash times are often not reported, although, as credit cards have become far more common, the tip paid on a credit card does get reported.

If you are a young female Uber driver, between ages of 21-25, and have a male customer, your tip will be roughly 8 times as large as if you were a young male driver with a male customer. The amount a male drive gets tips stays pretty flat the older they get ,while a female driver's tips drop significantly the older she is. Race comes into play when drivers get tipped, too, as black drivers get tipped about 7% less than white drivers do.

TIF District

 In case you were wanting more information about a TIF district and its purposes, here is a Q&A from the city on the topic. Given that the city plans to expand TIF districts into a number of residential parts of the city, this might be handy information to have.

City Council Meeting

 In order to mitigate thThe city council will meet next Tuesday night via Zoom. You can also watch the meeting on the city's Facebook page.

Here are the major items on the agenda:

 Ordinance Authorizing the Issuance of the 2022 G.O. Bonds to Fully Fund the Carbondale Police Pension and Carbondale Fire Pension in an Amount Not to Exceed $42,500,000

 

Approve an Agreement with Arndt Municipal Support to Provide Consulting Services to Administer American Rescue Plan Act Funds

The Carbondale City Council will hold a remote access meeting utilizing Zoom at 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday, January 25, 2022.

 

Due to the High Transmission Rate of COVID Throughout the Region and State, the Continuation of the Governor's Disaster Declaration, and City Council's Determination that an In-Person Meeting Is Not Currently Practical or Prudent, this meeting is being conducted remotely.

 

The agenda for the meeting is attached. To view the agenda and attachments in their entirety, please visit this link:  http://www.boarddocs.com/il/coc/Board.nsf/Public  

 

Citizens who wish to access the meeting by audio only:   

Dial in at +1 (312) 626-6799     Meeting ID  931 2022 3265   Pass Code: 131623

 

Citizens can attend this meeting at: 
https://zoom.us/j/93120223265?pwd=a0NFTmFZL1FiSmNKZFpqeWl2T0hvUT09

 

Loitering Sign and Alcohol

The city has posted a "No Loitering" sign on the Old Train Depot pavilion. I know during warmer weather the city does patrol the area, especially looking for people hanging around the pavilion with open containers of alcohol. Not sure how the deisgnation of the downtown area as an "entertainment district" will affect that. After all, as far as I can tell, the ordinance allows anyone within the district to wander around carrying open cups of alcohol whith no way to indicate if they got it from a local bar or brought it from elsewhere. I have seen other cities pas similar ordinances but they also created a special "outdoor" cup that the bars in the distribut would use for alcohol that patrons wanted to take off the premises. That was, other bar owners and the police would know that the berr had been purchased within the district and not brought in from elsewhere.