Since Peter the Great is moving this summer, I want to get busy making Carbondale a better place before he leaves. I was hoping he'd like the mural incentive idea, but, judging from the lack of comments, no one did, although murals have transformed and beautified other cities -- and downtown Carbondale needs help, not only economically (Mr. Colebychev tear out those parking meters!) but aesthetically.
I had a chance to ask Mayor Cole about the possibility of a mural incentive yesterday, but he just said that it would be expensive. He also said that City Council recently authorized a 50 foot mural on the east side of the tracks at the Amtrak station at the last Council meeting. Excuse me, but that will benefit train travelers more than city dwellers. Why not spread those thousands around to 30 murals instead of one?
Or is it possible -- and desirable to have both?
Speaking of desirable, I read The Secret while I was in Portland's Powell's Books last week. Do you know The Secret? Is it possible for an entire town to use it?
2 comments:
The parking meters are a more complicated issue then you might think. An informal survey of the Illinois Ave. business owners (that I conducted), 5 years ago revealed that they like the meters. If they don't have meters, there is no parking because of SIU's parking issues.
I guess as you get further North, the students wouldn't want to walk that far? Wonder where the cut off is? PK's? Town Square?
I wonder what the Carbondale Main Street position is on meters? I'm guess they still feel they are beneficial to their customers.
I wonder when the last time the parking meter cost-benefit was examined.
You're right about a cut off point. City Hall?
I wonder what it would take to have the meters on the street removed on Washington and Jackson Streets. Or maybe extend the free time limit (and increase the fine a buck). Maybe someone else can come up with a better way. It didn't seem fair to downtown businesses 20-30 years ago that mall businesses had free parking. Would City Council vote to level the playing field?
Is there existing research performed by one of the business or planning organizations? Seems like there should be.
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