Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Lillina Adams Memorial
Longtime Carbondale resident and activist for progressive causes (over 65 years) Lillian Adams died last Saturday at the age of 96. There will be a Memorial Service for Lillian on February 8 at 2 PM at the Unitarian Fellowship in Carbondale. Her family invites everyone to attend and celebrate her life. Also please visit the Lillian Adams memorial site:
http//lillianadams.blogspot.com
(info courtesy of the Arbor District mailing list)
http//lillianadams.blogspot.com
(info courtesy of the Arbor District mailing list)
Labels: Arbor District, Carbondale
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Arbor District Meeting
The Arbor District is hosting a meeting regarding several assaults that have taken place in the area in the past few weeks. Details from the email are below:
An armed robbery was followed several days later by a sexual assault in the same area of our neighborhood.You are invited to a neighborhood meeting Thursday night, Jan 29, 7 PM to discuss what we can do to assure a safe neighborhood. The City Manager Allen Gill and Police Chief Grubbs will be attending the meeting.
The meeting will at St Francis Xavier Church corner of Poplar and Walnut, lower level community room.
Questions and suggestions contact Sandy Litecky, 203 2527 or s.litecky@mchsi.com
Labels: Arbor District, crime
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Jane Adams Weighs In
Jane Adams from the Arbor District sent out this email regarding the rental inspection fee:
Here is a note from Jane Adams about the delay in the licensing fee-
I'm extremely puzzled about the delay in voting on the licensing fee that the City Manager just announced. If you'll recall, last March 15, during the election campaign, Brad Cole promised that such a fee would be included in this year's budget. It wasn't, and only appeared months later -- after the City Manager brought forward a tax increase that included a provision to give SIU a million dollars a year for the next 20 years. That proposal, you will recall, had only one evening for discussion and vote. It was notable for the lack of detail that one would expect from a professional staff.
The City Manager has had ample time to have developed a solid proposal for licensing rental property. All interested parties have known for months that such a proposal was to come forward and have had plenty of time for comment. There was no substantive opposition to the proposal at the last City Council meeting, aside from two landlords indicating that, while they supported better code enforcement, they didn't want to pay for it.
The City has surveyed other towns in the state and presumably made a reasoned judgement that the proposal they developed was best suited to our situation.
We have a City Manager form of government so that the professional staff can develop sound recommendations that our elected representatives can then support. Is the delay an indication that our staff lacks this competence? Or are other forces at work to scuttle this proposal through inserting language that would so weaken it that it would not be enforcible? When taken in the context of the 10 years since the passage of the ordinance requiring inspection of rental properties every three years (Ord. 93-73, Section 4-4-16), and of the City Manager's inability or refusal to implement that ordinance over the same 10 year period, a reasonable person would suspect that one or the other is causing this delay.
If in fact the proposed ordinance is strengthened and improved - while it demonstrates a lack of competence in our professional staff - I have no problem with the delay. However, we should be inclined to look at the proposed changes with a very keen eye, and perhaps seek legal counsel on whether the changes might make it unenforceable.
Jane
Labels: Arbor District, City council
Saturday, August 25, 2007
Yard Sales
For some stuff non-tax related for a change, the Arbor District is having a slew of yard sales today with three on West Elm and 2 on South Springer and others scattered on various streets. Stop at any one of them and you can pick up a list of addresses for the others. The Bucky Dome at West Elm and West Cherry is having a fund raiser for the dome, with cd's, t-shirts and Dymaxion Sundaes (Fuller's favorite dessert) for sale.
Also, there's a big yard sale at the pavilion in the Town Square. Lot of furniture when I was there yesterday.
Also, there's a big yard sale at the pavilion in the Town Square. Lot of furniture when I was there yesterday.
Labels: Arbor District, downtown Carbondale, things to do
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Another Letter on the Sales Tax
Michael Norrington, a resident of the Arbor District but one not in agreement with Jane Adams and the AD board, writes to the DE.
Labels: Arbor District, Daily Egyptian, taxes
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Jane Adams Responds to the DE
Jane Adams, an Arbor District board member, saw the coverage of the tax proposal in today's Daily Egyptian and sent out this email:
Today's Daily Egyptian has extensive coverage of the proposed city sales tax increase and the donation to SIU for Saluki Way. I am astounded at some of the claims being made:
Coach Jerry Kill is quoted as saying, "Jerry Kill's future is on that vote. I'll be fired."
Another story states [Saluki quarterback Nick] Hill joined many top university officials, including SIU President Glenn Poshard and Chancellor Fernando Trevino, in celebrating the recent proposal for Carbondale to help fund the first phase of Saluki Way."
The DE editorial writes, "There is no turning back -- curtailing Saluki Way is no longer an option. The request for this tax is tantamount to its demand." [emphasis added]
Meanwhile, SIU alumnus Kyle Englert wrote a letter suggesting repairs to the Stadium and the Arena that have long been discussed, and that the new student fees are adequate to pay for.
I don't understand who created the proposal that the City of Carbondale pay for a state institutions' capital project, but the rhetoric in the DE is extreme. The last I heard, we are a democracy and the elected representatives of the voters, or the voters through a referendum, decide on whether or not they will tax themselves.
Jerry Kill has a Carterville address.
Glenn Poshard has a Carterville address.
Fernando Trevino's address is not yet in the directory, but I doubt he lives in Carbondale.
Rebel Pinkston, who wrote in the Southern supporting the gift to SIU, and who is quoted in the DE, lives outside Carbondale at 29 Easthaven Drive (1/2 mi. east of Reed Station Rd., .4 mi. north of Ill 13, almost on the Williamson County line)
None of these people were able to vote for our City Council, including our mayor.
Further, Brad Cole ran on a platform of "keep[ing] costs down and slow[ing] the expansion of government." http://www.teambrad.com/html/plan.html Nowhere in his detailed plan does he even hint that he might ask the City to pay for a major capital project at the University.
There may be good arguments for the City paying for a new facility for a state institution. However, the case -- put forward primarily by people who do not vote in Carbondale -- has clearly not been made.
As several people have written, the new tax and its allocation to SIU should be subject to a referendum, so all its pros and cons can be hashed out.
Labels: Arbor District, Daily Egyptian, siu, taxes
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