1. People who live in Georgetown (or anywhere else west of the County Market and Hy-Vee on East Jackson Street) will no longer have to drive all the way through freakin’ town to grab a gallon of milk.
According to Tri States Public Radio’s story, the city has loaned close to $100,000 to the future owners of Jackson Street Market, which will be not in the former Thompson Food Basket—that’s been occupied by a megachurch for the last couple of years—but across the street in what I would call a….Morton-Building-type-mini-mall. The proposed location is 1601 W. Jackson (in what was Brenner’s Furniture).
So: are y’all psyched? Will you shop there? (And perhaps more importantly for those on the west side of town…will this place get a liquor license?)
[See items 2 and 3 below, after the Google Maps location image]
Jackson Street Market location
2. We’re part of a region suffering from a “B.A. divide”—and the separation between people who have a bachelor’s degree and people who do not is getting more dramatic, according this blog, where you can see a map tracking the increasing separation. (If you’re interested in this topic, also be sure to check out some of the entries by Timothy Collins, who works for a center housed at WIU. Also, tell me if you agree that perhaps they shoulda used different colors for the states on the map, connotations-wise, than red and blue…)
And finally,
3. It turns out I am not the only one who feels frustrated when the sidewalks roll up at dusk. As you know from reading this blog, I like to gripe about how Macomb could do better at offering things downtown for shoppers and eater-outers, especially considering that there are thousands of students here (and they have suburban parents who visit them). According to the results of a recent survey conducted by WIU students, the majority of respondents would also like business owners on the square to acknowledge that some people actually shop and do things after, like, 10 o’clock in the morning:
Most notably… 80 percent of the respondents indicated they think businesses should stay open past 5 p.m.
Yeah! Boo-yah! That’s what I’m talkin’ ’bout. (So, um….Chamber, are you on this now? Or whoever else is supposed to make that kind of stuff happen? Thanks.)
On a somewhat related note: I had the opportunity to spend some time in the lovely little town of Galena (Ill.) this past weekend with C-Nor and some of my college friends. As we were walking around on the last day of October, taking in the sunshine and the movie-set feel of that historically preserved city, I couldn’t shake this weird feeling, and finally realized what it was—I was in a small town, going in and out of businesses, on a Sunday afternoon. Not only were there businesses to go to, but they were open.
So, you ask, does everything in life have to be about consuming? Is shopping and eating out the most important thing in a community?
Well good question, you.
I thought this over after we drove back down to Macomb with our candy corn (from the old-timey candy store) in tow, with thoughts of Galena’s vintage toy store and nothing-but-socks store (um, yeah) and Abe Lincoln and U.S. Grant dancing in my head. And my answer is that no, shopping ain’t everything. But having lots of stores and restaurants, and a historic site or two—and having them open on a Sunday afternoon—leads to people (and their dogs and strollers) walking around downtown on a sunny day. And that, always, is more hope-filled and less depressing than things like this.
Fred Iutzi 
JT 
Craig 
Jeff 
nate the GREAT 
Alison 
Twaddle 
Scott 
Dave Dorsett 
DanA 
You’re kidding. What the hell is going on back there??
Do Not Like.