Numbers and plans looks good for Carbondale's future

After reviewing highlights from the past year that included forming a partnership between the City of Carbondale and Southern Illinois University Carbondale to help develop and finance SIUC building projects, finding new ways to help people buy homes and resurfacing neighborhood streets, Mayor Brad Cole looked to the future with a simple rhetorical question - "Where are we going?"

Some of Cole's new proposals involve active participation from the Carbondale Chamber of Commerce.

Those proposals include:

l Creation of a Futures program that will co-mingle city and private enterprise money for the employment and training of high school students in local businesses.

l Retrofitting businesses with methods and technologies to conserve energy and save money.

The mayor also talked numbers when he looked toward the future.

He wants to see the city attain at least $350 million in new building permits during his second term of office. The city has reached $225 million in new construction since Cole took office four years earlier.

And Carbondale has its set its sights on growing. Cole said civic leaders have set a target population by the 2020 Census to reach a 30,000 population. That means 4,000-person growth over the next 12 years that averages to about 350 new citizens a year.

- Scott Fitzgerald