Meet the candidates

Thanks to City Council candidates Lance Jack and Chris Wissmann, you'll have a final opportunity to meet and mix with them and other candidates at a potluck supper tonight at the Interfaith Center starting at 7:00 pm. The food will be provided by the candidates, and undecided voters can make their decision based on the quality of the food the Council-hopefuls provide. One candidate is making a serious bid for my vote with "shrimp Creole-- from scratch. No mixes, no premade crap, no frozen anything, all fresh ingredients," and his wife is "making a cheesecake. No mixes, no premade crap, no frozen anything, all fresh ingredients."

Will other candidates be bringing premade crap with stale ingredients? Come to the IFC tonight and find out.

POOL Resources

I hope Madeline Stalls shows up at the Candidate Mixer. I want to ask her about having 3 swimming pools in Carbondale at the following locations: 1) on the soccer field property on Sunset Drive; 2) on the Attucks Park property; and 3) on the old high school football field or tennis courts. Why not? A pool would enhance the value of the property in all these locations, plus make Carbondale a more attractive place to live. Two too many? Then one on the old high school fields, since it's the most central. Supposedly the School Board will be selling the property to the highest bidder in May. Is it out of the question to donate a portion of it to POOL (People Organized against Only Lakes) or the Carbondale Park District for use as a public outdoor swimming pool?

POOL circulated a petition late last year that hundreds of people signed. Enough to warrant a serious feasibility study into an alternative (or supplement) to the planned Water Park on the Superblock, which is a good idea, but for an entirely different target market. POOL is seeking to create neighborhood recreational facilities, not a tourist attraction. Will it succeed? We'll know in a few weeks. Maybe it's not too late to save some land for the children, the poor little children who have no place to swim except warm lakes miles out of town. Let's hope the School Board takes the plunge and votes for the diving board. Why not?