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Mayor Brad Cole believes in second chances.
Cole gave his state of the city adress Tuesday and before it was over, he announced a donation of the vacated Varsity Theatre by current owners, Kerasotes Theatres. The facility would receive its own second chance and become a new home for local visual arts organizations.
The announcement sent the crowd, including city officials, City Council members and university administrators such as SIU President Glenn Poshard into thunderous applause. Cole said the theatre would be renamed the Varsity Arts Center, and it would put groups such as Carbondale Community Arts and The Stage Company back in the spotlight.
Councilman Chris Wissmann said once renovated, the theatre would be like an anchor store for downtown Carbondale. Though it has received new electrical and mechanical systems from the Kerasotes family, the arts center would need new office space, community rooms and staging areas before opening its doors once again.
But the theatre is only part of Cole's new goal of seeing $1 billion spent in construction projects by 2020.
The last four years of construction projects in Carbondale have a combined total of $225 million, which is one of the reasons lifelong Carbondale resident and Councilman Steven Haynes said this goal is achievable.
"(Cole) has made some bold statements ... he's a very forward thinking individual," Haynes said.
At the end of the same speech in 2006, Cole took the opportunity to announce his bid for re-election and received a standing ovation. This year, Cole received a second ovation for what he had to say about the city's future and what policies he would like to pursue.
"It's obvious the community is behind that, so I'm thankful," he said.
Amongst all of the second chances, Cole unveiled a pilot program that may be the first of its kind.
Cole said he would propose a $25,000 grant program for 16- and 17-year-olds in the community to be trained and employed in the Carbondale workforce. The program would be run by the Chamber of Commerce to identify students wanting to join the workforce, but not necessarily go to college.
"The bottom line is that we need to develop young workers. And we can't wait until they're out of college because a lot of young people don't go to college," Cole said.
The grant program was not the only issue involving Carbondale's younger population Cole spoke about. From a recommendation by the Intervention Task Force, Cole said the city should tap into social networks online such as MySpace or Facebook to broadcast messages about safety, housing, criminal activity and community events to college-aged residents.
Cole used Tuesday's speech as an opportunity to recognize his relationships with surrounding area mayors and soon to retire City Manager Jeff Doherty. He also showed support for Poshard after recent plagiarism accusations.
Cole - who acknowledged he has more conservative views - said even though he and Poshard may not agree at the ballot box, the two could not agree more with the direction Carbondale and SIUC are headed.
"I am for whatever is best for southern Illinois and Southern Illinois University, and he's sitting right there," he said.
Daily Egyptian writer Barton Lorimor can be reached at 536-3311 ext. 274 or barton.lorimor@siude.com.
