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Ciampoli to run for County Board

Collinsville city councilman, Lisa Ciampoli, has decided to run for the Madison County Board District 25 seat currently held by Eric Schuler of Granite City.

Here is her press release: 

"I am announcing I have filed to run for Madison County Board District 25, which includes the Northern part of Collinsville and the Arlington/Pontoon Beach areas East of Granite City.  I am running on a record of fiscal responsibility.  My voting record supports a fiscally responsible policy.  Serving on the county board, my major goal will be to work to develop a plan for bringing high paying jobs to Madison County.  The county has lost to many high paying union jobs over the last few years.  I will continue to serve the remainder of my term on the City Council of Collinsville, with the same dedication I have shown for the citizens of Collinsville over the last few years."

Donut vote

The Post-Dispatch's Joe Holleman has a list of places in the St. Louis area which make donuts and you can vote for your favorite. 

Kruta's Bakery in Collinsville is one of the choices.  Go and vote for Kruta's, the bakery with the best donuts around. 

Let Joe know St. Louis donut sellers can't hold a jelly donut to Kruta's.

Collinsville receives outstanding award

The East West Gateway Council of Governments has awarded Collinsville the "Outstanding Local Government Achievement Award" recognizing the extraordinary work of government organizations that have provided the highest level of leadership for projects that raise the bar and that provide a level of excellence, expertise and service. 

The award recognizes the city's unique effort in the implementation of "Lean Thinking" and its continuous improvement effort with its Process Improvement Events. 

The city will receive its award at the annual meeting of the East-West Gateway Council on November 13 at the Millennium Hotel in downtown St. Louis.

R.O.W.

Here's a look at the new survey stakes put in recently by IDOT workers on the east side of Vandalia (159).

Each stake had the letters R.O.W. printed on them.  Ah.  Right of Way

That's some R.O.W.

Hello R.O.W.  Good-bye sitting in the front yard or worse, good-bye lovely old homes. 

Now, admittedly, this may just be a practice run, just to see what taking more property on the east side of the road would like like.  Is there anyone in Collinsville who seriously wants to see this?

Drive a little further down and there goes the American Legion's new flag garden and helicopter.

More road work

Seems there is activity once again over the possibility of widening 159 in Collinsville.  This time things are getting annoying. 

Surveyors are out again, this time someone in the decision making process has decided to look into taking more property from the east side of Vandalia.  

Little orange survey flags are way back from the current road in our neighborhood and let me just say, we are not happy.

Do we really need this widening and all the trauma it is going to cause or could the state fix the awkward Main and 159 intersection and stop at that?

Expansion downtown

The other night Dale and I decided to have a meal at the 5th Quarter in downtown Collinsville.  After watching the renovations which had taken place at that spot the past year or so we wanted to see what it was like to eat out in the back patio. 

What we found was surprisingly roomy and very clean and fresh.  One side was filled with umbrella tables, the other with a wooden deck-like roof.  The inside was also roomy and new, but we wanted to eat outside.  Owners, Diana and Roger Schuerbaum could not have been nicer, or more attentive.

And today the Belleville paper mentions that the owners are planning another expansion, this time doubling the space as they prepare to knock down a wall separating them from the empty storefront next door. 

Seeing business flourishing downtown is great to see.  Kudos to the 5th Quarter for working to keep people visiting and coming back.

Collinsville Italian Fest 2009

Some scenes from the Italian Fest's opening day.

Crowds were heavy early in the evening and would get heavier as the night went on.

Micki (on the left) and her friends had fun during a three hour lunch out on Main Street.

While this doesn't look all that appealing in the photo, Bagna Cauda served with slices of Italian bread is hugely popular with fest goers.

Souvenirs and

more souvenirs

Selling stuffed olives, cheese sticks and Italian cookies

Mozzarella salad

The wine garden with lots of tables for patrons to sit and people watch.

Jenneane, the chairman of Good Shepherd Lutheran School's Italian grilled chicken sandwich booth, takes a break while talking with Dale and her husband who is a student at Concordia Seminary.

Believe it or not, this is the only recycling effort we could find at the Italian Fest, a cardboard box under the beer stand.  The Fest is a great event, one of the best of the year in the St. Louis area, but the lack of recycling for bottles, boxes and cups is very disappointing.

Italian Fest opens tomorrow

That's right.  The annual Collinsville Italian Fest runs Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. until 10 p.m.

25 years on Main Street, the Italian Fest brings brings 150,000 people to downtown to eat, listen to music, visit, watch the parade, compete in the 5K run and enjoy the Paisan Pedal Push bike ride late Saturday night.

Stands are operated by various civic groups which use the profits, after fees paid to help defray the costs of setting up the Italian fest, for their yearly activities and community projects.

The parade will begin at 4 on Saturday, beginning at Main and Hesperia, turning north on Seminary to Clay and finishing where it began.

Here's a look at last year's parade.

2007

2006

Levee issue meeting

On September 21, the Collinsville League of Women Voters will be host a presentation by Les Sterman, former chief executive of the East West Gateway Council of Governments and now 

Chief Supervisor of Construction on the Levee Project speaking on issues facing the Metro East.

A dinner will follow.

Reservations should be in today if you would like to attend the dinner, reservations for the talk only should be made by September 18.

The event will be held at Stonebridge Golf Course with Sterman speaking from 6-7.  The dinner will follow.

RSVPS should be directed to Lisa at lwv.collinsville@gmail.com

Collinsville pep rally on the news

Fox 2 News was out at Fletcher gym yesterday to cover an early morning pep rally.  6 a.m. folks and the gym was packed.  The crowd support for the Kahoks is what I love about Collinsville.  This was intended to be a football season kickoff report, but it was made even more exciting by the soccer team's win the night before over Vianny, ranked number one by the Post Dispatch.

First video from Fox 2 is an interview of the coach of the state champion pom squad followed by a short performance.

 

The next video is with the football team.