CITIES SHARE TRAITS, YET DIVERSE

FIRST OF THREE PARTS

EDITOR'S NOTE: With improvements on both literal and information highways, area medium-sized cities are being pulled ever closer. The Southeast Missourian examined progress and perils at four cities: Paducah, Ky., Carbondale, Ill., Jonesboro, Ark.; and Cape Girardeau.

By Heidi Nieland

Carbondale, Ill., Paducah, Ky., and Jonesboro, Ark., all are reasonable distances from Cape Girardeau. Most Cape residents have visited at least one, if not all three, to see friends, go to school, buy merchandise or look for jobs.

The trips are educational and allow Cape residents to measure their city's progress by some worthy yardsticks.

Take an hour's drive to Carbondale. Southern Illinois University, with its 23,000 students and 5,870 employees, dominates life there. The campus covers acres and acres, and downtown restaurants and nightclubs thrive.

Everyone seems so young -- the average age of Carbondale residents is 24. There are many foreign people walking around, representative of the Asian and Middle Eastern students who flock there.

The one-way streets running through the city get a little confusing, but traffic must be accommodated somehow. Carbondale is the educational, shopping, transportation, medical and industrial center of Southern Illinois, about 15 miles off Interstate 57 and far from a major city.

Its lack of access hasn't hurt much, according to City Manager Jeff Doherty. He came to Carbondale for college in 1971, joined the city staff in 1976 and decided to stay.

"Our location doesn't affect retail trade," he said. "During the Christmas season, University Mall will be 100 percent leased. It runs over 80 percent in the off-season."

And with 23,000 students living in and around Carbondale, there are plenty of captive consumers. Doherty said he knows Carbondale is a real college town, not just a town with a college. Because of SIU, Carbondale becomes a small city, with urban culture offerings.

Paducah is a bit farther from Cape Girardeau. It takes about 1 1/2 hours to get there over two-lane, winding roads. The city sits on Interstate 24, but the approach on Highway 60 allows travelers to see the most growth.

Five motels currently are planned or under construction. A new store or restaurant seems to pop up every month around Kentucky Oaks Mall.

But Paducah's downtown is perhaps its most remarkable feature. A few empty storefronts remain, as in every downtown. But fancy stoplights and remodeled facades impress visitors.

It wasn't always so nice. Mayor Gerry Montgomery, in office since January 1988, joined with community leaders to make a difference.

"When I came in office, it was to get the economy moving," she said. "The downtown was almost in ruins because of the mall, and even the mall wasn't fully occupied at the time. We had to change attitudes and get a vision."

Part of that vision was the Paducah Ambassadors, commonly seen roaming the tourist attractions, talking with visitors. They buy their own bright red coats and work with the tourist commission and volunteer groups to lure people and businesses to the city.

The method works. Now Paducah calls itself Quilt City, USA, and has a large quilting museum -- perhaps the best in the country -- near the river. Downtown is an antique mecca, but also features art galleries and specialty shops.

Jonesboro, nearly a three-hour trip from Cape Girardeau, is the largest of the four cities in population and area. The quickest route from Cape Girardeau is down Interstate 55 to Hayti, then on Highway 412 to Paragould, Ark., before taking Highway 49 into Jonesboro.

The city's main intersections stand out immediately. Each is decorated like a park, some with sidewalks and benches. Community groups did a lot of the work, but Jonesboro's industries were huge contributors.

That's not surprising. Jonesboro has a total of three industrial parks inside the city limits. One is full; another is nearly full. C.W. Post has a cereal factory in Jonesboro, Thomas-Betts makes electric conduit parts there and 3M just bought 80 acres.

Mayor Hubert Brodell was a life insurance salesman before he took office in 1987, and he sells his city like a man trying to close a big deal.

"Industry has taken over, but retail is huge here," he said. "Our medical community is tremendous, and the people have a sense of volunteerism.

"When I speak at conventions here, I say, `If anyone treats you discourteously, you call me,'" he said. "I want them to leave here thinking that, if they didn't live where they do, they would want to live in Jonesboro."

Cape Girardeau is the most difficult city to label. Like the others, it has a huge draw with people in surrounding towns. Those who live in Sikeston, Perryville -- even as far west as Poplar Bluff -- look at each other on lazy weekends and say, "Let's go to Cape."

Southeast Missouri State University with its 8,000-plus students attracts people, but Cape isn't only a college town. There are industries here, but the largest are outside the city limits. The downtown does well, but isn't known distinctly for one type of business.

Perhaps it's a combination of all of those features that makes Cape Girardeau the city it is.

Mayor Al Spradling III, elected to the city council in 1988 and to the mayor's office in 1994, said there are several reasons Cape Girardeau is a big attraction for Southeast Missouri residents.

"We've had great west-end development," he said. "The stores are within reach of many people and the prices are reasonable. We have restaurants, hotels, the Show Me Center and entertainment. We have an aggressive parks and recreation department.

"When people see what we have, they come back."

Monday: Four cities, four counties: Where's the growth?

FIRST OF THREE PARTS

Today: Four Cities -- An Overview.

Monday: Four Cities, Four Counties -- Where's The Growth?

Tuesday: Challenges faced by four cities.