Florence's Mobile Plaza

Mobile Street from Court to Seminary in downtown Florence has been known as Mobile Plaza for over 30 years. Less than 15 years ago, this plaza was renovated at no small cost. In May of 2007, the city fathers proposed another, more extensive renovation.

At that time, it came to light that no less than three separate firms had been contracted to redesign the one block street. Apparently the city fathers were red-faced that they had made these contracts, but not so embarassed that they failed to pay the first two firms their whole fee for very little actual work.

Apparently, this project is either still on the drawing board 19 months later or it was abandoned with little fanfare. If the latter is the case, I'm sure the structural architect (who apparently works out of Birmingham) did receive his full fee.

Now, the Florence City Council wants to renovate the fountain in Wilson Park. This work certainly needs to be done, but it needs to be accomplished in a timely and cost-effective manner.


Tomorrow, I will turn over the keyboard to Nurse Nan who lives close to the park and has more information concerning its history.