Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Old? New? It Depends/Paroles


Current Florence Senior Center

Florence will be getting a new senior center in the near future. A spokesman for the group using the current facility has asked for a building that will last 40 or 50 years. City officials have indicated the new center will be designed for add-ons when needed to extend the usefulness of the structure, but 40 years is a relatively short life span. No one can say built-in obsolescence is dead in the U.S.

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Waterloo is getting something new--it's called a Village Post Office. It will be located in a store, bank, or similar facility and provide basic mailing services. Hmmmm, isn't that just a fancy name for a postal sub-station. We can recall one in the Elting branch of SunTrust. Apparently if you can't come up with a new idea, at least give an old idea a new name.

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Tuscumbia Mayor Bill Shoemaker wants Lauderdale cities to support the Alabama Music Hall of Fame. While we hope everyone in the area does support the AMHOF, somehow Shoemaker's proposal seems just a little ludicrous considering the recent Colbert County events surrounding RegionalCare's new hospital.

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D.K. attended the parole hearings of both Matthew Fox and  Jamie Mackey. Neither man was granted an early release. Fox will serve the remainder of his sentence, and Mackey will next appear before the board in five years.



Shoalanda

3 comments:

  1. The current senior center looks to be a very attractive building. Pictures can be deceiving, but I'm wondering why they need a new building.

    AS far as the 40 years goes--Up here in PA, I've known of several temporary building that were put up until permanent facilities could be built for one thing or another. Those temp structures were usually only used for a year or so, and when the permanent facility was completed they were used for other purposes.

    I've never heard of purposely requesting a permanent building that would only last 40 years. Why would someone go to the expense of building a structure well enough to last 40 years, but not well enough to last 100 years? (My own house is 130 years old & we're just the second owner.)

    Or did the current/old center last less than 40 years before it needed to be replaced and they were asking for a better structure this time?

    There is probably a good explanation fir requesting a 40 tear structure, but I find it puzzling.

    I hope the old senior center provides a good home to a worthy organization. It does look nice.

    Deb

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    1. The building being used now is a former country club. The City of Florence purchased it for the land, but it proved unneeded. Now it's being sold to the University of North Alabama, and the senior center must be vacated within 12 months.

      40 years? The representative may have just been speaking off the top of his head when asked for a quote, but so many seem to feel that a building is "old" at 40. (I would love to see your house!)

      I like the idea of a temporary structure that can be put up quickly and then used again for something else when the permanent building is ready. Those who use the Florence Senior Center have specifically requested that they don't want a building already in place for some other purpose, but the city feels it can't have a new one ready in 12 months. Someone is going to have to give a little.

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    2. The rumor going around is that the City will be buying the Court House Racquet Club and either using that or building a building there...

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