PAVE PARADISE, PUT UP ANOTHER PARKING DECK

 

There was a meeting held today in the mayor’s conference room at Florence city hall annex of the building and planning committee. It consisted of Andy Betterton along with Melissa Bailey and Gary Davidson meeting with Kaytrina Simmons, Jimmy Oliver and Jackie Hendrix.

The main topic of discussion at the start of the meeting was the demolition of the “old” parking deck at the corner of Tennessee and Pine Streets. Five bids had been submitted for the demolition the least of which was around $700K from a company out of Birmingham. As he has done for almost 2 years now, David Carson was on hand to record the meeting for his Facebook page: Florence, Al Open Meeting Project. I am including a link to this video so interested citizens can see for themselves the meeting unfold as it was recorded.

Of particular interest is two points brought up in the meeting. One, that the cost of the new city hall had risen since the original design was submitted. It was now north of the $50 million dollar range. And two, that the mayor had cancelled a meeting called by Kaytrina Simmons to discuss the city hall project with the entire council and instead had discussions with only Jackie Hendrix and Jimmy Oliver. This seems to be an ongoing problem. The question this reporter must ask is: WHY? Watch the video and draw your own conclusion.

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If any of our readers have parked in the new Florence deck, send us a quick review...

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