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| Mayor Carolyn McAdams |
By Carolyn McAdams
Mayor, City of Greenwood
If you’ve stepped foot outside your house in the last few months, you have undoubtedly seen that the City of Greenwood has been busy making improvements in all corners of our town—north, south, east, and west.
From the new municipal parking lot on Fulton Street, to the construction of new sidewalks on Howard and Johnson Streets, to the planting of new trees on Grand and South boulevards, and the proposed renovations to the Russell Building, Greenwood is moving forward, all on a shoestring budget.
All of these improvements haven’t come without some questions and concerns from Greenwood residents, though, and I hope this column will help set the record straight on some of the questions that have been raised over the past few weeks.
Some of the projects, such as the downtown parking lot and the Howard-Johnson Street project, were initiated before my time as mayor of Greenwood, and it has been my pleasure to see them through to completion. Other projects, such as the recent tree planting and the acquisition of the Russell Building, have been done at little cost to the city, and both without raising taxes one bit.
I’ll address each one of these projects in an attempt to quell any rumors that might exist.
First, our beautiful new downtown parking lot was paid for with bond money that was set aside in August 2005 for the purpose of improving public parking facilities.
When I took office, over 20% of the parking lot was unusable due to inefficient traffic flow and substandard surface conditions. Although funds had been designated for reconstructing the parking lot, no one had taken the steps to make it a reality.
Now that the reconstruction is complete, downtown businesses and residents enjoy 60 safe, well-lit parking spots in a central location. Plus, the landscaping and historic lighting make the lot a beautiful public space on a prominent corner in our downtown. It is a model for what parking lots in other parts of our town will look like.
Second, $1.3 million in MDOT grant funding to improve the sidewalks and lighting along Howard and Johnson Streets was first sought in 2006 at the request of business and civic leaders who realized the economic benefit Greenwood would reap from the proposed improvements.
Now, more than 5 years later, the City of Greenwood is following through on its promise to see the project through to completion. Although the construction process has been a temporary inconvenience to some of our merchants and downtown shoppers, I am confident the end result will be worth the wait.
I ask for patience from the merchants along Howard and Johnson Streets while we are under construction. In addition, I encourage residents to always shop locally and to remember that our downtown merchants are still open for business, even during construction.
Third, older residents of Greenwood will remember how beautiful the oak trees in our historic residential neighborhoods once were. In fact, Grand Boulevard was once named one of the most beautiful streets in America, thanks to the legendary 300 oaks that once lined the street.
Over the years, as the trees have aged and died, they have been removed without being replaced. This year, spending just under $10,000 from the mayor’s contingency fund (which is used for special projects such as this), the city planted 120 large pin oaks, fully restoring the tree canopy on Grand and South Boulevard.
My hope is to continue to plant new trees each year to keep our town green and clean. The long-term benefits of a healthy tree canopy in Greenwood are certainly worth the initial investment.
Finally, the city’s desire to save and restore the historic Russell Building is two-fold. First is the need for adequate meeting space for medium-sized events and activities in downtown Greenwood.
At present, downtown Greenwood cannot accommodate meetings or events with more than 75-100 attendees. Providing new space for medium-sized meetings and events as well as a home for our city’s Convention and Visitors Bureau and Main Street program will open new avenues for conventions and visitors in Greenwood.
The other reason for the city’s interest in the Russell Building lies in the ongoing preservation of our downtown. One need only look at the vacant lots where some of Greenwood’s historic buildings once stood before they burned—Perry’s Pawn Shop on Carrollton Avenue and Railway Inn on Johnson Street, just to name a few—to see the eyesore that demolished buildings bring to an area.
Also, one need only look at the success of businesses located in our historic downtown buildings to see the positive impact that historic preservation has had on our community.
If the city had allowed the Russell Building to be demolished, as was the plan of Reveille Construction (from whom the city purchased the building), Greenwood’s elected leaders would have been sending a message to our residents that we did not care about our town’s history.
Like the burned buildings, we would have added another 14,000 sq. ft. of vacant, non-productive land to our downtown, a circumstance that could not be allowed if we are serious about overcoming the obstacles that we face as a small town in the Mississippi Delta.
I also want to reiterate that the Russell Building was purchased with the city’s annual “pass-on” money from Greenwood Utilities, not with general operating funds. If funding cannot be secured through grants, loans, incentives, or other private sources, the city has the option to sell the building back to Reveille at no loss to the city.
The projects underway have been a long time coming, and it is great to see the ground being broken on projects that have been in the planning stage for years.
As you can see, many positive things are happening by using existing bond money, grant funding, contingency funds, and pass-on funding.
We at City Hall are working hard to make sure Greenwood gets the most bang for its buck, without raising taxes. In fact, the City of Greenwood has not raised taxes during my administration and is operating with a surplus in its general fund.
And all the while, these long-overdue projects are still able to be undertaken with little to no impact to the city’s bottom line. In short, I ask for your support of our many ongoing projects and for your patience as we undergo construction in various areas of our town. The temporary inconvenience will be worth it in the end.
After all, if Greenwood is going to maintain its status as the destination of choice in the Mississippi Delta, we must not be afraid to take the necessary steps toward continued progress.
Carolyn McAdams is mayor of the City of Greenwood.
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