By Rob Holbert Managing Editor

Some things just don’t make much sense.

No, I’m not talking about the inexplicable rise of the band Nickelback, or Ben Lodmell getting arrested for allegedly trying to solicit an undercover cop for sex while he’s running for Congress. True, neither makes sense, especially the Lodmell situation. (Crappy music is just part of life.) The only thing I can figure about Lodmell is he was just trying to personally give hookers the tax rebate they have coming their way.

But none of this is the nonsense of which I speak.

What really doesn’t make much sense is why the City of Mobile has all but assured the destruction of several local businesses and the probable degradation of the Florida Street area in Midtown by attempting a drainage project in a completely ham-handed and foolish fashion.

If you haven’t been following what’s been going on for several months, the city has been trying to improve drainage along Florida Street between Dauphin Street and Airport Boulevard – a noble cause, to be sure. But you can’t pay the bills with good intentions, and the city has completely mucked up this project, much to the detriment of some small, locally owned businesses.

We first wrote about this issue back in October, and other media have covered it as well. So for at least the past four months or so, the city has been totally aware of the concerns expressed by business owners along Florida Street. Still, little has been done to help alleviate the problem. Now, several Florida Street businesses have decided to sue the city and Volkert Construction because the drainage project is taking too long, damaging property and cutting off customers.

You may not be able to fight city hall, but I suppose you can sue them. And in this case, the business owners should.

The construction project has completely cut off traffic south of Emogene Street, erasing more than 15,000 vehicles daily, i.e. potential customers, in one fell swoop. The affected business owners all acknowledge the drainage project needs to be done, but have repeatedly asked that the city find a way to allow some traffic to continue through the area. Additionally, some complain the contractor has caused damage to their property or otherwise made it impossible to conduct business as usual.

The city has put up signs on Dauphin Street saying the Florida Street businesses are indeed open, but that’s a bit like Ben Lodmell trying to say he was set up by some vast conspiracy, or the lead singer for Nickelback teaming up with Carlos Santana – ineffectual at best. The damage has been done.

I’m sure there are some folks out there who probably think, “What’s the big deal? Those business owners should have been prepared for a rainy day.” But I’d say that anyone who has run a small business knows how tough it is just to make ends meet under good conditions. Having the city come in and completely shut down the road in front of your store isn’t something you contemplate when you’re doing a business plan. Somewhere along the line you probably would think the people working in for the city might, just might, be able to figure out that shutting off all traffic to a business could hurt its bottom line.

Quite frankly, this whole thing kind of stinks of the little guy getting the shaft. I’m sure if there were a McDonald’s, a Wal-Mart and Texaco in that area, the city would have been able to figure out a way to get the drainage project done without destroying those businesses’ customer base. Why? Because they’ve got deep pockets, fat-cat lawyers and loud voices.

Businesses like Mrs. Wheat’s Treats, Hot Wheelz and Knot Just Beads don’t have lawyers on retainer, I’d wager. So who cares if they get screwed?

I do. And you should too, because it’s these little, locally owned businesses that give our town its flavor. If they’re gone, all you’ve got is vacant shops and declining property values. Crime is already rising in the area. Speaking to Mrs. Wheat last week, she told me her shop had been broken into three times in the past couple of weeks. She said others have experienced a massive increase in crime as well, including the Food Tiger grocery store. The criminals seem to have figured out that the cops can’t drive through that area any more either.

I can attest to the difficulty of running a small business. Take this fine newspaper for example. We always have the Press-Register out there trying to undercut our advertising through predatory tactics, taxes to pay, bills to collect and the constant challenge of trying to convince bigger companies with deeper pockets that we’re worthy of their advertising. If on top of all those things the city suddenly made it impossible for people to pick up a Lagniappe, we’d be royally screwed. That’s kind of the situation on Florida Street.

Actually the mess with the Florida Street project HAS even affected Lagniappe negatively. Some of those businesses were regular advertisers who can no longer afford to buy ads with us, so it’s probably costing us a few hundred dollars a month, too.

Now I’m really pissed!

Hopefully it’s not entirely too late for the city to at least improve the situation along Florida. At least most of the businesses are still open – for now. If some kind of traffic flow can be restored to the area, maybe, just maybe, business will improve and the criminals might find other places to break and enter.

I just hope something is done before Florida Street becomes a very well-drained ghost town full where only congressional candidates and their prostitutes dare tread. That would truly make no sense.

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Rob Holbert is Lagniappe managing editor. Contact him at rholbert@lagniappemobile.com.

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