This potpourri of announcements and commentary leads with the Fairhope mayor’s race. Not what I had planned, but got a message from a fellow Fairhopean asking why Rick Gambino’s bid for mayor of our fair city had gone unnoticed and unnoted by Lagniappe.
Reason was that I didn’t know that Rick was running. But now, so informed, let me make it official in the Newspaper of Record: Rick Gambino’s hat is in the ring. And while I’m on the topic, I need to remind you of the previously declared mayoral candidate, Jack Burrell. Announced in “Jubilee” back in February right after the council approved a living wager for a full-time, non-double-dipping mayor. And just before Incumbent Kant’s clumsy attempt to torpedo the possibility of competition for mayor — his second city job.
Add to Rick and Jack, Dean Mosher who after weeks of rumors, finally made it public that he will be seeking to lead Fairhope. Good news for everybody but Mayor Tim, who coincidently has only privately shared that he plans to run for re-election. But not making it public may be a good strategy as it will allow him to fade before the legal filing day in July, if things look too tough.
Since we’re looking at mayors and mayoral races, let’s touch for a moment on Daphne’s. Ex-Mayor Brown has said that he is going to run for his old job. Recalling his reign, I wonder what his winning strategy will be ‘cause were I he, I would not run on my record. Too little info is on the street about how he plans to woo voters, but part of his announcement bodes badly as it included blaming others (including the current mayor of Spanish Fort) for the failures of his previous administration.
Although running a cleaner operation than his predecessor, the incumbent, Fred Small, will be long remembered for his losses at the hands of the city council — first his ill-thought-out and utterly unsupported attempt to secede from the Baldwin County School System. He followed up by trying to reject a modern new school to replace the old, outmoded school building on Main Street. This got him public abuse (verbal only — Daphne’s no Montgomery) from Council member Gus Palumbo and the new school is nearing completion. I’d place the blame for the rape of Yancey Branch (Meandering Stream to Drainage Ditch — courtesy of the City of Daphne) at his feet, but he had lots of help, including that of resident environmentalist and council member Cathy Barnette.
County Road 13 update
The Yancey Branch Fiasco makes an easy segue to the progress — or lack thereof — in connecting the north and south bits of County Road 13. The missing part will cross the Auburn Research Station property — and wetlands. This on-again, off-again construction project is supposed to help relieve the congestion on US 98 to the west and AL 181 to the east and to provide another access point to I-10.
Right now the status of the whole project can be summed up in what’s going on at the wetlands crossing point. What was originally characterized as a minor issue — protecting the Fly Creek watershed — that could be done using not much more than a culvert, has in a series of discoveries and reworks grown to requiring a bridge longer than two football fields. At the current rate of “span-creep,” by the time they actually start construction, they will be able to save money by using the plans for the new Mobile Bay bridge with the legs cut off.
I’m not suggesting the wetlands should be treated casually, but rather that what looked like a cost-effective route with a culvert might not still be so when you have to put in a major bridge. Is the current route the right one or is it a case of hanging on to a costly alternative only because it’s the only one that was planned for? I don’t know, but I do know that the road is taking forever and progress keeps losing to poor planning by somebody.
And this foul-up at CR 13 is just a preamble to the mess at AL 181. After the state took over the route (formerly CR 27), with the purpose of creating a second US 98 kind of thoroughfare, there was a building boom along its route. The biggest Wal-Mart in Alabama went in, subdivisions from I-10 nearly to Weeks Bay sprang up, while not an inch of this high capacity route was built. A case of we haven’t built it, but they sure have come.
And I discovered that even the land acquisition process is creeping along. In fact prices haven’t even been set and nobody even knows if getting land the state needs will be easy or hard (condemnation proceedings, law suits, etc.) — or even if there will be money available to make the purchases. And getting the land is one of the early steps. Not good news. Traffic is as backed up during the daily rush-hours on 181 as on 98 — no relief for the commuter either place. No hurricane evacuation capacity added anywhere either.
We’re lucky hurricane activity has been low lately and the economic slowdown has lessened the rate of population growth and building out of subdivisions. But how long will our good luck last?
So there it is — politics, wetlands and transportation. In a single column — all of ESho’s hot issues. Except for, maybe, house prices, big-box stores, taxes, sex, .....
Contact Pete Gleszer at jubilee@lagniappemobile.com.
Archives
Jubilee
