Merchants and residents learn about King Street project

According to reports from several local merchants and residents along the King Street entrance corridor, the Public Works Department has been contacted by the Florida Department of Transportation concerning work planned to improve the roadway between Malaga Street and Martin Luther King Avenue.

A last minute announcement last spring gave a false start to the improvements project and left members of the community angry that they had not been included in the plans that business owners say would have been devastating and residents say would have made local traffic unbearable.

The City Manager, Public Works Director, and then commissioner Bill Leary, attended an impromptu meeting of about 30 downtown merchants and residents held March 8, 2012, at Butterfield Garage Art Gallery. The bombshell news that King Street was about to be under construction for over a year, put city officials on the hot seat. The project was successfully delayed.

One King Street merchant, Bruce Maguire, told Historic City News that he has already reached out to Martha Graham as well as the FDOT project manager to learn as much as possible about the scope of the planned work.

One concern, among several mentioned by Maguire, is that, at the conclusion of the project, King Street gains safe, passable sidewalks — free from encroaching utility poles; so that events like the monthly First Friday Art Walks can continue to prosper.

“When the time comes to do this work, we want to do it one time — and do it correctly,” Maguire told reporters. He invited Historic City News readers interested in the project to contact him for additional details and to offer support.