Biz Buzz

The city’s traffic committee is evaluating the safety of the parallel parking spaces on East Main Street in Fairpark after receiving several complaints. The spaces in question are in the eastbound lane of Main Street from the railroad tracks to Elizabeth Street. Read the full story in Wednesday’s paper.

Some of the complaints seem to be legitimately in need of action – visibility blocked because of parking space placement. Other complaints – swerving to miss parallel parkers opening their car doors into traffic – are caused by a lack of common sense. Sure, folks, we aren’t living in a major metropolitan zone, but we aren’t in in the middle of a corn field either. If you park on the main drag in the middle of downtown, look before opening your door.

And, depending on who you ask, the problems also stem from speeding vehicles (the Downtown Tupelo Main Street Association’s take) or narrow lane widths (the Tupelo Police Department’s take).

The traffic committee hasn’t made any recommendations yet about what to do, but there is talk about removing some of the parallel parking along Main in Fairpark or widening the street. What do you think? Have you had any problems parallel parking downtown?

OK, I’ve held it in for long enough, but I have to start a discussion on what I regard as some of the worst commercials on television. Particularly, some local ones come to mind that I just have to shake my head at.

It might be sheer genius because they’re so, um, campy? Cheesy? Corny? Or just plain awful. Since we’re talking about ‘em, I guess the advertising works on some way.

But I’ll let YOU determine which are the worst out there. And if there are some that you think are really good, talk about ‘em here, too.

Fire away, folks!

The Downtown Tupelo Main Street Association wants to use some of the $75,000-plus profit from the 2008 Elvis Presley Festival to spruce up downtown. You can read the full story in today’s paper. The ideas for how to spend the money are plentiful and varied. Suggestions include:

• Hanging flower baskets from Elizabeth Street to Green Street
• Adding green spaces or sprucing up current ones
• Hanging more signs to mark downtown Tupelo
• Renovating the facade of the DTMSA office on Broadway
• Adding lights to the planters
• Installing benches and trash cans
• Cleaning up the alleys

Cast your vote here.

Have a better idea? Let us know.

Thai City, formerly T.C.’s Asian Market on South Gloster, has been open in its new location on North Gloster for about a month (previous coverage). It’s in the former La Famiglia restaurant location. Hours are
Monday - Thursday: 11 a.m. - 9 p.m.; Friday - Saturday: 11 a.m. - 10 p.m.; and Sunday: 11 a.m. - 2:30 p.m.

The phone number is 690-9928. And if you are lucky, you might see the Shirtless Cowboy if you stop by Thai City for lunch. Click on any picture for a bigger version.

The Tupelo Convention & Visitors Bureau on Monday reported sales tax revenues were up 16 percent in April, the most current period on file.

The CVB reported revenues of $278,815 in April compared with $240,213 in April 2007. Overall, sales tax revenues are up 8.4 percent this fiscal year.

As of June 30, the CVB had a total fund balance of $2,291,113.

The CVB was supposed to hold its monthly meeting Monday, but it didn’t have a quorum of board members. CVB Executive Director Linda Butler Johnson said it was the first time she didn’t have a quorum in 11 years. The business scheduled for July’s meeting will be combined with the CVB’s board retreat in August, she said.

From the AP:

OXFORD, Miss. (AP) — Aberdeen-based Eutaw Construction Company has won a $4.8 million contract to build the East Parallel Taxiway at the University-Oxford Airport in Oxford.

The University of Mississippi awarded the project intended to aid local and regional economic development by improving the airport facility.

Eutaw will clear and grub 42 acres, excavate and develop the site, and do silt fencing, erosion control, pavement removal, concrete paving and markings.

West Main Church of Christ still has a contract with an unnamed Tennessee-based developer to convert the property at the corner of Thomas and West Main streets into a shopping development (previous coverage).

The rumor, which has not been confirmed, is that the contract is with Redd Realty. Redd last year tried to buy property at Crosstown for a CVS pharmacy, and after that project fell through, the developer and CVS said they would look elsewhere in town. But, no one is talking to us about specifics for the West Main property.

The church did send over the letter shown below. The bottom line is the deal is still on, but the developer has bought the options and extended the time period on the contract. Click on the letter to read more.

The Mississippi Development Authority is promoting the Toyota site near Blue Springs on the front of its Web site. It’s not earth-shattering news, but I thought it was good that with all of the developments in the state, the main picture is Toyota.

Here’s the screenshot:

Automotive News is reporting that Volkwagon’s board will be meeting Tuesday to discuss where to put its new manufacturing plant. According  to AN, the German automaker has narrowed its choices to Alabama and Tennessee, and had dropped Michigan from its list of finalists.

Alabama is home to a Mercedes plant, and several German suppliers are in the state as well.

If VW chooses Alabama, could it be a boon for Mississippi? Or could it hurt in recruiting automotive workers? The plant might open in 2010, the same year the Toyota plant near Blue Springs is scheduled to open.

This should be interesting to watch…. stay tuned.

From the Mississippi Development Authority:

Jackson, Miss. – Tourism partners, the Memphis Convention and Visitors Bureau along with the Tourism Division of the Mississippi Development Authority have recently launched a one month moving promotional campaign involving the famous black cabs one sees in London, England.
The campaign consists of 120 taxis with 90 in London and 15 each in Manchester and Glasgow.
The cities selected were determined by their transatlantic air service along with population.

Each taxi carries tip seats panels in the interior of the taxi which communicate to a captive
audience in the back of the taxi normally on a one-to-one basis for an average of 16 minutes. The
exterior of the taxies display various images of Mississippi along with the web address,
www.visitmississippi.org.
Continue reading ‘London cabs to advertise Mississippi’