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?

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.

The rooftop at Park Heights is finally open and it was worth the wait. I checked it out for the first time at the Elvis Presley re-festival gala Thursday (the picture below is from today’s paper) and loved the furniture and the view. Right now, the floor is carpeted, but Park Heights owner Blair Hughes wants to redo it with teak.

Weather permitting, the rooftop is open to the public on Thursdays and Saturdays from 5:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. And, the new eating area has its own menu with a raw bar feel (oysters, shrimp, scallops, crab, etc.). Prices range from $9 to $12. For more information, call 842-5665.

The Tupelo Redevelopment Agency bought and installed 20 hanging flower baskets in Fairpark around the park that is home to the fountain and the playground. I took this picture right in front of the playground on a day that was threatening rain, but the playground and fountain were still swarming with kids.

Click on the picture for a bigger image.

From the Tupelo CVB:

Elvis Presley Festival organizers are calling for entries into the 2008 Elvis Presley Festival parade. This year, the parade will step-off at 11 a.m. on Saturday, June 7 from Robins Field winding its way through Church Street and Main Street and ending in the historic Fairpark District where Elvis performed for his hometown in 1956 and 1957.

The parade will kick-off Saturday’s festivities with the second round of the Ultimate Elvis Tribute Artist Competition following at noon. The parade is free of charge and many of the tribute artists will participate in this year’s parade line-up. Other anticipated entries include drummers, classic cars, dance classes, fan clubs and other Elvis fan groups. Groups are welcome to participate and pay tribute to Tupelo and Elvis Presley.

To participate in the parade, contact John Hurt at the Tupelo Convention and Visitors Bureau at (800) 533-0611. Entries into the parade should be confirmed by May 30. There are no entry fees associated with the parade.

Here’s the JBHM rendering of the police station that was proposed in January. At the Jan. 17 meeting, Mayor Ed Neelly and Michael Grey Jones, the architect for the project and a partner with JBHM, said the building would serve mainly as administrative offices, with an occasional arrested individual being processed at the facility.

Emily Le Coz, our reporter for the new developments, said it’s her understanding that the rendering has not changed concerning the facility that is proposed for Gateway Park (previous coverage). The City Council votes tonight on the project. Click on the picture for a bigger version.

Downtown Tupelo now has an online business directory, thanks to Tupelo High School student Katie Scarlett. Read the full story from today’s paper.

Check out the online directory yourself. Find anything you didn’t know about? I didn’t realize Nostalgia Alley and The Main Attraction were two different places. Anyone been to Nostalgia Alley? What’s it like?

Highlights from today’s e-newsletter sent out by the Downtown Tupelo Main Street Association:

• Stanford Financial Group is hosting a business after-hours Tuesday from 4 to 6:30 p.m. The Fairpark business is at 110 East Main Street, Suite A. It’s the first building in Fairpark as you cross the tracks going toward east Tupelo.

• Tupelo Community Theatre presents Gypsy on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

• The farmers market opens Saturday. Items for sale include: Fresh baked cakes, pies and breads,
eggs, honey, plants, flowers, smoked meats and early season vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, onions, peas, potatoes, lettuce and radishes.

• The Gum Tree Festival is Friday through Sunday.

• S.A.F.E. Emergency Family Shelter will have a fundraiser Saturday by way of a silent auction for designer handbags.

• The next Networking@Noon event is May 20 at the BancorpSouth Conference Center. Sylvester Croom, head football coach at Mississippi State University, is the speaker.

• 2007 Elvis Festival t-shirts just hit the clearance racks. DTMSA is selling one for $8 or 2 for $10.

• The Elvis Presley Fest is next month (June 6-8).

The playground is going up in the southeast corner of the park in front of City Hall. It’s directly in front of the building that houses the IRS and Vuteq. The playground has a slide, merry-go-round, monkey bars (now called hand climbers) and some shade structures. It’s supposed to be ready for kids on May 3. Click on the pic for a bigger version.

The Tennessean has an interesting photo feature on its Web site today about living in downtown Nashville. Sure, it’s a much bigger city than Tupelo ever will be, but I can see some of the downtown lifestyle elements in this town/Fairpark in the next 20 years. In fact, a lot of the pictures don’t look all too different from the homes/lofts/apartments I toured last year in downtown Tupelo as part of the open house event. How long do you think it will take before people start moving out of the suburbs and flocking to downtown Tupelo?

(Courtesy: tennessean.com)