Montgomery development news

[bystander1]

^^ Same here. I found this site a long time ago and it hasn't been updated since I first saw it.

I guess since there's so much going on that they don't have time to update it...

[EXbubba]

Originally Posted by EXbubba

Unfortunately, I found it over a month ago and it ain't woke up yet!

Well, it looks like it just woke up a bit. Kinda surprising not to have pics of developments though as they are going to look or even a riverwalk set of pics and updates on the plans

[Brown Duckz]

Three named to help with downtown revitalization


Three new people have been named to the Montgomery Downtown Redevelopment Authority.

The announcement came during Tuesday’s City Council meeting when council members unanimously approved local realtor James H. Farrior, Jr., attorney Greg Allen and certified public accountant Yvette Smiley-Smith to the authority.

Redevelopment Authority member terms serve six year terms and are responsible for financing various projects by securing low interest bonds. One project the new members may take on is revitalization of the old Webber building on Perry Avenue, according to Council member Janet Thomas-May. Once restored, the building could bring new business to downtown, she said.

[Brown Duckz]

Tired of Getting Whacked on I-65? State Takes Long Awaited Bids to Repair Interstate


Ask anyone who has driven it about the bone-jarring stretch of Interstate 65 north of Hope Hull, and you'll probably get the same answer: the ride is just too rough.

Everyone from Montgomery's mayor to long-haul truckers have complained and asked why no one has fixed the problem. Now, finally, someone is.

Trucker Ray Galliard probably knows the five mile section of road better than most.

"I drive it at least three or four times every week. It shakes the steering wheel real bad and everything," he said.

He says the sound from the road tells about its fury far better than a DOT warning sign nearby.

"I've rode log roads that's smoother than what this road is out here," said Galliard.

Many people think the rocky stretch in west Montgomery is the worst road in Alabama, and certainly one of the longest in need of repair. For nearly 20 years, Montgomery commuters and vacationers have suffered the washboard effect, something even DOT admits is from neglect.

"If you don't perform the maintenance on it and if you don't continue to attack the problem that's developing you get into the situation we're in now," said DOT engineer Randall Estes.

The state has tried to rebuild the rumbling road before. When it bid the project back in 2005, the cost looked astronomical.

"It was more than one hundred million dollars," said Estes. "Significantly more."

Now, a second try with the requirements changed a little. Reconstruction will go from Catoma Creek to Fairview Avenue, then from Fairview to the Alabama River Bridge. The estimated total cost: 70 to 80 million dollars. Work will go on for two years from start to finish. And yes, commuters will pay a price.

"There will be unavoidable delays," Estes warned.

That means two years of bottlenecks, slower speed limits, dust and noise in West Montgomery. But Ray Galliard says if it smoothes out the ride, it's worth it.

"This truck, when I picked it up four weeks ago, it was a brand new truck. It had 11 miles on it," he said. "Now, it's got 13, 752 miles on it and it has more rattles and squeaks on it just from ridin' this road here."

The biggest obstacle right now is the bid process itself. The state has announced it will open the envelopes Friday morning at DOT headquarters.

The last time it asked for prices, just one company responded with that 100-million dollar bid.

It hopes to see at least three companies in the running this time. A few days will pass while DOT officials evalute the bid packages.

If the state accepts a bid for the project, construction could start by late July. The earliest crews could finish construction would be late 2009 or early 2010.

Reporter: Chris Holmes

[Grogck]

That is a horrible stretch of road north of Hope Hull. That segment and the stretch of I-20 between Talladega and Anniston (which I believe they are SLOWLY working on) are probably the two bumpiest stretches of interstate in the state.

I hope they fix that quickly . . . as soon as they're done adding lanes to I-65 from Hoover to Alabaster.

[thoraudio]

Downtown Prattville now has 3 good restaurants, The Pasta Mill, 3-D Dogs, and now the MarChelle's. 3D is kinda shabby (they've got a good Chicago style dog though), but both the Pasta Mill and the MarChelle's are top notch places.

Prattville bistro aims for perfection

By Marty Roney



PRATTVILLE -- A new downtown restaurant has whet the community's appetite for something other than a meat and three veggies.

MarChelle's Bistro and Bak­ery, named by combining the first names of owners Mark and Michelle Taylor, sits at the foot of Main Street. On step­ping inside, your attention is drawn to two large cases dis­playing homemade desserts, candies and pastries. Comfort­able couches and chairs invite customers to order a cup of cof­fee and leaf through the news­paper. Dining is in a separate room.

The Taylors have been plan­ning the perfect restaurant for years. They began cooking Wednesday night suppers at First United Methodist Church, then purchased a bakery in town and expanded it into a catering business. After nine years, they decided to set up shop downtown.

"We love downtown, we love the spirit down here," Mark Taylor said. "People come in at dinner and see the white table clothes and may think we are snooty. We're from Prattville, we're Prattville folks. We want you to come and have a good meal, and then sit and talk for a while. We won't shoo you out so we can turn the table."

It's that easygoing style that attracts Connie Roberts of Montgomery. She recently sam­pled the canoli with a large tux­edo latte.

"This is a treasure; you ex­pect to see something like this in Atlanta," she said. "A group of my friends have made the trip up here three or four times and we've never been disap­pointed. They've done just a wonderful job with this build­ing."

Built at the turn of the 20th century, the building has served as a hardware and gro­cery store and a butcher shop. The interior walls are exposed brick, showing wooden pegs that once supported shelves. The room upstairs once served as the city's telephone ex­change, where a single opera­tor spent a lot of time gazing out the window, tracking the comings and goings of towns­folk. That way when you called to speak with Mrs. Jones at her home, the operator would know she was visiting Mrs. Smith, and would direct your call there.

The restaurant has been open two months and began serving dinner three nights a week about a month ago.

"I'm a meat and three vege­tables kind of guy, so I didn't know what to expect when my wife said she wanted to eat here," said Kyle Lawrence of Prattville. "She talked me into having the grouper stuffed with crab meat. It was great. I even enjoyed the asparagus and cheese grits."

Business has mostly come from talk around the area. The dining room seats 72, and at 11:45 a.m. Thursday, there was a waiting list of about 20 peo­ple.

The 26 employees and six chefs don't take part in assem­bly line dining. Every ticket is cooked to order. The pineapple-mango salsa, for instance, takes two hours to prepare.

"We want to offer people a little something more," Mark Taylor said. "We use fresh veg­etables. The vast majority of our desserts are made here. It may take us a little more time to prepare your meal, but we think it's worth it."

[kevinlpugh]

By Andre Coe


Montgomery Mayor Bobby Bright is reiterating his allegations about Wal-Mart's new store. But this time he said there is a difference -- he has proof.

The retail giant drew Bright's ire when it opened its new store on Chantilly Parkway just outside city limits, where it won't have to pay the 3.5 percent city sales tax. He said what had angered him most was that Wal-Mart representatives had promised him they would include the store within city limits.

Bright reiterated the complaint Friday at his weekly news conference, and produced Montgomery City Council minutes from Aug. 2, 2005, that he said supported his complaint. In the minutes, a Wal-Mart representative told council members the company would not be opposed to being annexed within Montgomery.

"For them to come on TV and say there was no annexation agreement by Wal-Mart is just a blatant untruth," Bright said.

Bright said he still hopes the store will honor its word and stick by what it said on the record, both in the City Council minutes and in private with him.

"I think Wal-Mart wants to do the right thing," Bright said.

The new store is located just outside city limits and outside the Pike Road community. Because of its location, the store can charge 6.5 cents sales tax instead of the 8.75 cents charged in Pike Road or the 10 cents charged in Montgomery.

Mayor Bright doesn't like that because that sales tax pays for city services, such as police and fire.

Montgomery County Commissioner Reed Ingram said Bright should move on concerning the Wal-Mart issue because he has bigger fish to fry.

"What Bobby Bright needs to be worrying about is all the development going on across the river in Prattville," Ingram said. "One Wal-Mart is not the issue. What he needs to be worried about is what he is losing to Autauga County -- the 800-pound gorilla."

[Brown Duckz]

Reed Ingram is an idiot after making one statement.

[neilson]

Originally Posted by Brown Duckz

Reed Ingram is an idiot after making one statement.

No, Ingram is right. Look, Montgomery functioned for years as a safer city and got by with only an 8% sales tax. In theory, things should improve from a civic standpoint with a raise to 10% in sales tax but you can poll citizens of Montgomery from West to East and you'll find that isn't the perception that ppl have.

[bystander1]

No, Ingram is wrong, again.
The city didn't raise the tax by 2 cents. The tax went to 9% from 8% six years ago with very little opposition and full support of the council. The county raised the tax on the entire county another 1% about four years ago after the State prorated the Education budget--which would have cost county school system $20-25 Million per year. In order to help the school system, the county raised the tax by 1 cent as a "temporary solution" until they find another source of revenue or the State goes by to its pre-proration budget.
This "temporary solution" has become permanent because the county refuses to seek another source of revenue for its "temporary solution" of the state's proration cut-back of funds for the county's schools.

Ingram ran on the promise to remove the county's "temporary tax", but hasn't done anything but make grandstand-type statements, and will run on the same promise of removing the county's "temporary tax" next year but with the same inaction.

Not for or against either side, but just showing that both sides say stupid stuff...

its politics.

[neilson]

Originally Posted by bystander1

No, Ingram is wrong, again.
The city didn't raise the tax by 2 cents. The tax went to 9% from 8% six years ago with very little opposition and full support of the council. The county raised the tax on the entire county another 1% about four years ago after the State prorated the Education budget--which would have cost county school system $20-25 Million per year. In order to help the school system, the county raised the tax by 1 cent as a "temporary solution" until they find another source of revenue or the State goes by to its pre-proration budget.
This "temporary solution" has become permanent because the county refuses to seek another source of revenue for its "temporary solution" of the state's proration cut-back of funds for the county's schools.

Ingram ran on the promise to remove the county's "temporary tax", but hasn't done anything but make grandstand-type statements, and will run on the same promise of removing the county's "temporary tax" next year but with the same inaction.

Not for or against either side, but just showing that both sides say stupid stuff...

its politics.

both sides say stupid stuff.

THAT'S what I was looking for. We can both agree on that.

[Brown Duckz]

Originally Posted by neilson

THAT'S what I was looking for. We can both agree on that.

I'm just saying that Montgomery isn't losing anything TO Prattville, Prattville is just growing and developing on it's own. Bass Pro Shops is an exception because they usually setup shop in small-towns and tourist areas, not established center cities. There are just as many people buying houses in Montgomery as Prattville, and I'm sure new construction is about even in both markets. Prattville isn't taking anything away from Montgomery, they are simply growing on their own, but it's all being fueled by Montgomery jobs.

[bystander1]

Originally Posted by Brown Duckz

I'm just saying that Montgomery isn't losing anything TO Prattville, Prattville is just growing and developing on it's own. Bass Pro Shops is an exception because they usually setup shop in small-towns and tourist areas, not established center cities. There are just as many people buying houses in Montgomery as Prattville, and I'm sure new construction is about even in both markets. Prattville isn't taking anything away from Montgomery, they are simply growing on their own, but it's all being fueled by Montgomery jobs.

You took the words out of my mouth about Bass Pro. What the heck is Ingram talking about retail that Montgomery is losing to Prattville? No major store has left Montgomery to go to Prattville.
Finally, Prattville is getting the retail growth it should have already had 15 or more years ago.
And as for Bass Pro, they usually set up outside of large urban centers.

Although Prattville was not the first place in Alabama that Bass Pro announced it would build a store (Leeds and Spanish Fort were announced well ahead of a Prattville location), it was the first city to give them $30M in incentives to build a store there...thus being the first in the state to be built.
That's also the reason the sales tax there will be 10 1/2%, in order help pay for those incentives.

It's widely known that Ingram has so much hatred for Bright that he criticizes him by saying things that have no merit, such as the statement he made in the article. And it's pretty sad, too.

[neilson]

Originally Posted by bystander1

You took the words out of my mouth about Bass Pro. What the heck is Ingram talking about retail that Montgomery is losing to Prattville? No major store has left Montgomery to go to Prattville.
Finally, Prattville is getting the retail growth it should have already had 15 or more years ago.
And as for Bass Pro, they usually set up outside of large urban centers.

Although Prattville was not the first place in Alabama that Bass Pro announced it would build a store (Leeds and Spanish Fort were announced well ahead of a Prattville location), it was the first city to give them $30M in incentives to build a store there...thus being the first in the state to be built.
That's also the reason the sales tax there will be 10 1/2%, in order help pay for those incentives.

It's widely known that Ingram has so much hatred for Bright that he criticizes him by saying things that have no merit, such as the statement he made in the article. And it's pretty sad, too.

It's not a matter of loosing stores to Prattville, Millbrook, Wetumpka, or Pike Road. It's a matter of Montgomery residents being willing to drive the extra couple of miles(gas prices be damned) to save a certain % on Sales Tax. You know well from living in Alabama that we hate taxes and if we have to drive 5 miles to save a couple cents on sales tax even if we lose the difference in the gas we used traveling, then so be it.

That's our mindset and also the choice of the citizens to be more willing to pay gas taxes and sales taxes for another municipality then Montgomery. It's basically a matter of protest and not paying to Montgomery if you don't have to. Stores won't close up in MTG to relocate outside the city limits but you will see high traffic on Chantilly Parkway for quite sometime. For that I will assure you.

[neilson]

Originally Posted by bystander1

It's widely known that Ingram has so much hatred for Bright that he criticizes him by saying things that have no merit, such as the statement he made in the article. And it's pretty sad, too.

Going off on my personal opinion, Ingram ought to be mayor of Montgomery. The Capital City needs a strong authority figure as leader that will fight to help stop Black on Black Crime(the majority of crime in MTG), cut down on drug usage and sales(which again, are predominantly in Black areas), and improve the schools by raising the standards by converting more schools to Magnet Schools and therefore raising standards rather then lowering them to the existing standard.

There's no reason why the children of West Montgomery(Poor Blacks) can't succeed just like those in the Academies(Whites that are willing to spend). Racism and Class Fragmentation will disappear once the above happens, and once we see folks like Mr. Holmes, Reed, Sanders, and the like helping actively to truly be voices for the black community like they so often like to say. Downtown's redevelopment ought to be able to be in reach for anyone that wants to pursue that desire. And in this country, in this state, in this year, all of that is attainable with 1 simple thing.

Desire.

[bystander1]

Originally Posted by neilson

It's not a matter of loosing stores to Prattville, Millbrook, Wetumpka, or Pike Road. It's a matter of Montgomery residents being willing to drive the extra couple of miles(gas prices be damned) to save a certain % on Sales Tax. You know well from living in Alabama that we hate taxes and if we have to drive 5 miles to save a couple cents on sales tax even if we lose the difference in the gas we used traveling, then so be it.

That's our mindset and also the choice of the citizens to be more willing to pay gas taxes and sales taxes for another municipality then Montgomery. It's basically a matter of protest and not paying to Montgomery if you don't have to. Stores won't close up in MTG to relocate outside the city limits but you will see high traffic on Chantilly Parkway for quite sometime. For that I will assure you.

If that was the case, tax revenue would have been going down, and it by no means hasn't gone down at all...

[bystander1]

Originally Posted by neilson

Going off on my personal opinion, Ingram ought to be mayor of Montgomery. The Capital City needs a strong authority figure as leader that will fight to help stop Black on Black Crime(the majority of crime in MTG), cut down on drug usage and sales(which again, are predominantly in Black areas), and improve the schools by raising the standards by converting more schools to Magnet Schools and therefore raising standards rather then lowering them to the existing standard.

There's no reason why the children of West Montgomery(Poor Blacks) can't succeed just like those in the Academies(Whites that are willing to spend). Racism and Class Fragmentation will disappear once the above happens, and once we see folks like Mr. Holmes, Reed, Sanders, and the like helping actively to truly be voices for the black community like they so often like to say. Downtown's redevelopment ought to be able to be in reach for anyone that wants to pursue that desire. And in this country, in this state, in this year, all of that is attainable with 1 simple thing.

Desire.

Dude, I'm not going to get into a debate with you about something you obviously know less about than you want to think you do...you'll have to go back to AL.com for that talk radio type stuff, but I will say this...

The stuff you're talking about in your usual rant is not something any city in America can snap it's fingers and solve. It's not limited to any one city, it's bigger than any city can solve. If Montgomery or any government could solve those things, then it must be the Kingdom of God.

[neilson]

Originally Posted by bystander1

Dude, I'm not going to get into a debate with you about something you obviously know less about than you want to think you do...you'll have to go back to AL.com for that talk radio type stuff, but I will say this...

The stuff you're talking about in your usual rant is not something any city in America can snap it's fingers and solve. It's not limited to any one city, it's bigger than any city can solve. If Montgomery or any government could solve those things, then it must be the Kingdom of God.

Aye. Well to be fair, I tend to ruffle the feathers over on AL.com but then again I'm not all into the AM radio scene like most in Montgomery appear to be. I know you don't listen to a lot of the local talk radio shows but I've heard enough good buzz about The Greg Show that I turn it on whenever I come though Montgomery and it's on.

On a related note, have you ever eaten at the Eastside Grille? Everyone that listens to Greg's Show seems to have nothing but good things to say about the food there.

[bystander1]

Nope, I haven't been there yet. But I hear the same things about Eastside Grille, too. The live music on the outside deck always sounds good when ever I ride by.

[Brown Duckz]

The thing is.. no one is going to drive an extra 5-10 miles to save 3.5 cents on the dollar at the Chantilly Parkway Wal-Mart. It's probably an extra gallon of gas to make the trip, than to go there regularly visited Wal-Mart. If you paid $3/gallon for gas.... and drove a car getting 20mpg to the new Wal-Mart an extra 10 miles away, you would have to spend $85 to break even on savings after having to use the extra gas. People will only migrate to the new one for big purchases IMO. That's until Bright annexes it... which he is going to pursue whether anyone else agrees. It would be stupid not to annex it because of the growth Chantilly Parkway is seeing RIGHT NOW and will continue to see for years. For christ sakes it's going to have a rear Eastchase entrance before years end......