Members of the Biloxi City Council on Tuesday are expected to discuss a request by operators of the Maritime and Seafood Industry for more than $10 million in city assets, including waterfront property at the Tullis-Toledano site, and FEMA and insurance proceeds.
A measure introduced by Ward 1 Councilmember George Lawrence proposes to enter into a 99-year ground lease agreement for the four-acre site where the city’s Tullis-Toledano Manor once stood. The resolution, which includes a copy of the 19-point proposed lease, also refers to an agreement that has not yet appeared on a council agenda, a request by the museum for the city’s FEMA and insurance proceeds, which museum leaders hope to use to construct a $13- to $15-million museum at the Tullis site.
To read the resolution and proposed lease, click here.
The museum resolution is one of 14 measures on the agenda for the council meeting, which begins at 1:30 Tuesday afternoon at City Hall.
Among the other measures: requests to purchase rights of way for intersection improvements on Pass Road, grant a 60-day extension to Lamey-Rockco Electric Co. for traffic signal repairs, and contracts involving an elevated water tank in Woolmarket and the new phone system recently installed at City Hall and the Lopez-Quave Public Safety Center.
To see the complete agenda and available resolutions for the afternoon meeting and for a 10 a.m. special-called meeting regarding city property insurance, click here.
The view on Beach Boulevard
Traffic has moved surprisingly well on U.S. 90, according to Mayor A.J. Holloway, considering the amount of public improvement projects underway along the 11-mile stretch of the roadway in Biloxi.
Three center-median lighting projects along the roadway, the installation of center-median landscaping, the installation of a new beachfront fence at the Biloxi City Cemetery, and roadwork near the Ocean Club condominiums, and Hard Rock and Treasure Bay casino resorts have led to traffic slow-downs and intermittent lane closures.
As many as 50,000 vehicles travel sections of U.S. 90 on an average day, according to 2005 traffic counts assembled by Gulf Regional Planning Commission. (To see GRPC’s traffic count data online, click here.)
“We appreciate the patience of motorists on those occasions when we’ve had to temporarily close a lane,” Holloway said. “There are a lot of construction people working very close to this busy highway on various public and commercial improvement projects, and we’re asking the motoring public to continue to keep safety in mind at all times.”
To see photos of lighting and cemetery fence work along Beach Boulevard, click here.
News and notes
Race for the case: The Biloxi schooners Glenn L. Swetman and Mike Sekul will be racing Sunday in the annual Race for the Case. Schooner captains George Corchis of Beau Rivage and Ralph Burdick of IP Casino Resort Spa will leave the Gulfport Yacht Club at 1 p.m. enroute to the Schooner Pier in Biloxi. Best viewing: from the Biloxi Lighthouse to schooner pier.
Webcasting: Bay Press Gene Coleman hosts the weekly “City Desk” webcast. To listen to this week’s program, click here.
Storm and flood info: The city’s Storm & Flood Preparedness guides were mailed last week to the city’s 24,000 postal customers. You can see a host of preparedness information, along with live radar from sites along the Gulf of Mexico, in the city’s online Storm & Flood Preparedness section. Go there by clicking here.
Photo archives: Photos from the Blessing of the Fleet and recent firefighters graduation ceremony have joined the city’s online photo and video archive, a comprehensive gathering of images from before, during and after Hurricane Katrina. To visit the archive, click here.
