Holloway updates city projects for breakfast crowd

Here is the prepared text of Mayor A.J. Holloway’s remarks made during Breakfast with the Mayor, a Biloxi Chamber of Commerce-sponsored event held Wednesday, March 27, 2013 at IP Casino Resort Spa.

Good morning, and welcome to another Breakfast with the Mayor.

This morning, I’m going to give you a quick update on things we have going on throughout the city, and we have all our department directors here to help answer questions.

The other day I was being interviewed by a reporter from Jackson and she wanted to know how old I was. I told her I was younger than the Pope.

She said yea, but the Pope has a boss who is all knowing. I said, “I don’t know, have you ever met the people of Biloxi?”

Easter is just around the corner, and we’ve hosted well over a thousand kids at Easter events. 400 were at an Easter egg hunt on the Town Green this past Saturday, and we had another 700 in Woolmarket the next day.

This Saturday we’re expecting 200 special need children for their own Easter Egg hunt on the Town Green.

Spring sports are picking up, too. Baseball and softball will have opening ceremonies on Saturday, and the challenger baseball league begins on April 2.

Our farmer’s market kicks off its 39th year on April 2.

We also have the senior games coming up April 13 to 20.

We have people coming from all over the country to participate. One is even coming from Alaska. For those of you interested in participating, registration info is on the table at the entrance.

This great weather also means you can get out fishing. In mid-April we’ll be opening the Point Cadet Fishing Bridge. Next month, we’ll also be advertising for bids to repair the end of the Lighthouse Pier. We will have that job finished this summer.

The Kuhn Street pier and boat ramp and new parking are all finished, and we’ll be awarding a contract to wrap up the Forest Avenue pier next month.

The commercial harbor work will be completed in May, and a contract has been awarded to install the statue of D’Iberville on the lawn at the Visitors Center.

Golden Nugget continues to make improvements at the Isle. You can see construction at the Hard Rock, and at the seafood museum and waterfront park.

Three new restaurants are in the works on west beach between Rodenburg and Veterans. There’s work at Fatima and St. Michael’s, and new fast food restaurants at Edgewater Mall and Cedar Lake. Like I’ve said, we have a milestone large or small – each and every day. OK, that gets us started.

How about questions for these directors?