STARKVILLE — Before Mississippi Main Street”s charrette team came to West Point, there was already an effort under way to “CREATE” small-town change.
In 2008, a team of six students from the Mississippi State University College of Architecture”s Carl Small Town Center visited West Point to perform the same function as the team from Mississippi Main Street, which visited West Point and made recommendations last week.
Granted, the MSU team was less experienced, but sponsorship from the Tupelo-based CREATE Foundation made the students” work equally free to the city.
Professor John Poros, of the College of Architecture, Art and Design at MSU, says there”s no after-the-fact competition between the CSTC team and the Main Street team to see ideas implemented, but he doesn”t want to see the architecture students” work fall by the wayside.
“One of the great frustrations in this line of work is to see things not being done. We want to spur the city to take up some of these proposals,” said Poros.
The CSTC team, which spent a full semester working on their West Point project, as opposed to three days for the charrette team, gained the most traction with its idea for a farmers” market. A location was selected at the corner of Critz Street and Main Street, the location of the old KCS rail station, and trees were planted to give the area some character. The idea of building a pavilion was discussed at one point.
But a lot has changed since 2008. More businesses have left town since Sara Lee closed in 2007. Former Chief Administrative Officer Paul McKay, who was the CSTC team”s primary contact, has been replaced by Randy Jones. And the city budget was $700,000 in the red at one point.
Jones says the idea for the farmers” market is still in the works, but even with the budget balanced, there”s no money for a pavilion. Justin Estes, an administrative assistant at City Hall, says the city won”t even provide tables at first, but a small fee collected from each vendor at the farmers” market will go toward providing some basic accommodations in the future.
Meanwhile, the charrette team”s suggestion that the Clay County Growth Alliance move into the old McClure Furniture building and allow the Howlin” Wolf Blues Museum to take over the Carnegie Library is receiving serious consideration.
The CSTC team also had plans for the McClure Building, which is located in a prime spot on Commerce Street in downtown West Point. Similar to the charrette team”s idea to make the upstairs an artist studio and gallery, the CSTC team suggested devoting the entire building to encompassing the arts scene in West Point.
And the similarities don”t stop with the McClure building. Both groups sought citizen input before conducting independent observations and analyses. Both teams unveiled their suggestions in presentations; the CSTC team at Giles Hall on the MSU campus and the charrette team at the Ritz Conference Center in West Point.
Both teams emphasized signage to direct traffic from Highway 45 Alternate to the downtown district and town-wide signage promoting West Point events and heritage. Both teams suggested subtle changes along Highway 45 to make traffic flow safer and more attractive.
The CSTC team came up with a few unique ideas, such as a 40-foot tall sign depicting Chester “Howlin” Wolf” Burnett at the intersection of Highway 45 and Main Street and the establishment of a micro-brewery.
Those ideas seem a bit farfetched now and sound as though they were pitched by juniors in college, yet Poros believes the team”s body of work deserves additional attention. He hopes the local stakeholders who participated in the process will continue appealing to West Point officials to see the ideas become reality.
“There has to be somebody in the community pushing it forward,” he said.
The Carl Small Town Center, endowed by Fred Carl, is used to seeing results follow its work. In 2008 an outdoor classroom was erected at East Oktibbeha schools based on the center”s designs. It assisted Starkville In Motion in designing a more bicycle-friendly environment. And plans are underway to refurbish Bobby Henry Memorial Swimming Pool in Greenville based on designs from CSTC students.
Jason Browne was previously a reporter for The Dispatch.
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