STARKVILLE — Residents and visitors can now tune in to a real-time view of Main Street, thanks to a live-streaming camera positioned atop City Hall.
The camera, donated to the city anonymously, was installed in January and broadcasts a continuous live feed of Main Street, accessible via the city’s website. The intended purpose of the camera, Spruill said, is to showcase the progress and create a timelapse of the Main Street Revitalization Project, which is expected to begin sometime this spring.
“It’s just an opportunity to view Main Street and the revitalization project,” Spruill said. “It’s a fun way to have a time lapse on how that progresses and what it looks like as we go through the (one- to two-year) process.”
The Main Street Master Plan, which details the plans of the revitalization project, was approved by the city’s board of aldermen in 2022. The plan includes expanding sidewalks in front of businesses by reorienting parking spaces, eliminating the right turn lane on Montgomery Street, adding trees to the edge of Main Street and adding string lights above the road.
Phase one of the project will extend from City Hall to Jackson Street and will incorporate the Montgomery Street intersection. The city has about $9.5 million to go toward the project, between cash and committed funds.
The redesign plan also includes a second phase from Jackson Street to Montgomery Street, but Spruill told The Dispatch in July that whether that phase rolls out is dependent on funding.
Though the camera’s primary purpose serves to give viewers a glimpse real time into Main Street redesign, Spruill noted that the camera could assist law enforcement with accident reconstruction or reviewing criminal activity on Main Street, though the camera is not equipped with license plate recognition technology.
“For any problems or concerns as it relates to accident reconstruction or crime or that sort of thing, it would allow us to see who might or might not have, let’s say, broken a window downtown,” Spruill said. “We’ve already got those kinds of cameras downtown, so this is just another view.”
Spruill also said the live feed from the camera can serve as a weather cam for local television station WCBI.
As with traffic cameras throughout the city, Starkville Police Department will store footage from the MainView feed for 72 hours.
“We have that system throughout town for security and surveillance and this, of course, is a great view for them to have,” Clements said. “So, if there is an incident … they’ll have that feed available in their real-time intelligence center at the police department.”
Spruill expressed that the camera not only offers a way for people to engage with the revitalization project but also connects former Starkville residents or those with a vested interest in the city to the transformation happening downtown.
“I think it’s just great fun to be able to tune in and see what’s going on downtown,” Spruill said. “This is pretty much the view I have out my window, and so I think it’s nice to share that with the public, and it also lets them see what kind of progress we’re making.”
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 33 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 33 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
