A Message from Mayor Stimpson - July 14
Jul 14th, 2020
Good evening,
It is 9 p.m. on Tuesday, July 14 and I am writing to give you an update on the City of Mobile’s efforts regarding COVID-19.
As of tonight, there have been 5,255 total confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Mobile County, an increase of 105 since Monday. Daily numbers on hospitalizations and deaths were not available from the Mobile County Health Department, due to the rapidly evolving nature of COVID-19 cases.
We will provide updated numbers as they become available to us.
The business of the City rolls on, even in a pandemic. I’m proud of the work our city employees are doing to continue serving you during this challenging time - often putting themselves at risk to take care of us.
Tonight I’d like to share a few highlights from some of our key departments.
Public Services
• Sidewalk contractors continue to make repairs throughout the City to sidewalks that are damaged due to tree roots and other causes. This work is being done by many of our small and new start construction companies – we are excited to help them build their capacity and expertise.
• Our mowing crews are working overtime to keep up with the fast-growing grass this season. However, with some reduced capacity in our crews due to the COVID crisis and no additional support for litter pickup, in some cases the grass may get a little taller than we would like. We are working as hard as possible to keep Mobile looking great.
Parks and Recreation
• The month of July is National Parks and Recreation Month. Of note, three of teammates from the Mobile Parks and Recreation Department were highlighted as ‘Heroes’ from across the United States including: Leonard Hawkins of the Mobile Tennis Center, Jerome Leland from Parks and Recreation and Cathy Hawkins from Parks and Recreation. The story can be found clicking here. https://www.nrpa.org/CelebratingYou/
Engineering
• The $5 million 2020 Resurfacing Program began this week at three locations throughout the City including the Gulf Manor subdivision, Brawood, Dalewood, and Springwood Neighborhoods. This work will happen over the next twelve months.
• A new contract was awarded to rebuild Little Flower Ave from Airport to Government Street – this will be a great improvement to this very rough section of roadway.
Real Estate and Asset Management
• Requests for cleaning offices due to COVID continue to be made, but the practice of clearing the space for 7-days, when possible, is the preferred method to mitigate any contamination.
• Two re-roofing projects are making great progress. The Convention Center, being done by Dortch Figures & Sons Construction Company, one of our DBE contractors, is 85% complete. The Exploreum is also being re-roofed by E. Cornell Malone and is about 35% complete.
Programs and Project Management
• The major Broad Street Project, part of the TIGER Grant is 22% complete and remains on schedule. However, progress comes with a price as the intersection of Spring Hill and Broad Street is now closed until November to re-build this intersection and the underground utilities.
• The construction of a new roundabout located at the intersection of Broad Street and Canal Street has been awarded to John G. Walton and Associates with construction expected to begin in August. This transformative project will make this complex intersection safer, more efficient, and more attractive.
As you can see, we have a lot going on in the City! I look forward to sharing updates from some of our other departments in the future.
I want to close by thanking the workers on the front lines: those working in health care, sanitation, transportation, deliveries and child care — including our own team at City Hall. Day after day, they put themselves in harm's way for others: to care for us, to ensure we have access to the things we need, and to help us through this difficult time.
Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers tonight.