Removing the cones: Friday ceremony marks end to Streetscape project

By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette

Saturday, June 4, 2011 — With the music of Stephen Collins Foster as a backdrop, it was standing room only Friday morning as local residents, business owners and civic leaders gathered at the Old Court House to mark a historic event — the official removal of the orange construction cones from downtown Bardstown, signaling the the completion of the city’s ambitious Streetscape project.

Click here to visit the Streetscape Completion Photo Album.

Those who gathered Friday, June 3, 2011, for the official Streetscape project closing ceremony were invited to take part in a photo to mark the historic occasion. Photo by Larry Green (click to enlarge).

Kim Huston, president and CEO of the Nelson Economic Development Agency, welcomed guests to commemorate the re-dedication of the new look of downtown.

“It’s not just about the government leaders who made this happen,” Huston said. “its’ not just about the people who work downtown and live downtown. It’s about everyone of us who  has a love fo our downtown.”

Huston credited community leaders with the vision to see the benefits of sprucing up downtown, and with the ingenuity for making it possible by securing funding to make it happen.

Judge-Executive Dean Watts thanked Gov. Steve Beshear, and current Transportation Secretary Mike Hancock and former secretary Joe Prather for their help in making Streetscape a reality.

Bardstown Mayor Bill Sheckles credited the vision of his predecessor, Dick Heaton, who he called “the father of the modern-day Streetscape” project. Heaton’s support of the project was responsible for making the Streetscape project happen, he said.

Former Bardstown Mayor Dick Heaton was credited for the vision of seeing the benefit of the Streetscape project, and working during his term as mayor to see it come to fruition. Photo by Jim Brooks (click to enlarge).

Former Mayor Dick Heaton said the Streetscape project actually began in 2000 with a study by Bardstown native Rick Hill. One of the ideas from the study including doing something with the John Fitch monument portion of Court Square, he said.

After he was elected mayor in 2007, Heaton said he put his sales skills to work to try to find funding and support in Frankfort for the downtown project. The project was well-received, but funding wasn’t available until the stimulus funds were available for shovel-ready projects. The Streetscape project qualified for stimulus money, and it did not take money away from other local projects, he said.

Heaton pointed out that one of the biggest benefits of the Streetscape project is one you can’t see — and that was a much-needed upgrade of water lines in downtown Bardstown. The new water lines improve water pressure to downtown businesses and replaced aging fire hydrants.

In addition to all of the local agencies involved in the project, Heaton recognized the downtown businesses who continued their business operations during construction in front of their businesses. “Today is a great day for Bardstown,” he said.

Huston read a timeline of the Streetscape project from its beginning, noting that June 2, 2010 was the day the trees in downtown were cut “was a day I didn’t think I would survive.”

The crowd assembled for the Streetscape completion ceremony stands while the Stephen Foster Singers sing the state song, "My Old Kentucky Home." Photo by Jim Brooks (click image to enlarge).

She credited the construction workers, who worked during the hottest weather, worked around the schedules of events, and even stopped work and gave their respects to passing funeral motorcades. The construction workers were well-known to downtown businesses and became friends, she said. “While we loved having them here, we love that they’re gone.”

With comments completed, Huston directed that the three orange traffic cones decorated with balloons — the only cones left downtown — were officially removed by a construction company representative, garnering a round of applause from onlookers.

Huston thanked the downtown merchants who bore the brunt of the dust and inconvenience of having their streets and sidewalks in front of their businesses ripped up during the Streetscape project.

Larry Green, city assistant administrator, shoots a photograph of those assembled at the Streetscape completion ceremony on Friday, June 3, 2011. Green was hoisted above the crowd in a city utilities bucket truck. In the photograph he shot (see top photo), this writer can be seen standing on the yellow line shooting this photograph at the same time. Photo by Jim Brooks (click image to enlarge).

To close the ceremony, Huston noted the historic nature of the event by inviting everyone in the crowd to walk to the intersection of North Third Street and Flaget and pose for a photo with the courthouse and first block of North Third as a backdrop. “This is one of the proudest days for Bardstown and Nelson County,” Huston said.

At Flaget and North Third, Larry Green, assistant city administrator was hoisted above the crowd in a city utilities bucket truck and he shot the photograph of this Streetscape moment in time.

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