A trio of portable toilets will provide a welcome respite in the coming days as the city takes the plunge on an interior/exterior revitalization of downtown’s public restrooms downtown.
Donor funds will relieve taxpayers of a substantial amount of the cost, according to Gladewater City Manager Charlie Smith, privy to the contractors’ project scope.
“We’re going to have these things closed for about a week, give them a total facelift,” he said. “I also want to make sure people know it was donations that went toward this.
“They’re going to be really nice when we get done.”
Across the street, another key project was ready-to-start Nov. 18 before wet weather moved in and chased off the crew.
It’s been about a year since the City of Gladewater acquired property immediately south of the Union Pacific Railroad tracks, and a promised fence at the core of the deal will soon take shape. Working around the rain, White Oak’s Silver Star Fabrication is handling the $150,000 task to install a wrought-iron barrier south of the tracks and spanning four blocks from Ferry Street to the East Broadway Avenue crossing.
Contractors are at work on an interior/exterior facelift of Gladewater’s public restrooms downtown. Donor-funded, the project should be completed within a week, plenty of time to spare before the community’s annual Christmas Parade, rolling out at 4:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 14 with the theme ‘Santa Claus is Coming to Historic Downtown Gladewater.’ (Photos by James Draper)