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Gulfport Tax Money at Work
Jones Park Gets Ponds, Wispy Fountains

by Keith Burton GCN  6/24/08

Finally, nearly three years after Katrina destroyed Gulfport's Jones Park, there are signs of real improvements at the once heavily used park.

The city has established two small ponds in the area that was once only dirt. The ponds cannot be seen from U.S. 90, or even from the parking areas inside the park, but they are there, lying low near some trees.

The ponds have a couple of benches, some plants and small fountains that blow wispy streams of water into the air. The fountains look particularly vulnerable to vandalism.

Gulfport Mayor Brent Warr has been frequently criticized over the lack of progress on getting Jones Park back in shape. He recently spoke as a guest on a local radio station glowingly saying that the ponds are drawing visitors back and that the park was in the best shape it has ever been. GCN noted that the only visitor we saw was an apparent homeless man sleeping on one of the benches.

The nearby harbor remains empty though boaters do use the boat launches. Work on the harbor is said to get underway in July, but it will be many months before it is a harbor again. Currently it is mostly a huge shoreline lake.

War also plans a huge amphitheater at Jones Park for the future, and and then relocate the existing boat launches to another yet unbuilt location east of the seawall on the beach. Still, boaters find the harbor a suitable location to launch their boats. Parking for vehicles and boat trailers are in a dirt lot nearby.

But some progress is better than no progress, whispy fountains and all.

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