Florida the rules are different here Chapter XCIX

Eighty year old mule or horseshoe tracks get covered over in asphalt and preservationists are up in arms. Some how TFM thinks these people need a life. You just got to love Florida.

Linked to- Bright & Early, Bullwinkle, Woman Honor Thyself, The World According to Carl,

Note- This is the 99th chapter of Florida the rules are different here. I'll probably recap my old posts sometime this weekend. Number 100 is only days away!

ORANGE CITY -- A piece of Orange City history was black-topped Thursday.

Several mule or horseshoe tracks embedded in the concrete roadway near Dickinson Park when South Holly Avenue was paved in the mid-1920s are now covered by asphalt.

As soon as the Halifax Paving trucks showed up before 9 a.m., historical preservationists had the phone lines buzzing.

"This is something unique to the history of Orange City when concrete was used," said Al Blue, a former city councilman and preservationist. "It's in the historical district and has historical value. They should be maintained rather then covered up."

According to Blue, the concrete roads were poured in the center of town between 1926 and 1928 when Town Hall was built. Mules and horses pulled the wagons filled with stone and cement that were used to make the concrete. On occasion, the animals crossed over newly poured areas before they set and left shoe imprints.

Animal shoeprints are still visible on North Oak Avenue, and there are no plans to pave over that street.

About 10 years ago, residents successfully fought off the proposed paving of French Avenue to preserve a similar old concrete road that contains large pieces of pink and gray granite brought in from out of state, Blue said.

There was no warning or fight this time.

"I would have liked to have been told before this happened," said Gerald Morin, chairman of the city's historical preservation board. "But I'm not sure what we could have done anyway. We are an advisory board and have no powers."

City Manager John McCue said the road is in terrible condition and has been slated for resurfacing for at least two years. The resurfacing of South Holly Avenue between Graves and Blue Springs avenues is included in the city's capital improvement budget for $120,000.

"The need to improve the transportation network in the city outweighs asphalting over the mule prints," McCue said.

Resident Cal Depew, 60, disagrees.

"I remember learning to drive on all these concrete roads. I hate to see them covered up. There's nothing wrong with them," he said.