PUB CLEARS WAY FOR DOWNTOWN ALLEY IMPROVEMENTS

(Ed.'s Note: It took less than half an hour for this Brownsville Public Utility Board crew to remove a useless utility pole from the alley behind the Central Fire Station in preparation for the paving of the inner city alley.

First, the worker with the chainsaw sliced neatly through the pole while it was chained to a power screw truck that would hoist it to the waiting trailer at left. After the pole was hauled off, it was the turn of the utility box installers to replace the stump with underground utility connections. The job still has a ways to go, as can be seen.

But even these small signs of progress give downtown merchants hope that the commerce-killing construction in the Market Square area will be finished soon and pedestrian and vehicular traffic can resume.)