We went back to visit historical Sailboat Bend as we wanted to witness the opening and closing of a swing bridge over the New River that is 83 years old.
Built in 1925 the Snow-Reed Bridge is the oldest operating metal pony truss swing bridge in the state of Florida. A real piece of history just blocks from where we live. The bridge was named after two Fort Lauderdale mayors that served during the construction.
When the bridge was originally built there were deer grazing and Indians hunting along the banks of the New River. Now you can see that there are houses with their boats parked behind them on the river. How life changes.
Today, the bridge is a part of the 400 block of Southwest 11th Avenue, which connects historic neighborhoods of Sailboat Bend and Riverside Park. The Fort Lauderdale Historical Society has designated the bridge as historic property #19.
We wanted to post a few photos of the bridge actually closing to help you get a feel for how it works. It was amazing to stand there just a few feet from the edge and watch the bridge slide into place at the end of the road.
The bridge tender has a tiny little house photographed here. That little spot that you see on the side of the house is the plaque, pictured above, from the historical society
When a boat approaches, the bridge operator, a woman today, leaves the operator's house at the north end and walks to the center of the bridge. From there, the operator lowers the barricades and swings the bridge open and shut. During a power outage, the bridge can be swung open by hand.
A few months ago there was a scandal relating to the bridge tender and this swing bridge. A local reporter enamored with the bridge decided to do a small story on the bridge. He went to talk to the bridge tender and when he did his story, she got fired for talking to him. That created a bigger story and led to an investigation that discovered that the city was outsourcing the job of tending the bridge to the tune of almost $140k a year. The company was paying the bridge tender $9 an hour. Do the math.
If you are interested to know the fate of the poor lady who got fired you can follow some of these links. It is a good human interest story.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/columnists/sfl-ralphbridgetender,0,6984193.column
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/columnists/sfl-0729curtiss,0,2065368,full.column
http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/features/columnists/papi/blog/2007/08/your_thoughts_on_jeanie_the_br.html
http://blogs.browardpalmbeach.com/pulp/2007/07/
6 comments:
Fascinating story and pics. I don't suppose the lady in the picture is the one who got fired? I followed the links but was unable to find where she has been re-hired.
A quick Blogger technical question. I noticed that your first pic will enlarge when clicked on but the others do not. I have the same issue (many times none of my pics will enlarge). Do you know why this happens? Is it file size perhaps? I upload most of my pics directly from my cameras to my computer without downsizing the file size. I wonder if that is the problem?
Great story, nice pictures and another thing for me to check out when I haul my Bonneville to Pure Triumph this week for a check up!
Hi Sarch, We actually wrote the journalist and asked him about whether the lady got her job back, but so far have not received an answer. We were also wondering if the lady we photographed was the one who was fired.
I did resize these photos, as directly from the camera they are huge. I don't know why one can click on some of them and see the enlarged version. Maybe we should ask Steve Williams as he has been doing his blog and photos much longer than us. We find posting the images a real slow tedious process. We do websites all the time but it is our first attempt at a blog.
Thanks for dropping by. Saw your new Goldwing seat. A real beauty.
Hello Conch,
There are lots of neat places around here and until we began scootering, we were not always as aware of them. We have reached the 1000 mile mark on our Vespas and that is just since the end of October.
Your photos are awesome! Suddenly I have this urge to buy a sailboat and live on that beautiful water.
Irondad it might be a tight squeeze with your motorcycle.
YES, the fired bridge-tender did get her job back and she is VERY GOOD at it. Too bad they still "outsource" this service as the quality leave s alot to be desired and the costs I am sure is much higher than one would expect!
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