Freedom Center
When you take a trip downtown to City Hall, you’ll see a lot of digging going on. And don’t try to get from Liberty to Arch on Market. It’s closed between Seneca and Freedom. It’s closed for the construction of the long awaited new police facility, to be known as "Freedom Center." Now, some people think that’s a strange name for a police station with
ten eight-hour holding cells in it. But others think it’s a fine name because it sits right in the center of what used to be Freedom Avenue.If you remember back a few years, Freedom Avenue used to travel around the square. The rubble that’s being dug out of the construction area right now is from the old Morrison Theater and other buildings that were located on that circle. Because of all that rubble, a much deeper area had to be dug out. It costs a little more to do that, but it’s safer and prevents future building problems. The veteran’s monuments that were located on the site are being moved to Freedom Plaza, also under construction. Freedom Plaza (the part facing Main St.) should be completed by the end of this September.
When completed, the Freedom Center building will have twenty-two thousand square feet of space to house the City of Alliance Police Department. If you want to compare that to something, the average house has about two thousand square feet. You could fit eleven houses into the new building.
Right now the Police Department operates in the bottom part of the City Hall building at 470 E. Market St. The records division and the dispatch area moved to part of the second floor a few years ago when space became available. To say that the space is cramped in the old building is putting it mildly. The Police Department operates twenty-four hours a day, has forty-five full time officers, fifteen part-time officers, dispatchers, supervisors, and administrative staff.
Freedom Center will connect to the old City Hall building via a walkway that will enter through existing windows on the second and third floors. Access to the courtroom and the Clerk of Court’s office will be through the new building and there will be an elevator. When in its "lock-out" mode, the elevator will be used to transport prisoners from the holding cells to the courtroom. The same elevator will transport the general public when not being used for prisoners. Entry to the building will be off Market St.
The new building will have a brick finish to nicely compliment, though not specifically match the old building. The general construction should start sometime in October and go for about
fourteen months. The alley beside the Moose Club is being vacated and a sidewalk will take its place. Many thanks to the Moose Club for their cooperation in this venture.Occupancy is expected in January of 2003. When completed, we will host an Open House for the public to tour the facility. But, please feel free now to come down and watch the progress. If you have any questions about the construction, just call the Mayor’s office at 330-821-3110.