We're excited about seeing the finished product of the newly renovated East Three Notch School into the new Andalusia City Hall.

We were fortunate enough to get a sneak peek at the renovations and have to say the City did a good job on this.

Like so many of you, we have fond memories of the old school building. We hated to see the building closed, but we knew it was necessary.

Now, we're so proud to see the City re purpose this building into a City Hall. It gives us all something to be proud of.

As Mayor Earl Johnson said in an interview with the Star-News, the building has something that a brand new building wouldn't - character.

Take a look around Andalusia and you'll see lots of character - some of it waiting to be exposed and discovered.

What's so great about the character of this building is the complimentary appearance that the First United Methodist Church and the American Pioneer building will all share with the new City Hall.

The church, with its stately red brick, majestic bell tower and beautiful stained glass windows, along with the neo-classical Georgian-Greek Revival styling of the American Pioneer building all make a lovely intersection at East Three Notch Street and Sixth Avenue.

In the middle of downtown, on Court Square, the Covington County Courthouse, along with the Clark Theater and the Timmerman Building all stand strong as beautiful symbols of American life. And when the Murphy and Prestwood Buildings are complete, our Square will be of the finest in the nation with the beautiful park in the middle.

That's vision among city and private planners. That's called reclaiming character. That's called developing character.

And it's something that potential businesses and future citizens look for when they seek out a new home.

We hope that Andalusia's citizens realize that. It's not cheer leading for the City Council, it's just a fact. People who have visited other cities in Alabama can attest to this.

Birmingham, with all it's industry and glory, has a City Hall that's in worse shape than our old City Hall. Mobile, with it's sparkling new building - well, it's just tacky. And Montgomery's may look nice on the inside, but take a stroll inside. It's not a pretty sight.

Some may criticize the expense or the fact a move was even made. And to those, we simply pose the question, "Would you rather the building have been torn down or allowed to fall into disrepair?"