City employees form curbs and gutters around a new flower bed Wednesday near Lee Street. The beds eventually will run on Washington from Mattingly Street to Grove. Sidewalks are also being repaired and new ones installed. The $550,000 cost of the project will be paid through a 2007 $16.9 million bond issue, said strategic planning director Paul Rogers. Rogers also said the plant and flower beds serve as “traffic calming devices,” discouraging illegal passing and protecting parking spaces on the two-lane street. The city employees are Daniel Williams, left, Joseph Boler, front, and Richard Williams and Donnie Elmore, back. (Suzanne Feliciano*The Vicksburg Post)