The Benedum Civic Center is no stranger to seeing plenty of usage. In fact, it’s likely the most heavily utilized and most recognizable facility in Bridgeport.

 

Of course, all of that usage also means that the building and the surrounding grounds need regular attention. In recent years, tens of thousands of dollars have been spent to keep the building up to par. And some of that work continued in the past couple of weeks.

 

Bridgeport Parks and Recreation Director Don Burton said several thousand dollars were spent to do repair work to exterior places at the complex. The work involved concrete walls that had seen better days.

 

“A couple of years ago I looked into having a few companies provide quote to repair the wall near the end of the parking lot and they never came through. Since that time, it’s remained an eyesore,” said Burton, of the wall that he said is part of the original floodwall put in place in the 1940 or 1950s. “It was crumbling in sports so I decided it to revisit it this year.”

 

And now, the work is done. Burton found a company that has done work for the city previously in “Creative Concrete” and contacted them. In short order, the work was done to repair the wall at the end of the parking lot. Another project was also done.

 

An area on the opposite side of the parking lot, near the side entrance and walkway and steps that sits by the triangular area below the flag poles also had crumbling concrete in areas. That work was also completed and the area looks close to new.

 

“You’ve heard the saying you can’t put makeup or lipstick on a pig, but this time the lipstick looks pretty good. The product not only worked, but the material used should standup substantially longer than in the past,” said Burton.

 

 Burton said the wall below the triangular area has been repaired before. He said each time the repairs did not last long. He expects that to be different this time. The cost to do the work was $3,400.