Picayune’s economy appears to be on the mend as the “Great Recession” slowly comes to an end.

Local real estate sales agents report home sales are up 30 percent. Some businesses at the Picayune Industrial Park are reporting some growth, a welcome change from the previous few years.

And the city has gussied up. There is still some cleaning up needed of vacant lots and other eyesores. More beautification is planned as the city expands its efforts to better define “old” Picayune with the installation of streetlights that replicate those in use around the turn of the 20th century.

City hall reflects the old and new Picayune in its construction. There is the older “historic” part of city hall and the recently constructed new part of city hall. The two are tied together in a fashion that makes it hard for a visitor to guess which office is in which side when doing business there.

City hall now has in it most of the offices that people who do business with the city need to access, with the exception of the permits office that is located in the Intermodal Center, the railroad station to most, where it has room to spread out. The Intermodal Center is really just across the railroad tracks from city hall so those who need to do business at city hall and also need building permits don’t have far to go.

The Intermodal Center is a relatively new structure for the city and so much better than the old pavilion that used to serve as the train station.

Taken as a whole, the city is steadily improving its attraction to visitors as the local economy also improves.