Owners of building near downtown collapse site demand work stop

Published 12:00 am Saturday, March 27, 2010

Despite the threat of legal action by a Washington Street building owner, city officials said Friday they do not intend to get involved in a dispute over a shared wall at the cleanup site of two Clay Street buildings that collapsed in 2006.

Lisa and Randy Ashcraft — who in April 2008 purchased the building at 1221 Washington St. that was formerly connected to the collapsed buildings — spent Thursday and Friday having city officials and the clean-up contractor served with letters from their lawyers demanding work stop on the shared wall being torn down, which is exposing the rear of their building.   

“We’re talking about a 30-foot by 20-foot hole in my building that is exposing my rafters, brand new roof and sheetrock,” said Lisa Ashcraft. “This is a request for immediate action to halt any further damage to my property, and I’m also requesting that I be compensated for the water damage that I have already got.”

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Mayor Paul Winfield was served with papers — personally and on behalf of the City of Vicksburg — between the open and closed sessions of Thursday’s Board of Mayor and Aldermen meeting. Along with Winfield, Ashcraft said she had letters delivered to Building and Inspections Director Victor Gray-Lewis and Bill Greenwood, owner of Antique Wood and Brick Company of Mississippi, which began dismantling the collapsed buildings brick by brick more than three years ago.

As of Friday, Ashcraft said Greenwood’s crew had not ceased dismantling the wall and she had not heard a response from city officials. If the wall continues to be taken down in the coming week, Ashcraft said she will begin exploring her legal options and has not ruled out filing lawsuits against Greenwood, the city and city officials personally.

“When I purchased this building, I was repeatedly promised by Victor Gray-Lewis that that wall would be capped and left intact,” said Ashcraft.

Ashcraft said she served Winfield personally because she believes his administration is avoiding her pleas for help in retaliation for various open records requests she has filed at City Hall since Winfield became mayor last summer.

“It’s becoming very apparent to me that this is being orchestrated through the city to cause me grief,” she said. “The sad part is the taxpayers are the ones that are going to pay for their games.”

After being served with the papers Thursday, Winfield said he has never had any discussions about Ashcraft’s building and further denied having a personal vendetta against her. He said the papers would be given to City Attorney Lee Davis Thames Jr. to review. Reached Friday, Thames said the city does not intend to get involved.

“The City of Vicksburg doesn’t have a dog in this hunt,” said Thames. “It’s just not a city matter. It’s a dispute between two property owners. Unless we get a court order to step in, we’d be opening up ourselves to liability.”

Ashcraft maintains the city is already liable, and said records exist stating the city would prevent the shared wall from being taken down. Thames said he has looked through boxes of legal documents concerning the collapsed buildings and has not found any agreement pertaining to the wall.

The 140-year-old structures at 707-713 Clay St. collapsed Jan. 25, 2006. The collapse sparked two years of legal wrangling between the city and property owners over whether the buildings should be stabilized and restored or torn down entirely.

Circuit Judge Isadore Patrick approved an agreement in June 2008 that gave Greenwood’s company 18 months to tear down the structures piece by piece. With the agreement set to expire in December, the city agreed to give Greenwood until August to finish the debris removal. 

Contact Steve Sanoski at ssanoski@vicksburgpost.com