As the Mississippi River rose, the people came.

They came in droves. From casual onlookers with point-and-shoot cameras to professional print and television journalists, Vicksburg became national news. Many of those people and those journalists — some had never visited our town — arrived from the most direct route, west on Clay Street from Interstate 20. It’s the first city exit from the east, and it winds past the majestic Vicksburg National Military Park and into downtown Vicksburg.

Crest the hill at Cherry and drive two blocks — as most of our visitors likely did — and one of our city’s greatest eyesores shows itself. It showed throughout the flood, as it has the past nearly six years. A chain-link fence extends to the curb and across the length of the building providing a view of overgrown grass and bricks. Along the sidewalk are hundreds, if not thousands, of rusty bent nails. Disgraceful.

Imagine our visitors passing the newly refurbished The Vicksburg hotel and the stately BB club only to have to walk or drive past the mess. The message it sends our visitors is that the city is falling apart and that, in six years, nothing has been accomplished to brighten an obvious blight on the overall view of the city.

The building at 713 Clay St. collapsed in January of 2006. Since that time, legal battles between the owners of the building and owners of subsequent buildings has raged on. The city is not part of those suits and should not be. A resolution on who is responsible for what will be finalized in a civil court. The wheels of justice move slowly.

In six years, though, the city has done nothing with the part it can control — the outside appearance. Forethought five years ago might have led to the purchase of sheets of plywood from a local hardware store and a few nails — new nails as opposed to the safety-hazard nails that now litter the sidewalk. Cover the gaping hole, which will cover the bricks and the high grass. Call on local art students to make a community service project. AmeriCorps is here, call on them.

We live in a city that has regularly scheduled meetings of an architectural review board. It is their charge to decide if buildings in the downtown historic area stay, “compatible with the district’s character.” Whether wanting to take down an awning, add a painted sign on a business or add windows and doors, each case must go through the review board.

There should be no review when it comes to 713 Clay St. Plyboard should start going up now to cover what has become a sad punchline in our downtown.

Almost six years have passed since that building collapsed, yet the area in the immediate vicinity is an embarrassment to those who live and work here. Not to mention the sour taste left in the mouths of our visitors — from Madison to Manitoba.

Tourism is sure to boom in the coming two years as Vicksburg’s role in the Civil War is celebrated in the sesquicentennial events. How many more tourists on Clay Street will stop at that building and shake their heads in disgust?

Cover it up. Paint it. Make it look as pleasing as possible to visitors and those who live here. Eventually, the courts will decide on a resolution, but when that will happen relies on the speed in which the wheels of justice turn. Slowly.

The least we could do is try to make it pleasing to the eye. It sure is not now.