Has there officially been a line drawn in the sand; rather a line drawn on Adams Street?
Is this where the working relationship between the City of Vicksburg and Warren County sours?
Is this where partnerships split and the parties go their separate ways?
That’s the feeling you might get when you read about the ongoing soap opera that is the debate on whether to raze — or in layman’s terms tear down — two historic homes, owned by the county, on Adams Street.
For what seems like a generation, the county has made public its intent to tear down the homes to make room for a parking lot to meet the demands of growing services.
On the other side of the debate, the city’s Board of Architectural Review and other historic groups have cried foul, saying the two homes are historic icons that deserve to be preserved and saved from a bulldozer.
And now Vicksburg’s Board of Mayor and Aldermen have denied the county’s appeal, virtually guaranteeing the matter will now head to court.
It is disappointing this debate, now more than a decade old, is headed to court. It is disappointing a resolution could not have been reached by now.
In the meantime, the homes have been allowed to deteriorate, making any future restoration and preservation more difficult and more costly.
Vicksburg and Warren County are both growing and with that growth comes growing pains, such as the debate of whether to preserve history or make way for development.
But, while we applaud the checks and balances in place for such a discussion, this has drug on for way too long and now it appears that some relations might be deteriorating along with the buildings.