It's at the top of Mayor Melton's list of properties to clean up the Farish Street District. However, the owners of that land see it a different way. Tuesday city inspectors and the owner of the A-1 Pallet Company squared off when they came to look over possible code violations.
City inspectors say they were told by the mayor yesterday to clean up this property by the end of the year. But when they came to look around the property, the owner denied them access.
Mayor Melton made his priority to clean up the Pallet Company very clear to his department heads. Monday at the meeting Melton told his staff, "Ya'll know who owns it; I don't care who owns it; I want that place to come down."
When code and fire inspectors went to the property, they never made it beyond the front gate. Community Improvement Director Joe Lewis says, "My officers came down to progress an active case we have now for cleanup; they were denied access to go in and see if it has been done."
A-1 Pallet owner Carl Monte Reeves called off the inspection, saying it would interrupt his business, and that he was being singled out unfairly. Reeves told inspectors, "I imagine this has something to do with politics."
City inspectors say they could still see numerous code violations from outside the fence.
Lewis says, "What concerns us is the condition of the wood that's inside, the deplorable conditition of the buildings, the broken glass. We do have people telling us people are staying here at night."
Reeves, who is running for tax assessor, says he just recently had an inspection, and is complying with his end of an agreement to clean up his property.
Reeves says, "The grass is always cut, the trash is always picked up. I think were complying more; we pay a tremendous amount of taxes."
At one point Reeves said he would let just the fire inspectors inside, so he went home to change so he could escort them through the minefield of pallets. But when he returned, he changed his mind and said no.
Joe Lewis says, "We'll take our present case on the cleanup; we don't progress it, we'll take him to environmental court."
Reeves has agreed to let inspectors in Wednesday morning at 10 am.
