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| May 05, 2024 |
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General News: Sidewalk Closed by Fallen Debris
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| Ellen Kelly wants to know how a building like this can be allowed to deteriorate. |
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| The debris was dumped in the side yard. |
July 24, 2010
Cornwall realtor Ellen Kelly had a surprise when she stepped out of her car on Main Street Friday afternoon. That’s when a 20-foot long gutter and wooden board with nails sticking out came crashing down from the façade of the empty building at 276 Main Street.
Kelly, who owns Smitchger Realty in the building next door, says she is glad that no one was injured by the collapse of the gutter that ran along the second floor porch of the decaying building. She noted that children from the Butterhill School across the street frequently walk along Main Street and that the owner of the building is lucky that no one was injured.
Kelly called Cornwall building inspector Gary Vinson shortly after the incident and he came over to string yellow caution tape around the debris scattered on the sidewalk.
Vinson said he has been trying to get the property at 276 Main Street fixed up for years. He took the owner, Maria Aiossa, to court in May and her son promised to make a series of 16 repairs to the exterior and interior of the building, including the replacement of the gutter.
Two-and-half months later, most of the repairs have still not been done. “It was obvious that the gutter needed to be removed,” Vinson said. “I’ve been over backward to get them to make repairs.”
Vinson points to several thick files of paperwork involving his efforts to get repairs done at the building. “This building has been in contention for the 22 years I have worked here,” he said. “The property owner is being less than cooperative.”
A half hour after the gutter fell, two workmen came by and removed the broken gutter, tossing it in the side yard along with other debris. Five minutes later they departed, the scattered remnants of dirt and wood that fell along with the gutter left unswept on the sidewalk.
Update: The debris was swept up on Sunday afternoon.
Comments:
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Deteriorating buildings are unfortunately becoming more and more common on Main Street.Witness the other building next to Hazard's spilling its debris onto the sidewalk this winter. I wonder what our Town Supervisor is doing to stop this vicious circle of closing businesses, deteriorating buildings, and look of general disrepair and neglect along our Main Street. I applaud those shopowners who take pride in their stores' appearance. But are we supposed to just accept that our town will be: "Cornwall? Oh, that place with the CVS strip mall, right?"
posted by Leslie Maltese-McGill on 08/02/10 at 8:13 PM
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