Crumbling brick, crumbling trust
Posted on Wednesday, March 26, 2008
It’s hard to tell how much good the awning did, but it did do something. The piece of fabric, draped on a downward slope over the door, is there to disrupt the rain and the sun. But recently, it has been diverting bricks falling from a wall overhead.
Sharon Hoyt, co-owner of the beauty salon Blonde Ambition, has been watching the bricks fall outside her business’s front door, much like watching the rain drip.
At first, it was small pieces of brick that would fall from a decaying patch on the exterior wall above her door. Eventually, half a brick fell at a time.
“ It’s just been kind of deteriorating all winter, ” Hoyt said.
About three weeks ago, the city’s building inspectors arrived with a spool of yellow caution tape, which is now blocking the salon’s main entrance.
John Donahue was one of the city building inspectors at the scene, but not the one who fastened the caution tape.
“ The facade is peeling away, ” he said.
And, he said, there is no reason to think the deterioration will not continue, posing a danger to anyone standing or walking near that front entrance.
“ All indications point that way, ” Donahue said.
Next to the caution tape, by the sidewalk along First Street, there is a misspelled message on a dry-erase board. “ Due to falling brick … Blonde Ambition must be entered through the back door in alley … I’m sorry for your inconvenience. ”
The alley behind Blond Ambition, between the shops lining First and Second streets, was astir with noise early Tuesday afternoon. The wind blew loose metal on the roof like banging shutters, only with a higher tone and a longer echo. A rustling sound from a trash container could have been the wind, too, but it sounded briefly like footsteps, like someone walking in the garbage.
Hoyt, who owns the salon with Julie Neil, said the alley can be frightening at night, with all the sounds and the shadows.
“ Not to mention it’s kind of smelly and trashy back there, ” she said. “ I’ve seen a few people going through the Dumpsters. ”
Needless to say, the alley is not conducive to attracting walk-in customers, which Hoyt said have disappeared. The business is down $ 300 per week since the walk-in customers stopped walking in.
Hoyt is frustrated with her latest structural problem. There have been many since the business began at 202 S. First St., in August 2006: the failure of the heater over the winter, the leaking light fixtures during the rain, numerous issues that were overlooked or circumvented with relatively little difficulty.
“ I’ve ignored a lot of problems, ” Hoyt said.
But none of those problems forced Hoyt and Neil to lock the front door.
The problem is bad enough that Hoyt has not paid the rent since the front door was declared off limits. The $ 1, 350-per-month lease contract calls for a rental abatement if there are structural problems, Hoyt said, and she feels she should pay less, but not necessarily zero. Not paying the rent is a statement, meant to draw attention. More than repairs, Hoyt said she just wants communication regarding the issue.
Donahue said the city has contacted owner Pair-A-Dice Development LLC to inform the owners that their building must be repaired. Hoyt said she’s called — 40 times, then later said that could be an overstatement.
The business partners still have no answers, even after they decided not to pay the rent.
“ He hasn’t evicted us, and he hasn’t showed up yet, ” Hoyt said of Pair-A-Dice’s Aaron Black. “ There’s a total lack of communication on the owner’s part. ”
The building owners could not be reached for comment. At 12: 30 Tuesday afternoon, the door to the office was locked. At 1: 30, the door was locked. At 3, no one answered the phone, not even a voice mail or answering service.
While the lack of communication has frustrated Hoyt and Neil, there is good news for them. Donahue said the bricks will, hopefully, stop falling off the wall since the temperatures have risen above freezing. Even so, he’s leaving the caution tape up until the wall is fixed.
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