The Strangest Thing

Last week I was walking on Portland Avenue up close to the base of the mountain. I introduced myself to a woman who was standing outside of her house. She had been daydreaming and looked a little startled by my "Hello!" "That's the strangest thing," she said. "I was standing here reminding myself that I needed to call you. (Of course, that's the kind of city representative I am, appearing when conjured up in someone's mental "to do" list.)

She and her husband owned the house that she was standing in front of, but rent it out and live on the eastside. She said the alley was a mess, and they wanted to talk to me about what the city could do to clean it up. Her husband appeared and walked me to the alley. Looming across the alley was a mountain of construction debris at least three stories high.

Her husband said that he grew up in the house. Lived there since he was 16 years old. He remembers when he was a teenager, dump trucks coming and dumping the mess on the lot behind the alley off of Cotton Street. He remembers that the building was City Hall or maybe a City County building.

So just like that, a public building (maybe) dumped some 40 years ago in this man's backyard. I told a couple of historians who hustled out there the minute they heard the story. The old city hall was demolished in 1959, which about fits the timeline described by the owner. There are a couple of large pieces from the top of the building at the bottom of the pile which might help identify the exact building that was unloaded in this neighborhood. From first glance, these pieces don't appear to be from City Hall, but it is hard to tell. I'm hoping a local historian or someone who can't stand a mystery is able to figure it out.

In the meantime, I am working with City staff to figure out how to clean this up. The pile is actually on private property and was recently sold through a tax foreclosure sale and then sold again.

So that's the latest from District 2.