Ellaville resident not elated over city project - WALB.com, Albany News, Weather, Sports

Ellaville resident not elated over city project

June 27, 2007

Ellaville -- The city of Ellaville in Schley County is preparing for its 150th anniversary. Beautification efforts are underway for some of the downtown buildings but this is also causing some controversy.

The wall of a privately owned building in Ellaville  has undergone outside renovations. City workers have pressure washed the exterior of the largely dilapidated building so a mural can be painted for the upcoming town anniversary.

But because the building is privately owned, one local resident says the city should not be doing public work on the private property.

 "I said that building is a sore eye. That building was condemned by the city council.  The county commissioner, was the city commissioner then and he was the one that pressured them and went with me to condemn that property. And it was supposed to be torn down in 2000," says Ellaville resident Charles Ellison.

City manager Bob Anderson says it's more of a matter of making the downtown area presentable.

"I look at this and yeah we've used some city workers to power wash the wall. But we're looking at this as a beautification process. We're trying to get the town ready for the Sesquicentennial in October," says city manager Bob Anderson

Anderson says so far he has received no other complaints about the cities efforts to beautify the downtown area. He said the efforts have actually gotten a lot of positive feedback.

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