Mayor Denny Magruder and Councilors Tony Assaro, Ben Seidler, Connie Cain, Jerry Sklavounakis, Ty Thorngate, and Dave Palmer:
Finally, after 20 years of discussion and 10 years of “no-brainer” knowing the former Clay School needed to be demolished, you voted this past Tuesday unanimously to FINALLY tear down the dilapidated eyesore that became a public safety hazard, a target for vandals, and a hideaway for drug dealers during the years since it was shuttered by the district in the mid-1990s.
Thank you.
Thank you from the parents of the children who practice and play at the J.B. Chambers Recreation Park, and from the motorists who have witnessed the building’s sad decline while traveling up and down W.Va. Route 2.
Thank you from the police officers and the sheriff’s deputies who’ve been summoned to the property by a plethora of 911 calls and thank you from Wheeling’s firefighters who feared the worst for the three-story structure.
And the nearby neighbors also say Thank You because they’re the ones who have been impacted the most by the rodents, the broken glass, the falling bricks, the criminal activity inside and outside the old school, and by the decline in their property values that such dilapidation delivers to any neighborhood anywhere.
There was a dream for Clay, and it was a good dream chased by a good man, but for far too many reasons, his science and community center never did become a reality. Efforts were made by city officials to investigate the public-dollar potential – if any – out of respect to the school’s long history in East Wheeling, but the inevitable demolition now will take place sometime this spring.
So, thank you again for finally making the decision no one wanted to make so the property will benefit the neighborhood’s future instead of it being held hostage by the past.
Sincerely,
Ready for What’s Next
