Hitting the wall

The bricks haven’t budged.

Nor have the lips of city officials.

But sometime soon, something (maybe) will happen to the “Wall of Shame” — the city’s unsightly, half-demolished brick wall that downtown merchants begged officials to repair in July, 15 months after a public works crew aborted its demolition.

“We’re hopeful that a resolution would be reached in the near term,” City Manager Mike Hamp said Tuesday.

Hamp wouldn’t describe the resolution or whether The Wall will be repaired or destroyed.

Merchants who raised a clamor said they were told the city is negotiating the sale of the wall to Paradiso Properties LLC, which owns the building connected to the wall, at 329 W. Main St.

Constance Paradiso said a resolution is “close” but declined to comment further.

City assurances have kept merchants at bay, but business owners won’t get one wish: that repairs happen before the full swing of tourist season. Hundreds of artists and thousands of visitors are expected to descend on the downtown this weekend for the 38th Annual Fall Foliage Art Show.

The Wall will be there, as it has been since it was erected in 1971. It long has stood alongside a pedestrian walkway with benches and a historical marker.

Part of the walkway has been cordoned off by a chainlink fence ever since city public works officials — advised by an architecture firm — deemed The Wall unsafe because of a bulge and separation between brick and cinderblock.

The Wall was to come down in April, but a work crew tore away some bricks and found something unexpected.

City officials won’t say what.

“We became concerned there was a structural relationship between the city-owned wall and privately owned building,” Hamp said.

Engineering assessments were not immediately available Tuesday.

Officials began work on a solution, Hamp said, but not before 10 downtown property owners paraded their complaints and wishes before the council in July (15 months after the demolition attempt).

Merchants said the eyesore deters new development and tourists, and they fear The Wall has become iconic. City Council members voiced their desire to find a solution.

“When I see the merchants banding together with a concerted and a cohesive effort, that is a good sign the merchants are wanting to protect their investment in the downtown,” Councilwoman Lorie Smith said. “I’m disappointed it’s taken this long to get here … I’m very certain we’ll be able to reach a good outcome and that we can once and for all move past this issue.”