People who live in the area of the old Grace Hospital on LeMarchant Road were happy to hear last week that the old nurses residence on the site will finally be demolished this year.

The building, home to squatters, rats and pigeons, has been a safety concern for years.

Dr. Randy Follett has a chiropractic clinic close to the site, and he says you can look in through windows and see holes in the roof. People have had to endure the eyesore in one form or another for over two decades, worried about whether there would be a fire.

Dr. Follett is still baffled as to how an owner—regardless of whether it’s government—could allow a building to rot and deteriorate.

He can’t imagine any entity of power having such latitude to allow a building fall apart to that degree. He’s certain that if such a building belonged to him, there would be some type of policy, procedure or law to make him fix it or tear it down.