Plywood conflict is over at Woolson Block

The plywood protest is over. A week after Woolson Block owner E.J. Cully took his dispute with state fire safety inspectors public in a very public way, one of the building’s tenants has removed the plywood — with help from a couple of friends.

http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20151120/NEWS02/151129972

http://www.vermonttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/RH/20151120/NEWS02/151129972 Photo by Len Emery The plywood has been taken down from the Woolson Block in downtown Springfield Published November 20, 2015 in the Rutland Herald Plywood conflict is over at Woolson Block By SUSAN SMALLHEER Staff Writer SPRINGFIELD – The plywood protest is over. A week after Woolson Block owner E.J. Cully took his dispute with state fire safety inspectors public in a very public way, one of the building’s tenants has removed the plywood — with help from a couple of friends. JennyWren Café owner Jenevieve Johnson took the plywood down Thursday morning with Cully’s permission, Town Manager Tom Yennerell said. Johnson also removed the two painted Steam punk murals that had been blocking broken plate glass windows. Johnson, assisted by two friends, was removing the plywood Thursday when two firefighters, Deputy Fire Chief Scott Richardson and Capt. Bay Wheeler, happened to be driving by and stopped. “We stopped as citizens of Springfield, not as firemen,” Richardson said later Thursday. “We stopped and supervised. They did a wonderful job.” Richardson later conceded he and Wheeler “assisted the girls” removing the plywood. Richardson said it was obvious that Johnson and her friends, Wendi Lashua Germain and Andrea Watkins, were struggling with the plywood, some panels of which were half-inch thick plywood and heavier. “Jen had permission,” Richardson said, adding that he and Wheeler were there for 10 minutes helping remove the recent eyesore. Richardson said Claremont Glass replaced the broken storefront windows that had been broken in the summer. Cully had boarded up the three empty storefronts in the Woolson Block, one of the more prominent buildings in downtown Springfield, as part of his ongoing dispute with the Vermont Division of Fire Safety. The division’s regional manager, Bruce Martin, who had found 20 violations in the building earlier this year, was singled out by Cully for criticism. Johnson has the only business in the downtown block, which also has a limited number of residential tenants on the third floor. The second floor is gutted, according to Martin. “Action is the antidote to despair,” Johnson wrote on the JennyWren Café Facebook page. “I’ll just say that we have beautiful people in this community and when they see a girl clinging to a ladder for her life they stop and help.” Johnson couldn’t be reached for comment Thursday afternoon. The café was closed because of the replacement of the plate glass, according to a note posted on the café door. The two Steampunk murals, which were painted by local artist Jamie Townshend who was hired by the local Steam punk group in September, will be saved, said Steam punk Festival organizer Sabrina Smith. http://www.vermonttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/RH/20151120/NEWS02/151129972