East St. Louis man finds his home demolished

Lewis Hill stands next to his home located in East St. Louis. He says his home was mistakenly demolished.

Lewis Hill couldn't believe it, but there it was: A crane was knocking down his house.

Hill said he bought the home at 1830 St. Clair Ave. in East St. Louis in October and had a lot of work done to make it livable.

While Hill was away recently, a wrecking crew came to the residence and began to knock the three-bedroom, full-basement home to the ground.

This happened despite the efforts of Hill's cousin, Kevin Monk, 28, who lives near Hill's home. Monk saw the wrecking crew come to the home, and told the crew his cousin owned the house. He then called Hill.

"I told them he was on his way and told them, 'Don't tear the house down.' They told me they were going to tear it down and they did," he said.

Monk and Hill both said they believe the house was knocked down for the bricks. It sits between two frame houses that are vacant and in bad shape. The frame houses are still standing.

"They hauled 10 pallets of bricks away every other day. They must have carried about 30 to 40 pallets of bricks," Monk said, shaking his head.

Hill said he did not receive a phone call or a letter informing him the city planned to knock his house down before McKinney Brothers Hauling knocked it down.

An angry, dejected Hill and his cousin James O'Neal have been trying to reach city leaders in hopes of getting answers about why the house he holds the deed to was destroyed. He said all he got was a runaround. He is waiting to see what response he gets from city leaders.

"This should never happen to anyone," O'Neal said. "Can you imagine coming home to find your home torn down?"

Hill and O'Neal tried to talk to council members at the City Council meeting Thursday, but were prevented because they were not listed on the agenda.

City Manager Robert Betts said after the meeting he could not believe proper authorities had not notified Hill of the status of his property. He said if the city was in error, the right thing would be done to correct the error.

Richard Bonner, director of the city's TIF department, which is responsible for the demolition contracts, said department records show the property was listed in the names of J. D. and Annie M. Rencher. He said records show a letter was sent to the house Feb. 6 informing the Renchers the property had been deemed hazardous.

"Nothing was returned to us, and no one came into our office about the property," he said.

Bonner said his office was not made aware of the October sale to Hill by St. Clair County.

He said it's the buyer's responsibility to research the property to see whether it is slated for demolition.

"We advertised for demolition bids for the property in the East St. Louis Monitor from May 4-12," Bonner said.

Demolition coordinator Marcus Johnson said the house, which was torn down in December, was not destroyed because of the dollar value of the bricks. He said the frame houses are still standing because the contractor hasn't had time to get to them.