Owners of the E.F Young Jr. Hotel met with City Council to discuss the future of the building

Today the owners of the E.F Young Jr Hotel met with the City Council in regard to the status and state of the Historical building. Preserving history is one of the main objectives they have. We hear more from Eric Young who says he feels like they got their message across.

“I think it turned out well. I think the council now has a better understanding of what's going on, why the hotel hasn't been renovated, why hasn't been torn down, what the state is and how we got there,” said Young.

Young says that the Hotel represents everybody’s history, and he is thankful for the interest from the community here today and hopes to see more help from the community.

“We'd like everybody to get involved in that hotel. It's not about us. We own the brick-and-mortar, but we don't own the history. I’m hoping that people will take pride and invest in the hotel,” stated Young.

A Local Artist shared his art as well as his passion for preserving the history of the African American Business District.

“My voice was to the council to let them know that the people in Meridian are watching and they are concerned about what's going on in the city. That's the reason why I came here, to see fifth street, nothing is done and 22nd avenue and all around have millions of dollars being spent. We need to change that. I thought if I drew the picture, draw attention, got a voice, maybe we could change things,” said Larry Harris.

Today the Council got a full rundown on all that has been taking place with the E.F Young Jr Hotel. One of the Council Members gave their opinion on the meeting.

“I thought the meeting was so feeling. Enlightening. It brought some light to some things that we as a new council were not fully aware of,” said Romande Walker.