“My father never made any money from the owner. The owner always owed him nothing after a year of hard work,” Day said.
“In 2005, that’s what Grand Center is trying to do to me, and I will not have it.”
Vincent C. Schoemehl, Grand Center president and chief executive officer, believes Day’s analogy is mistaken and claims Grand Center is trying to reach a fair and just settlement to acquire Day’s business.
Schoemehl said he is being unfairly depicted as a villain as he and his 43-member board of directors negotiate an eminent domain acquisition agreement with Day.
“I am not going to back down to Grand Center. I came here in 1965, and thought I left Jim Crow and that type of practice behind,” Day said as he prepared for another day of business Wednesday morning at the auto repair shop just blocks away from the Fox Theatre.
“I think it is unfair to paint us as proponents of Jim Crow,” said Schoemehl.
“I thought my auto repair shop was going to be included in the (Grand Center) plan and not taken over by eminent domain. I have many supporters who believe an auto repair shop is needed here,” Day said.
Day’s 24-year-old business employs three people to repair cars and trucks. He also runs an extended-time parking lot, mini-storage and snow removal service. Day estimates he grosses nearly $250,000 annually.
Day said he has invested more than $630,000 in capital investments and property taxes since 1982.
Yet, Grand Center Inc., a non-profit development agency, is trying to take the property through a proposed buyout of $67,500.
“This just doesn’t make good business sense, and they are trying to make me look bad,” Day said.
“I pay my taxes. I follow the law. I have a good business that serves the community. I am not going to allow anyone’s iron-fisted grip to remove me from here.”
Day said he has spent thousands of dollars on attorneys fees litigating the actions of Grand Center over the past two years.
In a letter sent to the editors of the Post-Dispatch responding to a Feb. 1 article about Day’s dilemma, Schoemehl wrote, “Very little is accomplished in public discourse when public issues are presented in terms of ‘good versus evil,’ as was the case with the Post’s recent article about the Grand Center’s pending acquisition of Mr. Jim Day’s auto repair shop in the Grand Center.”
“Let me be clear: No one wants to put Mr. Day out of business. We are making every effort to provide for relocation of his business,” Schoemehl wrote.
“Mr. Day wants and expects a fair price for his property and fairness demands that his business be appropriately relocated. We’re all working to achieve that outcome,” Schoemehl wrote.
Day, however, said he had not agreed on relocating his business.
In fact, Day said Schoemehl and Grand Center have used “heavy-handed tactics” such as looking for city code violations or unpaid property taxes to discredit him or his business.
“I don’t want to relocate my business. I want to stay right here and become a part of the redeveloped Grand Center,” Day said.
Schoemehl, however, doesn’t foresee Day’s business fitting in at the redeveloped site, as he wrote in his letter to the Post: “New housing will not be developed in immediate juxtaposition to an auto repair shop, and I think most fair-minded people understand that,”
Day said his next scheduled court appearance is March 9.
