Natchez Mayor Phillip West tried to tell the permitting board of the state Department of Archives and History Thursday the department was not &8221;invited&8220; into the city’s discussion of what to do with the pecan factory site.

They didn’t need an invitation; state law requires them to be there, and West’s railing in front of the board did little more than continue to embarrass our community as we try to move forward on a project that is important to the development of downtown.

While West tries to make a stand for the city’s right to tear down the old pecan factory &045; which has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1983 &045; developers of the proposed condo complex that would sit there have been going through proper channels to find a way to make their design more palatable to those who oppose it.

Still, West and other city officials continue to make the broad assumption that those who oppose the six-story, massive design of the condos are against development itself.

While some of the people against the condos may oppose any kind of economic development there, the majority really do want to see a project there that will generate tax revenue and bring more residents downtown. They just don’t want the design to detract from the historic architecture of the development’s surroundings.

The city’s insistance that the pecan factory building must come down is not helping to alleviate any of the controversy in this situation.

While they could try to mediate a resolution that would be acceptable to all parties, elected city officials have instead failed time and again to be leaders on this issue.