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Perry Building widow losing her home
Legal battle with government over condemned building leaves former owner brokeThandie Vela Northern News Services Published Monday, Oct. 24, 2011
Forty years after her late husband, Greek immigrant Perry Stamatelakis, worked from being poor to eventually erect his own building in town, a lengthy legal battle with the building's longtime tenants – the GNWT – has left Stamatelakis broke, depressed, and soon-to-be homeless. Her vehicle has been repossessed and her Edmonton condo foreclosed. She suffers from psychological problems, including depression, she said, and has even begun losing her acquired grasp of English; often, she reverts to Greek for security. "The stress of the last seven years has taken a toll on my health," she said from the home she shares with her son Demetrios, 24, who has dropped out of school to help support his mother. "We just want our life back. I want my son's life back. I want my Perry Building back." The Perry Building was occupied by the Department of Public Works and Services until mid-August, when the government workers moved to a new GNWT office building. The Perry Building has been repossessed by a lender and now sits vacant Stamatelakis's troubles began in February 2006, when an engineer's report declared the Perry building unsafe. Days later, offices on the second and third floors were shut down. That month, Stamatelakis had her own engineer inspect the building. In his report, the engineer wrote the building's structure was changed by the removal of walls on the second floor – renovations conducted by the GNWT that were never approved by the owner, according to Stametelakis. "They removed the wall, they did the damage, so they have to fix it," she said. According to Stamatelakis, damages were quoted at $1.9 million for repairs to bring the building back to meet government code. As well, her request that the tenant repair all damages caused by the removal of the structural wall was ignored, she said. After the GNWT did not respond to requests for negotiations from Stamatelakis and her Edmonton lawyer Steve Cooper in 2007, the GNWT began withholding rent money, Stamatelakis said. The case was brought to court in Yellowknife. Roy Clarke, regional office superintendent for the department, said allegations the GNWT stopped paying rent at the Perry Building are "definitely not true." He forwarded further questions to the department's infrastructure operations and accommodation services director Brian Nagel, who declined comment citing the ongoing legal dispute. Meanwhile, Stamatelakis, 48, said she has been left destitute and uncertain of whether she will even be able to continue in the legal battle. "They delayed and succeeded to make me run out of money (with which) to fight back," she said, noting after several postponement requests by the GNWT, the case, which has not been heard in court for more than two years, remains in the pre-trial discovery phase and still has no court date set. "My lawyer bills, operational costs and court costs have now taken everything that my husband Perry and I had worked all those years for," she said. The GNWT has called Stamatelakis to Yellowknife for Dec. 1, 2, and 3 for questioning, but she suspects it is just a delay tactic. "I feel like all they are doing is delaying it further," she said. "Every time they call me in, all they ask is about the wall they removed – despite me not having been there. I'm sure this is the same." "I don't want charity," Stamatelakis added. "I want to be reimbursed for the money I lost over these years. I want justice." None of the allegations have been proved in court.
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