The structure is scheduled for a 9 a.m. implosion on New Year’s Day.
MACON, Ga. — The old Ramada Hotel was vandalized with a swastika and racial slur days ahead of its New Year’s Day implosion.
The graffiti in the top left corner of the structure facing First Street has since been painted over by crews working the site.
A nearby business owner contacted 13WMAZ after seeing the graffiti on Saturday, Dec. 28.
Ron Carter stopped by the site today on an afternoon walk downtown. He says the hotel has seen many trespassers over the years.
“All our buildings are historic, it really means something to us,” Carter said. “I’ve seen a lot of things happen to this building from vandalism to a lot of destruction, feces, everything up there. I’m going to miss it though.”
County spokesman Chris Floore says the county was able to respond quickly to the graphic tagging. The site at 108 First Street launched its scheduled 24-hour security last week to protect the site ahead of the implosion.
“It shouldn’t be like that,” Carter said. “It should be a peaceful world. It shouldn’t be no slogans or hateful stuff.”
On Monday, crews from Target Contractors LLC were seen installing protective coverings on neighboring businesses ahead of Wednesday’s event.
The Ramada is set for a blast at 9 a.m. on Jan. 1, rain or shine.
The Target Contractors team and public safety officials have defined an ‘Exclusion Zone’ around the hotel site —an area that will need to be evacuated before the demolition can occur—to ensure that locals remain safe during and after the blast.
The zone is scheduled to be in place on Jan. 1 from 6:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.
The Second Street Bridge will be closed. The zone stretches from New Street to Third Street, but Third will be open. The zone extends from the Ocmulgee River to Mulberry Street, but Mulberry will be open.
The Sheriff’s Office and Macon-Bibb Code enforcement will survey the exclusion zone and conduct an internal sweep of the area.
13WMAZ spoke to Target Contractors Project Manager JJ Martin on Dec. 19 about safety precautions ahead of the implosion.
“The reason that we have such a large exclusion zone is for safety reasons. We want to make sure that we are taking the appropriate space to operate without anyone coming inside and subjecting themselves to injury or trying to make that TikTok video,” Martin said. “By having this exclusion zone in place, it allows us to keep control of our work area, to put safety first, and to make sure that we have visibility, surveillance and control of our work area.”
Macon-Bibb County is hosting an implosion watch party at Coleman Hill at 8 a.m. for residents who want to see the hotel come down. They’re encouraging people who want to view the implosion in person to remain a safe distance outside the exclusion zone.
“No matter where you are, you just want to stay out of here, that’s overall, what we advise everyone to do,” Martin said. “The good news is what the city is doing as far as the location they’re going to…high ground and based on historical weather data, upwind.”
13WMAZ reached out to the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office about investigating the incident. They said the tagging was never reported to them but that they are actively investigating it.
