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You can’t fight city hall, but one small business is trying.

KHOU-TV

Some of Jean Jordan's rare, expensive bird eggs never hatched.

The owner tells 11 News that construction cost them money and now the business owner wants the city to pay.

In this relatively quiet westside neighborhood there’s one business that, behind the front doors, is anything but.

The business is Adventures in Birds, and was opened 26 years ago by Jean Jordan.

“This is a green wing macaw. Green wings come from South America. They have to be at least 5 to 10 years old to breed,” said Jordan.

Jordan appears to know everything about birds. It is her life, her passion.

A passion that was almost ruined because of construction.

“It was a $180,00 that we lost. That we proved that we lost. We hired lawyers, CPAs and stuff to prove it,” said Jordan.

For eight months the city tore up Westview putting in a new water main.

Store manager Gary Foster said the crews blocked all access.

“You can get their on foot, you can’t drive to it,” he said.

It’s fixed now. But the business suffered.

Not just because of the lack of customers, but also their birds weren’t able to nest their eggs.

They say because crews worked around the clock, many eggs cracked and new birds never came into this world.

These were expensive rare birds, the bread and butter of her business.

Jordan sued the city for more than $1 million.

“They job took away my job. It’s a real bad situation all the way around,” she said.

Both sides agreed to have the case worked out by an arbitrator, and in fact the city and Jordan agreed to a $65,000 settlement.

It still must be approved by city council and that may not happen because council member Toni Lawrence is opposed.

We’ve been told she believes this will open up the city to thousands of lawsuits involving construction in the future.

“She really needs to think about that because all of my taxes are paid, all my things are done. I have done everything the city has asked me to do and all I ask is for the city to pay me back for my losses,” Jordan said.