Augusta, GA (WFXG) - This is Cherry
Tree Crossing; a public housing community deputies say is swarming with drugs,
crime, and violence. Despite that, LaTonya Heggs and her five children call
this home.
"I can't
even sleep at night," said Heggs. "They're up here shooting and stuff, and my kids." The screeching of a car rings on her street. "Stuff like this, all these kids around
here and they're driving like a maniac. It ain't a good neighborhood for
kids."
Soon, Heggs
won't have to worry about her children living here. The Housing Authority and
city officials are discussing plans to tear down Cherry Tree Crossing, and
replace it with mixed-income housing.
"Every
resident will have a private conversation about what are your housing needs," said Rodger Muchirson, director of the Housing Authority. "Do
you have children? Do you have seniors? Are there disabled in your residency?
And what we'll do is help them with relocation. "
While some
people in Cherry Tree Crossing can't wait to be relocated, those who've been
living here for years say they don't want to leave their home.
"Nobody
really wants to move because everybody is used to it, and now that the crime
rate is going down out here, everybody is getting comfortable with being out
here again," said Montrell Landrey, a resident at Cherry Tree.
Landrey
has lived in Cherry Tree Crossing for 21 years. If the plans are approved, he
and 350 other families will be relocated to other public housing developments
or Section 8 Housing. Landrey fears the move won't help the violence in their
neighborhoods.
"All the
problems here are just going to be taken to all the rest of the neighborhoods,
and that's just going to cause chaos," Landrey said.
Even though Landrey doesn't want to leave, city
leaders say the aging housing development is in dire need of renovations, and
assure those who call Cherry Tree Crossing home, the change is for the best.
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