DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — Drugs, homeless people, health hazards, and crime.
Residents living on Whitehall Forest Court in DeKalb County say they’ve seen it all at a house that was abandoned after a deadly fire in Aug. 2021.
Anthony Moore has lived in the neighborhood for years and told Channel 2′s Sophia Choi, “It needs to be destroyed.”
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Neighbor Stacey Dawson agreed saying, “Yes, tear it down and get this neighborhood together.”
The house is now gone.
DeKalb County crews tore it down Tuesday as part of its blight program.
It’s one of 600 houses in five years that the county has demolished or abated.
CEO Michael Thurmond started the program and made it a priority.
Thurmond told Choi, “Everyone that we can take down or abate this is what will happen. But, I’m just going to tell you this is going to continue far beyond my administration. The program is in place, the financing is in place, the talent is in place and more importantly, the political wheel is in place.”
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Choi went back to a neighborhood that benefitted from the blight program with a house torn down last July.
Neighbors on Stanton Street say it’s made a big difference.
“Before it was taken down, people were just hanging out there doing who knows what,” Kyle Proctor said.
Tim Heffner added to that saying, “That’s the big thing, you know, safety at night. But it’s also just fixing the big eyesore down the street. So there’s a lot less mosquitos out, the smell is gone.”
Those are all benefits that neighbors on Whitehall Forest Court are now hoping to see in their community.
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