Saturday, March 08, 2008

San Diego-Area Homeowner Spearheads Effort To Force Drug Dealers From Vacant Foreclosed Home

In San Diego, California, KGTV Channel 10 reports:

  • Neighbors said unwelcome guests once lived in two local homes in Sherman Heights that are now boarded up. "It was a total nightmare," said Janice Scott Wiley. Wiley lives next door and said the foreclosed homes attracted drugs, prostitution and crime. "They would sometimes sit in the back and package their drugs, and I could stand on my porch and I could look at them with the guns," said Wiley. [...] Several days of worry and anxiety went by before Wiley decided to take matters into her own hands.

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  • With the help of San Diego police and Councilman Ben Hueso's office, the entrances to these houses have been blocked off. It is a sigh of relief for neighbors who were too scared to come forward. "She saved our lives because she got the drug addicts out of there. Nobody would do what she does because nobody wants to get involved and we're proud of her," said neighbor Shirley Carpenter. Hueso applauded Wiley's efforts. He said vacant homes are prone to crime. "There's nobody there providing any security. Anyone there providing any oversight, these are sources where a crime happens or a fire breaks out," said Hueso.
For more, see Woman Takes Action To Clean Up Neighborhood.

Go here for other posts on vacant homes leaving its mark on neighborhoods. neighborhood destruction from foreclosures I