Neighbors in different parts of Birmingham are angry about run down, vacant and abandoned homes on their blocks. Hattie Williams calls them magnets for criminal activity and targets for arson. She believes their presence can put surrounding houses and people at risk.
Williams is President of the Rising/West Princeton neighborhood where historic Rickwood Field is located. She wants the city to clear a vacant house near her home as soon as possible because she doesn’t feel safe with it nearby.
“We have a lot of activity at night because I have to call the police a lot of times because people are walking the streets, but you need to because they will set it on fire because the property next-door to me someone set it on fire and burned it down,” said Williams.
On the opposite side of the city in the East Lake community, Wendy Walls told CBS 42 News that she is very concerned following a fire at a vacant house on her street earlier this week.