Mary Chambliss, who lives a few doors down the avenue, says that crackheads and junkies treat the hallway outside her front door like it was their living room. I open my door and the crack bottles roll right in. There are needles in the hallway right outside. It's their whole bureaucracy. They haven't approved all of the requests.
Leaks are a problem throughout the project.
A woman who lives in one of the 39 apartments at 1317 West Farms Road says her family unrolls a plastic tarp to lay on the living room carpet every time it rains-even though the ceiling has been repaired twice. Roxanne's infant nephew gets similar treatment. Asked how many times she's called for help, Gibbons begins counting, then lets out a tired chuckle. We know how to take care of buildings when we are given the stuff we need. For the time being, Mrs. Roberts seems resigned to a bathless future.