Few complexes have on-site playgrounds, and those that do can't accommodate the massive influx of families with children that replaced yuppie renters. Neighborhood leaders estimate that the area adds 1,100 newborn children each year to a neighborhood that already has more than 4,500 children living there. The population explosion has swollen the Vickery Meadows Elementary School past capacity. Built two years ago to relieve overcrowded schools in nearby neighborhoods, the Vickery Meadows Elementary School crams 450 children into a building originally designed to house about 350 students. Predictably, housing problems spill over to the neighborhood in other ways.
Merchants complain that shoplifting and more serious crimes increase after school hours.
Idle older teens are involved in many incidents. Still, some in the community are taking matters into their own hands. Rod Fisher, a minister at Northway Christian Church, is leading a community development effort that is trying to acquire tracts of land in the area and build a 1,100-student school and recreation center. A community group would own the building and lease it to the school district. The building could provide space for desperately needed after-school programs and recreational activities.