HOPE for the former Spencer McCallie Homes

"It was an absolute war zone," and no, we're not talking about Iraq or Afghanistan.  That's the description some residents gave us, of the Spencer McCallie Homes that used to be in Alton Park.  But over the past 8 years, that community has been transformed into a showplace of community spirit, and our NewsChannel 9 investigation, checks t"o see if the high crime rates, mostly caused by drug dealers, really left the area, when the walls of Spencer McCallie, came tumbling down..

Six years ago, people who lived in the Spencer McCallie Homes complex in Alton Park said it was probably the most dangerous area of town.  Tempers flaring all the time, and crime running rampant.  "It had gotten pretty bad," says resident Mattie Jennings, "with all the drugs and standing on the corners, and fighting an arguing."  She has lived in Alton Park all of her life, and many years in the Spencer McCallie Homes.  She says there were times that she didn't want to come outside, because the drug dealers and other criminals had simply taken over.  "You want to feel safe, and I especially wanted to feel safe," she says.  "I'm 67 years old and I really want to feel safe." 

Exactly 8 years ago this month, the Department of Housing and Urban Development began demolishing the McCallie Homes, armed with a 35-million dollar HOPE VI grant to build 400 units of new housing, 275 of them rental units and 125 single-family properties for home ownership.  That project was finished last year.  Today, new modern housing has replaced the old apartments.. Housing with front yards, stronger security, and landscaping.  The candy-sno cone truck playing its familiar kid's music brings a sound with it, that haven't been heard in the Spencer McCallie Homes in years, now ringing clear. Kids playing.. Families enjoying healthy life styles, apparently with NO fear..

We wondered if the crime rate had dropped since the new homes were built, and we found some shocking numbers.  We discovered that aggravated assaults increased almost 7 per cent between 2004 and 2008.. Violent crimes increased 8 per cent.. Burglaries went up 36 per cent.. Police Lieutenant Corliss Cooper, who grew up in Alton Park, says the recession, hit this community years ago..  "When the economy starting going down, everybody in Alton Park got pretty nervous," she says.  "And it was about that time, we started having an increase in burglaries."

But during that same time, we also uncovered a 26 per cent drop in larcenies, a 7-and-a-half per cent drop in property crimes, a 1 per cent drop in robberies.  A new community attitude has resulted in the total number of crimes in this area dropping almost 5 per cent, residents now working with patrol officers.  "We have some dedicated officers working in Alton Park," she says.  "They do a whole lot of riding around.  If they're seen, the criminal's not going to be out." 

It's no secret that when the bad element was run out of Alton Park, it shifted to other areas of the city.  Ms. Morgan says, those people have been begging for something like a HOPE VI to rescue them.  "In travelling around the country," she says, "the differences that it can make in a community are astounding."  To those residents, one Alton Park resident says, just hold on, as long as you can.  "I just feel sorry for mostly the older people," says Mattie Jennings, "because they can't feel safe."

The REASON for hanging on, says Ms. Morgan, is, you never know when a HOPE VI grant is going to be approved for your community.  She says, you'll need three things:  Good credit, or credit that you can fix.. Nobody living in your house that doesn't work.. And the willingness to work with others, to be a GOOD neighbor..