Bonita Johnson said she has lived at the Fairmount Avenue Apartments for more than 30 years, raised her three children there and wants an opportunity to return.
"I didn't sell drugs," she said. "I'm a Christian person, and we kept up that community."
Ms. Johnson said all of her children attended school and got jobs, including one who attended Baylor School.
The mother and grandmother was one of 70 people at a City Hall meeting Thursday night organized to give Fairmount Avenue residents and Chattanooga Housing Authority officials an opportunity to state their cases and ask questions about Fairmount Avenue Apartments.
Mayor Ron Littlefield and City Councilwomen Sally Robinson and Deborah Scott, who represent the North Chattanooga community on the council, organized the meeting.
Mr. Littlefield and CHA have been talking to HUD about Fairmount in hopes of reaching a compromise soon, Ms. Scott said.
Fairmount Avenue Apartments is a 28-unit public housing site that sits at the end of Fairmount Avenue in the North Chattanooga community. It's been nearly vacant for at least the past five years with only about five families occupying the units.
CHA received a $4.8 million grant to tear down the 28 units and build 48 new units there. But after hearing concerns from homeowners who lived on or near the street, CHA reduced their proposed plans to have only 36 units.
Fairmount Avenue homeowners who live near the complex said the reduction is still not enough.
The problem is safety.
"About 70 children could come to live in that small area," homeowner Megan Stanley Roach said. "But there are no sidewalks. No street lights. Is this project density worth an accident?"
Ms. Johnson responded to concerns about safety during a question and answer period.
She said Fairmount Avenue had been there since the mid-1970s, and it has never had sidewalks. She said some parents concerned about the safety of their children drive them to school.
Ms. Johnson said instead of safety, she thinks the problem is that the community doesn't want the children there.
However, Pete Lapina spokesman for Friends of Fairmount said that's not the case.
He and others from the area said the street is already so narrow that a firetruck once had to roll over a stop sign to get to the apartment complex. He said the homeowners are concerned because they have invested in the community and they plan to live there and retire there in the next 30 years.
What's next
CHA board members will host a meeting at 11:30 a.m. today at the CHA board room at 801 N. Holtzclaw Ave.
Yolanda Putman has been a reporter at the Times Free Press for 11 years. She covers housing and previously covered education and crime. Yolanda is a Chattanooga native who has a master’s degree in communication from the University of Tennessee and a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Alabama State University. She previously worked at the Lima (Ohio) News. She enjoys running, reading and writing and is the mother of one son, Tyreese. She has also ...
This project effectively discriminates against low income people who don't own a car because of its location. It seems reasonable that anyone who can meet the income guidelines should be able to live there.
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