A former public housing leader and local representative to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development said through tears recently she only wants to clear her name and avoid eviction.
"I've done a lot of work here on the Westside," Roxann Larson said. "I got rid of bedbugs at Dogwood Manor, I helped get the air conditioner units fixed and the elevators fixed in this building. I'm a humanitarian, and I've always been that way."
Fifteen residents at Dogwood Manor filed individual complaints with the Chattanooga Housing Authority accusing Larson of bullying and terrorizing residents.
Nineteen residents, including some of the 15 individual complainants, signed a statement saying "she is a bully and the tenants are tired of it."
The complaint states, "She has also called the police on everyone at a resident council meeting saying she felt that we threatened her. So we need to remove Roxann Larson from Dogwood Manor before someone really gets hurt."
A hearing to determine whether or not Larson will be evicted is scheduled at 1:30 p.m. today at Dogwood Manor.
The hearing comes as Larson, 64, undergoes radiation treatment one month after having surgery for breast cancer.
Larson, a Dogwood Manor tenant of five years, was president of the resident association there for two years. She also served as vice president of the National Alliance of HUD Tenants for two years and is a retired human service specialist and substance abuse counselor.
In 2012, Chattanooga Organized for Action gave her its Lorenzo Ervin Freedom Fighter Award for her efforts to get rid of bedbugs at Dogwood and keep College Hill Courts, the city's largest and oldest public housing site, from being demolished. Other residents said Larson brought food to them when they were sick and helped them fill out paperwork they didn't understand.
Though several complaints have been filed against her, Larson noted they were all filed after April 21 this year, after she filed an order of protection against a tenant, Tim Brown, accusing him of assault. She said Brown turned other tenants against her.
Brown said Larson is mentally unstable and unjustly calls the police on tenants.
Larson laughed when asked to respond.
"I am emotional with all that I've had on me this year," she said. "I was diagnosed with cancer, my sister is on her deathbed, and I'm doing my own divorce. I think any woman would be emotional. Yes, I am emotional, but I don't believe for one moment that I have been erratic."
Another resident, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation, said Larson was very active in the building, "but somewhere along the way, she became a little erratic in what she does and how she deals with people, and so she has alienated some folk."
However, the resident said Larson has done nothing to merit eviction, some of the accusations against her were trumped up, and the housing authority is using the complaints to evict her for its benefit.
"I believe they [housing officials] would like to get rid of her as a thorn in their side, and this is convenient for them to do it," the resident said.
Housing officials said that is not the case.
"We never, ever commence eviction proceedings based on a convenience to the housing authority," said Betsy McCright, the housing authority's executive director. "There has to be a legitimate basis for commencing eviction action."
Contact staff writer Yolanda Putman at yputman@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6431.