JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A day after Mayor Lenny Curry visited the Washington Heights apartment complex, tenants welcomed the I-TEAM onto the Northwest Jacksonville property to show the progress that has been made.
For seven months News4Jax has exposed crumbling stairs, mold and other health and safety issues at two of the Jacksonville properties owned by the Global Ministries Foundation: Washington Heights and Eureka Gardens.
A tenant association meeting Thursday at Washington Heights celebrated a major improvement for the complex: a new laundry room.
The community was filled with pride, and some said they are eager for more help and improvements from the city or the federal government. Others said they think the Rev. Richard Hamlet, who founded GMF, should be given more time to make repairs.
“Rome wasn’t built in a day,” said the tenant association president, who asked the I-TEAM not to use her name. “Mr. Hamlet did inherit this apartment complex the way it is. It’s a work in progress, but they are working in the right direction.”
More than a dozen mothers attended the meeting, where management listened to concerns and gave instructions for using the laundry room.
The meeting came a day after Curry walked the property with three city councilmen and Jacksonville Sheriff's Office personnel to talk to residents firsthand. The mayor said he wanted a clear picture of daily life at Washington Heights before he flies next week to Washington, D.C., to meet with U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro.
The mayor's visit Wednesday was a welcomed site for grandmother Janice Bradford.
“It used to be bad when I moved here and there used to be a lot of shooting,” Bradford said. “I don’t hear no shooting at all now, and I’m proud of that.”
Outside Bradford's door, new bolts adorned the stairs on which her grandchildren play.
“I’m proud to say this a community I can live in and stay in and call home for now until I move and find something else,” Bradford said. “We have good people out here, and we have a new manager, and that’s going to help us out.”
Other residents pointed the I-TEAM to problems that led to HUD scoring the property a 60.01 on its most recent inspection, including decaying, rotting stairs, mold in showers, a broken window, rotted ceiling tiles from a leak and cracks in the wall and ceiling.”
One resident didn't want to be identified but did want her voice to be heard.
“Six million dollars a year,” she said, referring to the amount Hamlet receives each year from federal taxpayer money to run seven properties in Jacksonville. “Look around here and you see a few thousand (dollars), I wouldn’t even say $10,000. It’s not that I’m unappreciative or complaining, but it is the truth, and that’s the only way it’s going to be done.”
Residents like Janietras Bates offered ideas for change.
“(They should be) getting more involved (and providing) more maintenance out here,” Bates said.
The tenant association president is hoping for unity among the residents.
“I really do feel like HUD has our best interests at heart, and I’m just going to put my faith and belief in God and my faith and belief in (Councilman) Reginald Brown,” she said. “I’m very proud to have him on my team, because he really does help.”
The tenant association president said she'd also like the new gate at the property to be locked. She said they're focusing on keeping outsiders out for good. They feel guests on the property, sometimes criminals allowed to stay against rules, are affecting the quality of life, she said.
The tenants also hope to one day have a playground for their children, similar to one recently installed at Eureka Gardens.
Meanwhile, Brown has recently called for a multi-unit city inspection at Washington Heights, but there's no word on when that might take place.