Sunday, September 30, 2007



These are the North Ridge Apartments, which had subsidized rent, near Highland Park in North Richmond. I cannot find how long the 114 unit apartment complex has been closed, or for what reason. The only search result was a court case, where a tenant didn't pay rent because she was attempting to leave:

"she desired to terminate her lease . . . due to her fear of crime and because she did not feel safe in the premises." ...during the tenancy, "she became aware of drug sales and criminal activity in and around the apartment building." She said her "car was vandalized and broken into while parked on plaintiff's premises provided for tenant parking."
In addition, she testified that "[o]ther tenants were unruly and threatening, and left trash in hallways which were common areas" of the three-floor, six-apartment building. Also, she said "[d]og litter was . . . found in the hallways." She complained that "[o]ther tenants regularly propped open the [building's] security door, allowing unauthorized persons into the common hallways."

The problems of immense poverty are stark. What is the response from the ruling elite? Abandon more of the desperately needed, scarce, low- income housing. Leave it as a wasteland in the community.





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From what I've read, at the turn of the century this area of Richmond - the Northside, with Highland Park, Battery Park, etc., - was a nicer middle-class haven removed from the pollution and density of central Richmond. They had the money to leave as living standards for ordinary residents fell and, consequently, crime and drugs use increased.







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