MEMPHIS, Tenn — Wednesday night, ABC24 held its first Let’s Talk town hall meeting of 2024 at the Crosstown Concourse.
One South Memphis resident wanted to know when something will be done about the abandoned houses, roaming packs of dogs and rodents and fallen trees in her neighborhood.
“It's really sad, because these are the areas I feel like are forgotten,” said Tajuna Malone. "The government does not care. The city does not care.”
Malone said she has lived in the neighborhood near Cameron Street and East Essex Avenue since 2021 and said she is tired of seeing it look like such a mess.
She said she first started having problems when the 2022 ice storm brought a tree down in the property next to her house. It's now overgrown with grass, and she said this is attracting raccoons, mice and other rodents. Malone said she has tried to get the City of Memphis or Shelby County to clean it up.
“We're talking now two years that I've been here, and for two years, it's been like this,” she said. “But it's just gotten progressively worse.”
Just one block over on Latham Street, there are three separate empty houses. Two houses caught fire during the summer of 2023 and are in the process of being condemned. Neighbors said a third has been abandoned since 2006.
Johnnie Secrease said she has lived in the area for over 40 years, and it wasn’t always like this.
“It used to be a clean street,” Secrease said. “But it’s just gone down now.”
She doesn’t understand why the City of Memphis or Shelby County hasn’t stepped in.
Malone said she has called City of Memphis Code Enforcement about overgrown grass and the Shelby County Land Bank about the fallen tree repeatedly, but the problems remain.
“Give us a sense of hope,” Malone said. “Give us a sense that we matter. To give us a sense that, ‘Okay, I am a citizen of Memphis because they're taking care of my community as well.'”
We reached out to the Shelby County Land Bank but have not heard back at this time. City of Memphis Code Enforcement said the two burned-out houses on Latham Street are set to have condemnation hearings on Thursday but added that this process takes anywhere from 150 to 280 days.
Code Enforcement said they are going to inspect the third abandoned home on Thursday as well.