CITY TAKES ON PROPERTY OWNERS OF BUILDINGS WITH HIGH CRIME

Property owners who harbor drug dealers and prostitutes are coming under
the city's scrutiny.

Efforts to curb drug problems will now focus on shutting down drug dens,
instead of just arresting buyers and sellers. By targeting property owners
of these buildings, the city can get to the root of the drug problems, said
Theo Lawson, chief assistant city attorney.

"By and large, the places where these actions take place are not owned by
the perpetrators," said Mayor Bernard Kincaid at Tuesday's Birmingham City
Council meeting. "They are typically absentee landlords and it's important
to go after the owners of the property so the problems don't continue like
a round robin."

The Drug Nuisance Abatement Unit a 5-month-old task force created to
examine these sites is headed by Lawson, who is working with the vice
narcotics division. The team plans to evaluate neighborhood complaints and
crime statistics to identify 10 locations at a time for investigation. The
results are then turned over to city lawyers, who choose cases to pursue in
civil actions.

The first suit filed by the unit forced the Relax Inn in Woodlawn to hire a
security guard to help prevent drug trafficking, Lawson said.

Tuesday morning, Lawson told City Council members about his office's latest
lawsuit against the owner of a Fountain Heights apartment building which
prosecutors say harbors illegal activities.

A temporary restraining order against the owner of the Tammy Apartments,
1113 15th St. North, says the building must be empty by Thursday.

The Fountain Heights site has been under investigation for more than a
year. Since last August, the police unit, using search warrants, uncovered
drugs and drug sales, including crack cocaine, according to the lawsuit.

"They just didn't stop what they were doing," said Lt. James Chambliss of
the narcotics division.

Councilman Elias Hendricks was concerned that residents would be uprooted.
He also worried about the magnitude of the city's drug problems.

"We got lots more at Fountain Heights and in Smithfield," he said. "We got
them everywhere."

Talks of a settlement between the city and Tammy Apartments owner Larry
Davidson are ongoing, but on Tuesday afternoon, Lawson said the city will
proceed with a Thursday hearing for a permanent injunction.

The 10-unit apartment complex was condemned by the Birmingham housing
division in June, yet it still displays a "For Rent" sign nailed to the
building's corner.

Yellow eviction notices from the housing division cover the shoddy wooden
doors where residents used to live, and where three families still live.

Droneada Wright, 22, is one of the tenants who still lives in the brick
complex characterized by boarded-up windows and doors.

During the past month, Wright gave birth to her second daughter. That left
Wright without time or resources to find alternate housing during the past
month. In two days, Wright, her boyfriend and her 2-year-old daughter will
have to move out.

Wright, neighbor Jermarreo Harris, 17, and another remaining resident, Edna
Fairfax, 20, all disagree with the city's claim that the apartments service
the drug industry.

"People like us are in a bind where we can't move right now and need a
place to go, to get us off our feet," Fairfax said.