ST. LOUIS, Mo. (First Alert 4) – Residents near the condemned Concord Apartments said a growing tent encampment is the latest problem in an ongoing neighborhood crisis. There’s growing frustration from people in the Marine Villa Neighborhood about what remains a public health and safety concern and abating the problem property.
About a dozen tents have appeared along Illinois Avenue after the buildings were completely boarded up this week. The City of St. Louis condemned the property on February 9. St. Louis Police carried out search warrants at the property on April 2.
“We appreciated that the police had a concerted effort to take care of the problem, but the mayor, the alderwoman, this all should have been planned out long in advance. When you displace all of these people, what are you going to do with them? You can’t just set them on the sidewalk in the neighborhood, and that’s basically what happened. I can tell you if the mayor still lived in this neighborhood, this wouldn’t be going on,” said Stephanie Botkin, president of the Marine Villa Neighborhood Association…