BY LEON B. CREWS
Sentinel Staff Writer

When Ms. Laura Smith moved into Belmont Heights Estates seven years ago, she was overjoyed. She said her apartment is beautiful, and the area of 24th Avenue near 18th Street where he lives was ideal. That was then.

Ms. Smith said during the day, the area is still a nice place to be, but when the sun goes down, she along with other elderly residents are being terrorized by young people who loiter right in front of her door.

“I’m disabled and I have a lot of health problems, so I can’t get around as well as I used to. But every night, there’s fighting, cursing, gambling, drug use, drug sales, loud music, and all kinds of other things going on outside my door.

“I turn on my porch light and sometimes put my water house out to make them go away, but it does no good. They are so disrespectful, you can’t say anything to them, and the females are just as bad as the males.”

Ms. Smith said she points her finger directly at management, because they’ve done nothing about their complaints. Resident Association President, Lula Harrell, said another part of the problem is management is allowing people to move into the apartments without thoroughly checking them out.

Rev. Harry Scott, Pastor of 24th Avenue Church, said he has attended meetings and addressed the problem with the management of Belmont Heights Estates.

Rev. Scott said the police do come, and break them up, but as soon as the police leave, it starts all over again.

A call to Phase I Manager, Jim Peace, was not returned, and Tampa Housing Authority CEO, Jerome Ryans, said he’s going to look into what’s going on and the performance of the management company they’ve hired to run the complex.

Another manager at the complex said they aren’t budgeted to hire a security company to patrol the complex.