We have been watching the efforts and great progress of the Kingsport Housing and Redevelopment Authority (KHRA) for over 10 years as they applied for and received state and federal grants to demolish the aging public housing projects. Riverview was first and the smallest with only 92 units being demolished in 2008 and 116 beautiful new homes built in their place.
Currently, Robert E. Lee Apartments 128 units are scheduled for demo and 51 new town houses built in their place. It is easy to watch the progress of this as it is located on Sevier Ave. with hundreds of cars driving by each day. Riverview and Lee were built in 1941.
The less obvious, out-of-sight, out-of-mind Frank L. Cloud Apartments is the largest of the aging public housing in Kingsport at 189 units and has much more land than either Riverview or Lee. It is also only a few years newer. Cloud was to be demolished after Lee Apartments but now they plan to simply refurbish instead.
Cloud Apartments and the immediate surrounding area has the highest crime rate in Kingsport. A public records request has been made with the Kingsport City Police Department for statistics and an update will be posted when it is received. Drugs, domestic disturbance, violent crime (murder) has been the norm for years. Hundreds of children live there with little to no hope of a better life. In some cases, their great-grandparents, grandparents and parents have lived there. In all likelihood, they will find a mate and have children who will continue the cycle.
WHY ARE THE CHILDREN OF RIVERVIEW AND LEE MORE DESERVING THAN THE CHILDREN OF CLOUD?
The Kingsport Housing and Redevelopment Authority's mission is to improve the lives of low-income persons in Kingsport. They claim to "believe that blighted areas undermine the vibrancy of our community and therefore are committed to acting as a catalyst for successful redevelopment efforts in the community". The area surrounding Cloud Apartments is the most blighted in all of Kingsport! It is just out of the public's sight.
We are asking the KHRA Executive Director, Terry Cunningham, the Kingsport City Manager, Jeff Fleming and the Mayor of Kingsport, John Clark to follow through with the original plan for community revitalization in Kingsport's most impoverished and drug filled area by having Frank L. Cloud Apartments demolished.
