ATLANTA — Barricades on a busy Atlanta street have been up for months to keep drivers from speeding down the road.
Now that those barricades are being removed, residents and business owners on Edgewood Avenue are worried the racing, unruly crowds and gunshots will return.
Some residents say that on the weekends, the area gets so packed that the barricades provided them with a little relief to the nightlife noise.
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“I’m miserable,” resident Carol Carr told Channel 2′s Ashli Lincoln. “Starting from Thursday to Monday morning, it’s horrendous.”
The barricades were put up after residents and business owners complained about speeding.
“I think it’s more safer with the barricades up,” said resident Darius Snow.
The section of Edgewood Avenue is well-known as a nightlife district, but people living in the area say it has brought unwanted crime to the community.
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“I do not agree with them taking off the barricade,” Snow said.
He told Lincoln that before the barricades were put up, he was hit by a stray bullet while walking.
“Something as simple has having a barricade can have a profound effect on the everyday life here, especially on the weekends,” Snow said.
The barricades only allowed for foot traffic, keeping speeding drivers out of the area.
“They race through here like they’re on the Indy 500,” Carr said.
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Justin DeLeon owns Our Bar ATL and says that if the barriers make nightlife safer, he’s all for it.
“Our windows have been shot like a couple of times over the summer, and if that helps prevent that, I’m cool with it. It’s better than a bunch of police lights out here making it look like a crime scene,” he told Lincoln.
Police say that just because the barriers are gone, their presence will not be. They say that they will be actively patrolling the area, especially on the weekends.
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