Atlanta

Residents call apartment ‘Buckhead ghetto' after living with no gas, water

By Rikki Klaus
By Rikki Klaus

ATLANTA — Several angry residents at a Buckhead apartment complex turned to Channel 2 Action News looking for help.

Residents of the Darlington Apartments have started a petition to demand gas and hot water come back online in the building.

People who live in the apartment building told Channel 2's Rikki Klaus they've had to boil water to take hot baths.

Residents have started a petition to demand gas and hot water come back online.

Now, they don't even have that luxury, since the gas is out.

"It's just non-stop problems," resident David Wright told Klaus.

He told Klaus he refuses to stay at his apartment at the Darlington on Peachtree Street.

“I got a temporary rental through AirBnB," Wright said.

Residents in about 500 apartments have been without gas and hot water, for days. Wright also sent Klaus photos of leaks.

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"It's the Buckhead ghetto," Wright told Klaus.

Tony Logan has lived at the Darlington for five years. Before a recent date,

"I had to go to a truck stop to take a shower," he told Klaus. "I could whip a gorilla and make him like it. That's how mad I am."

Chuck Walker heated water on the stove for baths until the gas cut off over the weekend.

"I've already been through that struggle. I don't want to go through that struggle anymore. I'm trying to live peaceful out here on Peachtree. I can't cook my son nothing to eat," Walker said.

"This ain’t the backwoods of Mississippi. It ain't 1920," Wright told Klaus.

In April, Hammond Residential Group took over the circa 1950 building.

The group's vice president, John Marti, said the boiler broke recently, but it's fixed now. He said a resident smelled gas and the city cut it off.

Marti said now the complex is following tedious protocol to turn it back on safely.

His message for residents:

"I'd ask them to be patient. Our on-site staff is professional, doing the very best they can to restore service to some systems that are almost 50 years old."

Marti calls the property "very distressed." He said they are preparing for a multimillion dollar renovation.

Residents are circling a petition demanding changes now.

Cox Media Group

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