SOUTH FULTON COUNTY, Ga. — It looks like a haunted house decorated for Halloween, but neighbors in a south Fulton County neighborhood said the decorations are all too real and include overgrown weeds, and doors left open on a house that’s falling apart.
"I fear just coming out because you don't know what's in all of this mess," Cynthia Barron told Channel 2's Justin Wilfon. "It is a horrific eyesore. It's embarrassing.
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She and her neighbors in the South Fulton subdivision of Forest Downs have watched it fall further into disrepair.
“It is a magnet for criminals and it has definitely decreased our property value," she said.
Barron showed us a long list of emails she first sent to officials with Fulton County and eventually to the city of South Fulton, to try to get someone to clean up the house.
“We want something done as soon as possible, asap! Nothing has been done at all," Barron said.
We took the issue to city of South Fulton Councilwoman Helen Zenobia Willis.
She told Wilfon that when South Fulton became a city, it inherited a list of more than 200 blighted properties from Fulton County, including the one in Forest Downs.
“I wouldn’t say that we were overwhelmed," Willis said.
Willis said the City Council recently passed new ordinances that will allow the city to place tax penalties on the owners of blighted properties and, in some cases, allow the city to take over properties and properly maintain them.
“We are a little under two years old and it’s going to take some time to put infrastructure in place to deal with matters like this," Willis said.
But, she said, it’s possible the city could begin cleaning up blighted homes sometime next year.
So, by next Halloween, this haunted-looking house could look much different.
Cox Media Group
