MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A historic South Memphis neighborhood feels forgotten as weeds and overgrown grass cover up a once proud area.
Bobbie Blackburn has lived in this neighborhood for nearly 30 years and says the overgrown grass and weeds at the corner of Kerr and Rozelle has been a problem for at least a year or two.
“You see how long and tall it is, don’t you?” Blackburn said.
Blackburn had a stroke a few years ago, and part of her recovery included doctor’s orders to walk around her yard and exercise. She says the overgrown lot attracts animals and critters that make the area unsafe for walking.
“It brings lizards, little snakes, I ain’t kidding with you!” Blackburn said. “Opossums, raccoons!”
Blackburn says she was forced to build a fence around the yard because of animals approaching the property. Now, she does laps around her small yard, making her feel like a prisoner in her own home.
“I’m scared to walk around here! I can only walk from here, one end to the other end,” Blackburn said.
We looked up property records with the Shelby County Assessor’s office, and found the property in question is owned by Oasis Investment Solutions in Jacksonville, Florida. We called, but the listed number for their offices has been disconnected.
The City of Memphis’ 311 page shows no active requests for the lot in question, but shows several across the neighborhood as a whole.
Residents like Blackburn just want to feel safe in their own home.
“Look at how I’m fenced in! I don’t want to be fenced in, to tell you the truth about it,” Blackburn said. “I like to live free.”
The City of Memphis was dealing with a system outage today. We’ll update this story if we learn of any active code violations involving this lot.