CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Roughly 10 years and $10 million are turning around what was once one of Charlotte's roughest neighborhoods.
The city gave Belmont Seigle Point homes, new sidewalks and lights, and new artistic gateways.
Neighbors say Belmont's still not perfect. You see boarded-up buildings, graffiti and bars on windows. Plus, Eyewitness News checked crime statistics, and the numbers haven't changed much. Eyewitness News looked at the numbers from a few years ago (2009) and compared them to now (April 2011-April 2012). Assaults, aggravated assaults, strong arm robberies, sex offenses, burglaries and even homicides are about the same.
But longtime residents said statistics don't tell the whole story.
"There is a change,” Wanda McNeil said. “I can see the difference regardless of what the numbers say."
"These are small improvements, but they make big changes in how our community views the area in which they live,” Patsy Kinsey said.
By "they," she means people like Eric Ervin and his friend, Don Gibson.
"Feels a lot different,” Gibson said. “From what I've heard, just from what I've heard, I can tell that the feel is different."
The next project is a state grant to rework some intersections in Belmont so drivers go more slowly through the neighborhood.