Residents of an Akron apartment complex are demanding greater police presence and property security following gunfire inside one of the buildings early Monday morning.
More than 40 residents of Spring Hill Apartments and other community members organized a short march Wednesday afternoon, ending near the property manager’s office. Chanting about the need for greater safety at the complex, protesters intended to deliver a list of demands to the manager — including a 24-hour police presence and video surveillance. But the manager’s office was locked.
It’s normally unlocked, residents said, but was purposefully locked Wednesday.
“It’s 3 o’clock and they refuse to open the door and let us in,” said Ray Greene Jr., political director with Akron Organizing Collaborative, which helped organize the march. “That shows you the level of care this management shows to residents — who pay rent.”
When reached by the Beacon Journal afterward, the managers declined to comment.
Spring Hill is a multibuilding apartment complex that caters primarily to the poor in the city’s Lane-Wooster neighborhood. It is not public housing, but many residents use publicly funded vouchers to supplement their rent.
A cursory search of the police department’s crime reports reveals a steady flow of incidents coming from the apartments, but the tension reached a peak with the shots fired Monday.
Police found shell casings in a high-rise, second-floor stairwell. The door to the stairwell and a wall were struck with bullets in an exchange of gunfire, police reported. No one was arrested, but a few residents are suspected of involvement.
Marsha Andrus, president of the Spring Hill resident council, said the incident could have been prevented if the property’s management never changed security policies. She said police had a much greater presence at the complex when she moved in two decades ago.
“When I came here, the police were here and we had a nice home,” Andrus said. “We felt safe.”
Over time, police began to back away from the apartments and security officers were hired instead.
“But security can’t do nothing. They just call the police when something’s wrong,” she said. “So why don’t we just cut out the middleman?”
She said it used to be that no one could enter a building without showing identification and proving he or she lived there or was visiting someone who did. That level of security has also faded away, she said.
Andrus said the group expects a response from apartment management by Monday. If they receive no response, she said residents intend to begin withholding their rent under Ohio escrow laws.
Also present for the march was Margo Sommerville, Akron’s Ward 3 city councilwoman. Sommerville said $11 million in renovations are ongoing at the complex for the first time since it was built, but the residents are suffering until the renovations are complete.
“We definitely know that Spring Hill has some challenges,” she said. “I’m glad that the residents are coming together to try to peacefully solve the problems.”
Angela Bell, another resident, told the crowd outside the manager’s office that she was fed up with the lack of security.
“I have been here for 13 years and I’ve seen a lot — people who’ve been shot, people who’ve been killed,” she said. “We don’t [have] to take everything that’s going on at Spring Hill.”
Nick Glunt can be reached at 330-996-3565 or nglunt@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @NickGluntABJ and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ngfalcon.