EL PASO, Texas (KFOX14/CBS4) — For years, neighbors in a Northeast El Paso neighborhood say they felt unsafe because of a home on Wickham Avenue that has been the subject of dozens of calls for service and repeated complaints.
As of Feb. 10, there had been 65 911 calls made since December 2023 and 27 311 calls since August 2021 tied to the home.
The calls ranged from trash and overgrown weeds to reports involving domestic disturbances and assault.
Neighbors said they were harassed and assaulted by individuals who lived in the home, and some said they did not feel safe walking down their own street.
“They condemned the place and nobody should be in there. So right now there’s peace,” one neighbor said.
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Neighbors also raised concerns at an El Paso City Council meeting, claiming people had been living in the house without utilities.
“These people have been living there for years with no electricity, no gas, no water,” one speaker said during the meeting.
Another neighbor described the conditions, saying, “They don’t have services, so I really don’t know how they were able to live in there,” adding,
And the smell in the summer was really bad.
Neighbors said they began seeing progress from the City after speaking at the meeting.
“Everything so we did that and nothing was happening. So the next step was have the opportunity to talk to the mayor. Mayor helped us a lot,” one neighbor said.
Emily Schmalz reports on a Northeast El Paso home facing years of complaints from neighbors.
El Paso City officials said they have been working on the matter for more than 16 months and only recently condemned the property, placing danger signs around the property.
Neighbors said they dealt with threats while the individuals lived there.
One neighbor said,
So they were terrorizing us, walking outside.
Some neighbors declined to be on camera, citing fear of retaliation.
One neighbor, who said she had taken the brunt of the violence, told KFOX14/CBS4 she got into a physical altercation with an individual from the home.
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Neighbors said condemning the home is a first step toward restoring peace in the neighborhood.
“But we’ll hopefully once it’s completely them repaired or demolished, it’s gonna get better,” one neighbor said.
City officials said the investigation into the property is ongoing and has been referred for appropriate review.
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