While construction workers erect a new gate at the entrance to Hillcrest Apartments to deter criminals, some local residents have been working to make it easier for people to get to the public housing development just west of downtown.
The plan for the Interstate 26 Connector highway project pushed by a group of local architects and activists is designed to end Hillcrest’s status as an island virtually surrounded by a moat of concrete. It calls for at least one street connection along the south of the complex to what would become a city street where Interstate 240 runs now.
Several residents of the 234-unit complex say they would welcome improving Hillcrest’s connection to the rest of Asheville, but there are also concerns that it would make the complex less secure.
“It’s bad that we can’t get but one way out of here,” said resident Lilly Pearl Carson. “We are fenced in.”
The complex already has a significant problem with drug-related crime. Jamila Griffin worries that more routes in and out would make it “easier for the drug dealers to get in.”
Some residents said there are good arguments on both sides: “I see the pros to (better access), and I see the cons to it,” said resident Sherrell Cuthbertson.
Renewing a debate
Hillcrest’s isolation has been a subject of discussion inside and outside the complex before.
It is bounded by Interstate 240 to the south, U.S. 19/23 to the east and north and a cliff that parallels Riverside Drive to the west. A bridge across U.S. 19/23 to Hill Street is the only vehicle access. Pedestrians can also walk from the complex across Smoky Park Bridge to the west.
The state Department of Transportation closed a pedestrian bridge from the complex across I-240 in November 1994 at the request of residents who said drug dealers used the bridge to get into the complex or as an escape route when police made arrests in the complex.
A man died in 1998 when he was struck by a car as he tried to cross I-240 on foot to get to the complex. That touched off a monthslong debate among residents and local public officials about reopening the bridge or taking other steps to make access easier.
Residents who came to public meetings on the issue were divided on the bridge question. An informal poll of residents at the time found 58 percent in favor of opening it.
City Council voted 4-3 to keep it closed. Members said they were swayed by residents worried about drug crime.
The I-26 Connector, which will be one of the largest public works projects in the city’s history, has raised the issue again. The connector would involve revamping the I-26/I-40/I-26 interchange on the west side of town, widening I-240 in West Asheville and building a new crossing of the French Broad River.
A decision on where and how the project is to be built is scheduled to come in the next year or two.
Among the alternatives DOT is considering, primarily because of community requests, is one that would make what is now I-240 into a local street in the stretch between downtown and Patton Avenue in West Asheville.
DOT’s plan for that alternative shows a new street connecting Patton Avenue with the Hillcrest access road just to the east of the development.
Members of the Asheville Design Center, a group of local architects and others interested in transportation and planning, are pushing a variation of that design for the connector that would apparently include the same street and might add pedestrian or street access on the south side of the complex.
Details have not been worked out, but a rendering developed for the Design Center shows new commercial or residential development where four Hillcrest buildings sit today.
Ending isolation
Members of the Design Center and some Hillcrest residents say their complex’s isolation is an inconvenience and unhealthy for the community.
“There’s a good amount of people that have their own transportation, but there’s more people that rely on the bus … cabs and stuff like that,” Cuthbertson said.
Taking children to places outside the complex on foot is especially difficult, Cuthbertson said. Some residents work at businesses along Patton Avenue in West Asheville, but once they walk west past Westgate shopping center, the sidewalks end, she said.
Resident Tyrone Simpson worries about more traffic coming into the complex but also does not like the current situation.
“You look around, and there’s fences and (security) cameras. It’s just like a penitentiary,” he said.
Some question the effectiveness of gates and fences, saying people who want to get into the complex can take a city bus or come in with a friend.
“If the drug dealers are going to come in, they’re going to come one way or another, if they have to fly up in the air and drop down,” Carson said.
Design Center member Joe Minicozzi said no one has made decisions on exactly how access to Hillcrest would be improved. The Design Center alternative could be built without changing access to Hillcrest and would still be desirable without it, he said.
But he said it would benefit the complex if residents could walk to commercial development along what would become a new stretch of Patton Avenue to work or to shop.
As things stand now, “Where do they go for a gallon of milk?” he said.
Unwanted business
Other residents worry that making it easier to get in and out of Hillcrest would increase the number of people who think of it as a place to buy a rock of cocaine.
“I like it the way it is. It’s safer,” said Nicole Lynch.
“It’s a no-win situation,” said Cornelia McNeill. More access would be nice, but with more access, “you’d get more foot traffic. … You’re (increasing) the problem,” she said.
Dealers and their customers come to Hillcrest from elsewhere to do business, but some are deterred by the gate and other security measures, some residents said.
Gene Bell, CEO of the Housing Authority of the City of Asheville, said his agency is not trying to make residents feel imprisoned.
“The cameras, the gate (are) to try to make the community safer, that’s all,” he said.
“We just had a murder up there. It’s not like stuff is not going on. It’s not like we’re imagining these things,” Bell said, referring to a recent drug-related shooting in the complex. “It would be hard to convince you, me or anybody that there isn’t a need for more security.”
Bell did not take a position on whether it would be desirable for the I-26 Connector to change access to Hillcrest. “The one way in and one way out has advantages and disadvantages,” he said.
He said that residents’ wishes will probably determine the issue and most want more routes in and out. “Our objective is to improve the quality of life of our residents. … We’ll take their lead on it.”
Bigger picture
Minicozzi was scornful of the idea that concerns about drug dealing should block efforts to improve access to the complex.
“The only way to stop it is to remove the demand. A gate is not going to stop drugs. Nothing stops drugs,” he said.
John Legerton, a local architect who is involved in Design Center efforts, favors making more connections to Hillcrest. But, he said, “If you’re only doing that, I’m not sure what you’ve really accomplished.”
Adding connections should come along with steps like making the complex more part of a neighborhood with businesses and other residents around it and offering job training and social services in Hillcrest itself, he said.
Current thinking is that isolating low-income communities can exacerbate their problems, Legerton said. Many housing agencies have used federal money to decrease density of public housing and mix low-income housing among homes occupied by people of different incomes, he said.
At Hillcrest, “If all you did was just opened up access and did nothing else to change things — the concerns of that community are valid — that’s not enough,” he said.
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