A group of neighbors says they've had enough.
They brought their concerns about living and owning property in what they call, a crime-ridden neighborhood, before city council Monday night.
It’s known as the west central part of town, located between Chestnut Expressway and Grand and Kansas Expressway and South Avenue.
The problem, according to neighbors, is that crime makes west central an undesirable place to live and work.
"It’s my love. It’s my passion. It’s my happiness."
That was the old Carol Nachbar.
She was an independent developer- essentially, she flipped houses.
“Where’s my right? Where's my right? I quit!"
And that's the new one.
Nachbar says after five years as a property owner in Springfield’s west central neighborhood, she's taken an early retirement.
“The only thing I’m doing now is trying to maintain my properties so when the market gets better I can just unload them all,” Nachbar tells KSPR.
Namely, this house on West Walnut.
Nachbar says the neighborhood "activities" have made it impossible to rent, let alone sell.
“[There’s] fighting screaming and yelling matches, drug use, drunk and disorderly conduct, theft, vandalism, stripping... you name it, it's been here,” she says.
Nachbar’s issue with the neighborhood is from the perspective of an investor.
She claims crime there has impacted her property value.
But the people who live there have a much different concern.
“Somebody who used to live here shot at the people across the street."
In the past eight months Springfield police have been called to Amber Tinsley’s apartment building- next door to Nachbar's place- 65 times.
“It makes you kind of want to stay inside and mind your own business so you don't get involved in any of it,” Tinsley tells us.
Some residents and investors took their concerns to city council Monday night and got, according to Nachbar, “No response.”
No different response is more like it.
“As far as comparing it to other beats, is it more of a problem? I don’t see that, based on the calls,” says Lt. Vance Holland with the Springfield Police Department.
Police say they have an officer dedicated to working west central.
Nachbar says that's just not working for her.
Nachbar claims the city's nuisance ordinance is not being enforced in this area.
Springfield police say they send out nearly two dozen letters a year to landlords there informing them of tenants who have violated the nuisance ordinance, and those landlords often solve the problem with an eviction notice.