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Residents looking to address the blight problem in their neighborhood

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BATON ROUGE - Residents of Eden Park say crime is commonplace in their community. 

"We've witnessed so much crime here. Prostitution, drug transactions... We've experience gang fights and stuff like that," said Zea Wallace, referencing one of the vacant houses in her neighborhood.

It's on North 37th Street in Baton Rouge, next to an empty lot and across the street from a church.

"You call the police and call the police... It got to the point that police were familiar with house," Wallace said.

And there are many other blighted properties in Wallace's neighborhood.

"It's sad, because who wants to come home to a neighborhood where they can't be at peace?" 

Wallace says nothing is being done, despite their many calls to city hall.

But residents in Eden Park can do something about the blight in their community. A workshop is being held to show residents just how to do that.

Metro Councilman LaMont Cole is well aware of the problem around here.

"For the last six or seven months it's been like this and that's far too long," Cole said. "We have far too many issues of blight in our community like this one right here.

He's organizing the workshop to take residents though the legal steps to remove eye sores on their street.

"We're going to hear from residents and then we're going to work together, break up into groups, and talk about ideas on how to better to improve blight in the district."

Residents say removing blight won't stop all crime, but it can make it harder for criminals to hide what they do.

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