In the shadows of Uptown Charlotte is a neighborhood that’s seen its share of trouble.

If you head outbound on Freedom Drive and take a right on Tuckaseegee, you enter the Enderly Park Neighborhood. It is a place very near and dear to the heart of Bette Rae Thomast. From her front porch on Tuckaseegee, Thomas says, “When we first moved here, I was of course an infant.” She is 79-years-old now.

“It was a lovely neighborhood. It was well kept yards and homes,” Thomas remembers. The years, though, haven’t been kind to Enderly Park. There are homes sitting in disrepair and it is those addresses Thomas desperately wants cleaned up.

“I hate to see homes torn down,” said Thomas.

The signatures of Thomas and four others started the ball rolling for the recent demolition of a house a few doors down from hers. Now, the one next door is her target.

“The police have been there numerous times over the years,” Thomas said. “We’ve had drugs, we’ve had families living there with children going all over the neighborhood breaking in and stealing. We’ve had prostitution there.”

Years ago, Thomas says, the house was divided into apartments. In November of last year, it caught fire and partially burned. After that, a police officer actually asked the city to look into doing something about the place.

Walter Abernathy works in neighborhood development. He says there is a process the city goes through, which includes a petition and inspections, a hearing and a chance for the owners to make repairs or appeal.

“The demolition process is certainly not something we like to do,” Abernathy said. “The minimum housing code is simply to bring the houses up to standard. We’re talking about plumbing, electrical and structural.”

Abernathy says the city sets a threshold for demolition and would rather the homeowner make the necessary repairs.

“If it is more than 65 percent of the tax value, the repair cost falls into a demolition category. We have many that exceed 100 percent,” said Abernathy.

One example is a trailer park on Statesville road. When we showed up to shoot video of the place, we saw crews tearing the mobile homes down. Abernathy says many of them were falling apart before the work began.

Abernathy described the place as in “very poor condition. We are conducting a pretty extensive cleanup of that area right now. Not just the homes, but also trash and debris.”

Back in Enderly Park, Thomas knows cleaning up any neighborhood is a slow process. But she certainly has no plans to give up on hers. And when it’s needed, she’s supportive of tearing places down, in an effort to clean up.

“I want it to be a lovely neighborhood that draws young people that want to buy homes and live in them. We’re so close to Uptown. It’s an idea spot,” Thomas said.