Tenants of Miller Ridge Apartments in Clinton are hoping for change. The apartments went into foreclosure in August. A Wisconsin bank now has ownership. But the bank hired a new management company to take care of the property and its tenants.
The new managers from DCP Property Management are trying to fix up rundown apartments and get more people in the complex. But first they need to get the renters who have criminal backgrounds, out.
"I just always carry a knife on me for protection," said renter Nathan Snyder.
"I wouldn't be here if I didn't have to," Denyse Jeanville has a similar sentiment.
Affordable rent is what keeps many Miller Ridge tenants where they are. But is it fair for those tenants to be surrounded by crime?
"It's kind of a little rough out here at times," said Jeanville. "You hear about shootings and things like that." Police say it's a problem and new management agrees.
"There were drugs being sold, and used, out in the open," said Dan Corbin, DCP Property Management. "They've got a bad situation up there and we've already gone a good distance to try and remedy some of that."
It starts with ridding the complex of crime. The company will perform a background check on anyone applying for an apartment at Miller Ridge.
"If you're in trouble with the law, you can't live here," Corbin said. "Can't have any problems abusing or selling drugs, can't have any problems abusing children."
Background checks are also being performed on current tenants; several evictions are already underway. And a security firm has been hired to do nightly security checks.
"Walking around the actual complex, making sure there's nothing going on that's not supposed to be going on, on the property," Corbin said.
When DCP Property Management took over on October 2, the apartment complex was in violation of numerous city health and safety codes.
"There was massive confusion and the office was in disarray when we got in there," said Corbin. "We wouldn't want to live like that we don't expect our tenants to live like that."
