PETERSBURG, Va. (WTVR) -- More homes in Petersburg some consider eyesores and havens for drug activity will be torn down.
The Virginia National Guard will soon conduct another training exercise in Petersburg aimed directly at those homes.
In 2012, about a dozen homes and one business, all deemed unsafe by the city and deemed a problem by police, were brought down by a group of guardsmen.
However, some neighbors worried that one were concerned houses in their neighborhood, regardless of the circumstances, were targeted to be razed, fearing if enough are torn down, the fabric of the neighborhood would disappear.
Now one year later, many said they are thankful for the demolition and believe drug activity, while not gone, has at least moved somewhere else.
"Things kind of calmed down, but the calls I got afterwards were calls of delight because it kind of moved the traffic away from the areas in which I would get those calls from," said Petersburg City Council's Howard Myers.
However, one man said that while he agrees the houses are eyesores and accepts they do need to be torn down, he doesn't believe there is any statistical data to prove it has slowed drug activity in the city.
The Virginia National Guard will begin demolition of the targeted homes in about ten days.
