Once Dangerous Citrus Heights Street Says Sayonara To Troubled Past
CITRUS HEIGHTS (CBS13) — A street once known as one of the most notorious and blighted in Citrus Heights is now being hailed as a success story a decade in the making.
Sayonara Drive used to be a street where violence made people afraid to come out of their homes, but there's a new spirit in the neighborhood. With the joint efforts of Citrus Heights Police and the community, it's not the place it was a few years ago.
Luz Madrano and her family have lived on the road for nearly 20 years.
"Scary, really, really, scary," she said. "I'd pull up and run straight home."
Crime, drugs and gangs combined with poor living conditions brought on by absentee landlords whose buildings weren't up to code.
Families like the Madranos didn't feel safe, until now.
"We feel like more safe; it's just feel better here, we can go step outside without being so scared," she said.
At one point, police calls were 30 times higher on this road than anywhere else in the city, but as the city marks 10 years for its police department, it's evident the crime on this street has significantly dropped.
In the last several years, the city repaved streets, added lighting and put in surveillance cameras. The city even bought some of the most rundown complexes and rebuilt them .Officials forced landlords to bring their buildings up to code.