The New Suburban Ghetto

"Charlotte City Council members say they're surprised to learn how far the city's starter-home suburbs have declined in just a few years.

They're calling for new efforts to revive dozens of subdivisions -- and at least one builder is pledging money and manpower to help.

'This hit everyone very quickly ...,' Mayor Pat McCrory said Tuesday. 'It's a serious problem with no magic pill, and it's going to take both the public and private sector to come up with solutions.'

It's about time politicians noticed, say some residents living in these neighborhoods, built over the past decade across northern Charlotte and in parts of the east and southwest.

'I feel like I'm living in an old ghetto," says Roscoe Henderson, who has watched his 4-year-old Peachtree Hills neighborhood crumble. 'You never know when somebody's going to come kick your door in. And it seems like the city is just ignoring our problems.'"