By Tara DeRock Mahoney
Senior Staff Writer

Madison City Council members convened a special called meeting Monday night to talk further about conditions on Micha Way, a Madison street which has lately been plagued with reports of loitering and alleged drug deals. Over the weekend, reports of shots being fired in the area led to further discussions of the safety of the street.

“It’s happening too often,” said Mayor Tom DuPree on Monday. “I wouldn’t want my little girl or my little boy riding their bike down that street…the residents have clearly stated that they have had enough,” said DuPree. “We have angry residents, we have shots being fired—that cannot be good.”

Council members debated several different options under current ordinances that could allow the city to go so far as to cordon off certain areas of the duplexes on Micha Way in an effort to curb problems.

“I’m not sure cordoning off the woods with yellow tape is going to do much,” said council member Connie Booth.

The council discussed using the city’s ordinances prohibiting unsafe buildings as a means of controlling any illegal activity in the area, since a boarded-up duplex is located in one alleged problem area of the complex. But some council members were concerned about the ordinance’s requirement that the building in question prove an “imminent” danger.

“I think a judge might say, ‘yes, there’s a pattern here,’” said Booth. “But is there an imminent threat [from the building]?”