AUGUSTA, Ga. () – Issues in the Harrisburg neighborhood the topic of a community meeting held by District 1 Commissioner Jordan Johnson at the E.W. Boys and Girls Club Thursday night.

This meeting gave residents the chance to voice their concerns, ask questions as well as hear updates about what is going on in their neighborhood.

Among the topics discussed was what changes need to happen. Nancy Blanchard has lived in Harrisburg for 7 years and told me this was the most positive meeting she’s attended but she still has concerns.

“The blight, because I feel like when you have a clean community, you have a productive community. I’m excited about the things that we can accomplish, I’m excited that all the different agencies showed up that are working to make Harrisburg a better place,” said Blanchard.

Mary Pruitt has lived in Harrisburg since 2018, she says she went to the meeting with nothing specific in mind but was curious to hear her neighbors’ concersns.

“Being a homeowner, I just wanted to know about different things like the blight ordinance and things like that changing, what exactly is being done about crime in the area. I know there’s been a lot of recent incidents that a lot of people were concerned about,” Pruitt said.

District 1 Commissioner Jordan Johnson says many of the issues that community members brought up did not catch him by surprise.

He tells me the meeting was community driven and wants to hold more in the future.

“We get an opportunity to engage the community in ways that they wouldn’t otherwise be engaged. It’s going to be up to us to really put our boots to the ground to find solutions and to really act on some of the things that folks are asking for. I told them tonight that there are going to be things that I can’t deliver on and things that the city won’t be able to help them with but at the end of the day it’s our job to listen and our job to try our best to find solutions and that’s what we’re going to commit to doing,” said Johnson.

If you have any concerns or questions about what is going on in your neighborhood you can email Jordan Johnson here: jjohnson@augustaga.gov.