HOMEWOOD - AL -
No arrest and no identification yet in the shooting death of a man at a West Homewood hotel. Sunday's homicide is the city's fourth in less than three months.
The man was found dead inside the Rodeway Inn on Oxmoor Road Sunday. It's part of the city that's about to undergo a multi-million dollar makeover.
Neighbors believe it will be enough to detour crime.
At Patriot Park, it's all about playtime for Melody Laughlin and her three year old grandson.
"It's nice to see them doing something with this area," said the lifelong Homewood resident.
But across Oxmoor Road, Laughlin sees crime.
"It's getting worse, I think. It's getting a lot closer to this area," she said.
By worse, she's referring to the discovery of a man shot at the Rodeway Inn Sunday.
Just one mile away, a mother and her two children were killed in an apartment complex last December.
Homewood police don't deem West Homewood as a particularly crime filled area.
But neighbors hope the five million dollar redevelopment will help.
"I think it will help the area, I really do," said Laughlin.
Construction will begin in 2014 to make West Homewood look a little more like Edgewood with sidewalks, English style architecture and more stylized signs.
"We understand what kind of parking they want, the look they want, what the retail is going to be down to the detail of what the signs will look like," said Homewood Mayor Scott McBrayer.
Even the mayor believes it will turn the area and crime perception around.
"It [crime] seems recently it is pinpointed to that area, so hopefully what will happen is once all those improvements are made, people will move on that have no business being there," he said.
The project is expected to take a year and half to complete.
