In a three-part series, The Dispatch examines Sullivant Avenue's problems, their impact on residents there, and some solutions that offer glimmers of hope.
If it wasn’t for what happened here in that unmarked police car with its passenger door blocked against a brick wall, a light might never have shone on a neighborhood that is so stricken with ills, one so drowning in vices and addictions and swallowed by urban blight, that police officers preyed upon the most vulnerable and no one seemed to care.
They've been here forever, the Stinsons, in this house on Sullivant Avenue — the one with an American flag, the family dinner-bell triangle hanging from a porch hook, and a spread of comfy-cushioned wicker furniture to welcome family and friends.
Helping the PACT officers better understand that the women on the street are human trafficking victims in active addiction who need help is a big part of the change, one that activists say could go a long way in transforming the Sullivant Avenue corridor.
