Community helps Brannon Hill clean-up

To Clarkston business owner Manna Samuels, the severely dilapidated Brannon Hill Condominium complex looks “very sad.”

“This looks like a third world [country] where we just came from,” said Samuels, an Eritrea native and owner of Merhaba Shawarma restaurant. “It shouldn’t look like this.”

Samuels closed her restaurant for a few hours to help  “to show the community my support because most of my friends lived here and live here. I just want to show my support.”

Samuels was one of approximately 150 people—politicians, community activists, religious leaders, students and residents—who banned together May 7 to begin the cleanup of Brannon Hill Condominium complex.

Located off of Memorial Drive and a few hundred feet from the Clarkston campus of Georgia State University, Brannon Hill has been called DeKalb County’s worst neighborhood by some.

Several buildings are either burned or boarded up, and, in some cases, boards have been removed and units are occupied by homeless people. Multiple abandoned cars, some of which look lived in, fill parking spaces throughout Brannon Hill.

“There have been a lot of problems at Brannon Hill so we are trying to revitalize this community and bring everybody together. This is a beginning,” said Omar Shekhey, president of Somali American Community Center.

Shekhey said the next steps include addressing safety concerns, removing the debris of burned buildings and improving the effectiveness of the homeowners association.

“We are trying to show the world that we have pride in our community,” Shekhey said. “We are working hard to better our community.”

DeKalb County Commissioner Sharon Barnes Sutton, in whose district Brannon Hill is located, said the community event was organized “as part of the agreement with DeKalb County and it has to do with our [lawsuit] against the homeowners association.”