The Forest Park neighborhood is home to Ken Gilbert and his wife, who both have fond childhood memories here.
But the neighborhood changed. Gilbert said by 2012, they got used to hearing gunshots.
"We would hear police helicopters,” Gilbert explained.
Police blamed nearly a half dozen hotels along the nearby 161 corridor. They were infested with drugs, prostitution, and violent crime, including murder.
To avoid the police, Gilbert said drug dealers would do their dirty work in his neighborhood.
"We'd come back into our neighborhood and there would be a car on our street that we didn't recognize and all of a sudden it would just zoom away," Gilbert said.
The city attorney's office said it became clear police couldn't arrest their way out of the problem.
“If a prostitute was arrested in this hotel, she may very well be back in this hotel the next day," Assistant Columbus city attorney Bill Sperlazza said.
Police, prosecutors, business leaders, and neighbors all joined forces and targeted code violations to help the city file nuisance abatements against the worst offenders. The city attorney's office shut down five hotels that refused to clean up their act.
Each nail in a board was like a nail in the criminals' coffin. There was such a reduction in major crimes it exceeded the prosecutor's wildest dreams.
CrimeTracker 10 obtained police reports from June 2012 through June 2013, when all of the hotels were still open for business. During that time, police investigated 259 major crimes including murder, rape, robbery, assault, burglary and theft.
Compare that to the past year from the data we collected, when the number of major crimes plummeted to 123. That's a reduction of more than 52 percent.
"Stopping those criminals from having a place to set up shop and do business. That's the way you get that crime out of that neighborhood," Sperlazza said.
At the former Red Carpet Inn, the success rate is even higher. The number of major crimes near this hotel fell 67 percent.
That’s good news for Gilbert who lives a stone’s throw away from the hotel.
"We're about two streets away from 161 right here,” Gilbert said.
He said not only does he feel safer, but the 161 corridor is making progress.
The initiative was such a success, the city attorney's office says it's now turning its attention to about a half dozen hotels in East Columbus to make sure they're turning away troublemakers.
The problem there is twofold. If you're standing on the east side of Brice Road, then you're in the city of Reynoldsburg. But cross the street and you're in Columbus.
The two cities say they're working together because they want to fix the problem, not just relocate it.
"It's kind of like a neighborhood with a border running right through,” Sperlazza said.
Sperlazza has a new partner in crime fighting. Reynoldsburg city attorney Jed Hood is joining forces with Columbus to keep criminals from simply crossing the street.
Hood said, “So we don't, like you said, relocate the problem from the edge of Columbus into the border of Reynoldsburg."
Gilbert said collaboration created real change in his neighborhood. The best part for Gilbert?
"Knowing that my wife can come home late at night from a meeting and be safe,” he said.