New Port Richey neighborhood sees transformation after years of crime and blight

For years, members of the Fraternal Order of Eagles 3153 had a front-row seat to the problems in the Leisure Lane and Van Doren Avenue neighborhood in New Port Richey."This was an area people were probably afraid to even come to?" reporter Erik Waxler asked Donna Rao."Yeah, even me and I live here. I was afraid to walk," she replied.Watch report from Erik Waxler Leisure Lane Area ImprovementsI've reported on the troubles surrounding Leisure Lane and Van Doren Avenue for close to a decade.The area officially known as Town and Country Villas was plagued by drugs and prostitution, while many homes were falling apart."These mobile homes that were in here they werent fit for any kind of habitation whatsoever," Kim Bogart, who was then New Port Richey's police chief, said in 2019.The transformation started with Habitat for Humanity buying properties, tearing down old homes and building new ones. Habitat says its redevelopment of the area has been a transformational effort, with new homes rep