Residents of Macon’s Autumn Trace Apartments complain of mold, bullet holes, more
.jpg "A Facebook post where Danny Glover posted a picture of the window of his mother’s apartment at Autumn Trace Apartments. He hosted a community meeting to speak with residents about the “deplorable conditons” at the property and how he wants to advocate for change.")
Residents of Autumn Trace Apartments voiced their frustrations over what some called “deplorable conditions” at a community meeting Wednesday.
Danny Glover, who hosted the meeting, said his mother’s apartment had been shot at and the bullet holes in her window remain unfixed. Other residents of the apartment complex at 1476 Rocky Creek Rd. raised issues about pests, mold, flooding, damage to walls and floors that remain unfixed, and a lack of manager support.
Wednesday’s meeting was the first Glover had organized for the residents, and he said he plans to host more in the future to continue his advocacy and inform residents of the actions he’s taking to address the problems.
“Y’all ain’t doing nothing wrong,” Glover said. “You have the right to live in an environment without living in squalor, without living in deplorable conditions that allow you to stay with rats, roaches and every other type of thing like these are.”
Autumn Trace is owned by the Hallmark Company, a multi-family housing firm based in Atlanta that owns and operates multiple properties across the U.S. It has another property in Macon called Parkview Apartments, according to its website.
Glover said he’s been in talks with the company’s lawyer, Greg Clark, and was scheduled to meet with him to address the issues at Autumn Trace. That meeting hadn’t occurred as of Friday. In the meantime, he’s sharing posts to Facebook and reaching out to local officials about the conditions of the apartment complex.
“These are human rights that we have, and if we don’t make the noise and hold people accountable … who are in place to protect it, we lose those rights or those rights get stomped on again and again,” Glover said in the meeting.
Autumn Trace ‘area of concern from a public safety perspective’
In early January, three people were shot at Autumn Trace— a 42-year-old woman, a 25-year-old woman and an 18-year-old man. The three victims survived. Sgt. Christopher Williams said Thursday that an investigation into the incident is still pending.
Another shooting on June 5, 2025, resulted in the death of Marcus Cunningham Jr. Prosecutors have indicted four people — Alfonzo Hyman, Kenio Bibbs and two teenagers — they say were connected to the incident. They face charges of malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, first-degree home invasion and conspiracy to commit armed robbery.
However, one of the teenagers was acquitted of all of his charges, court records showed. The other three defendants’ cases remain pending.
Chris Floore, chief communications officer for Macon-Bibb County, said the local government is preparing for litigation against Autumn Trace to address the issues.
“In January, the sheriff’s office brought Autumn Trace to our attention as an area of concern from a public safety perspective,” Floore said. “They requested that we look at the data and consider it for legal action, similar to what we have done for other locations.
The county has filed 11 suits in the past claiming certain locations — from gas stations to motels — were public nuisances. Floore claims that “as we’ve seen in other locations where the safety measures we’ve requested have been allowed to be put in place, criminal activity has gone down.”
Clark, Autumn Trace’s lawyer, said that residents’ safety remains his client’s highest priority and has intensified their efforts to work with Macon-Bibb County Government, the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office and “other community partners to address residents’ concerns in a meaningful and sustainable way,” according to an email exchange between Clark and Glover provided to The Telegraph.
What residents say about their living conditions
Niakemia Darrisaw, a resident and mother of five kids, voiced her frustration about how flooding caused by a neighbor moving their washing machine led to a four-day water outage.
“(Management) helped (getting) the water out or whatever,” Darrisaw said. “I did the best I (could) with the help they did, and with me asking my neighbor, ‘Can I get water to … mop my floor and stuff like that and carry me on through the weekend?’”
Due to the flooding in Darrisaw’s apartment, mold grew. According to the resident, management told her to get bleach to clean the mold, but “it keeps coming back because it’s underneath the wall. It’s within the building, just like the roaches I wake up (with),” she said during the meeting.
Kathy Howard, who has a disability, claimed during the meeting that management for Autumn Trace “really don’t fix anything.” She said she’s been waiting for a handicap-friendly apartment, and holes in the wall of her bathroom were never fixed.
“I can’t lift my legs high. It’s hard for me to even, you know, use the tub,” Howard said. “(Management) was supposed to be talking to (the company) about getting me a walk-in, (but) they have been on mute.”
Her ceiling was damaged due to flooding in her neighbor’s apartment, which she said had not been addressed. Howard also said that her heating unit didn’t work through the winter months, and she fell ill as a result.
What Glover has done so far and next steps
So far, Glover sought advice from Mike Austin, the CEO of the Macon Housing Authority, who encouraged residents who feel unsafe at Autumn Trace to get on the waitlist for other housing.
As for Autumn Trace, he’s requested:
- Increased security and hiring of a night guard
- Camera installations
- Closing off paths at both entrances
- Fulfilling back-ordered maintenance requests and securing lease releases without penalties and charges.
By the end of the year, he said he either wants Autumn Trace to close or wait for proper ownership to be established.
