Westside residents say they don't want "Purpose Built" in their community and they're asking other public housing residents to stand with them against the destruction of more public housing sites.

Jocelyn Johnson wanted to ask a question about the future of College Hill Courts, the largest public housing site in the city, but she had to stop crying first.

HIV doesn't just target people in poverty, gay people or promiscuous people. It can happen to anybody, said Cynthia Rodgers, a HIV/AIDS advocate and author from Birmingham, Ala.

A nonprofit that found jobs for at least 200 felons a year for more than a decade lost its funding in 2011. As gang violence simmers and members of an increasing prison population return to the streets, ex-felons say the need is even greater for the jobs program at Chattanooga Endeavors.

Westside residents attending a meeting of the Chattanooga City Council's Housing Committee thought they were going to comment on a proposed plan that could put a new, mixed-use community in their neighborhood.

Some Westside residents say they did not invite the Atlanta-based Purpose Built Communities to revitalize their neighborhood.

Jesse Lawrence has smoked for more than 20 years, but she supports the Chattanooga Housing Authority's policy to make Fairmount Apartments the first nonsmoking public housing site in the city.

Mark Abrell had no money and no medical or dental insurance, so he suffered for more than a month with a toothache.

Some neighborhood associations are falling into disrepair, disintegrating under massive infighting or represented by more developers than residents who live in the community, said the newly elected president of the Chattanooga Neighborhood Association Council.

Loretta Tate is a 30-year-old mother of two, and she has no home. It's not likely that she'll find one soon in public housing, but she's hopeful.