Homes damaged by fire also litter East St. Louis neighborhoods. Some are due to rapidly declining building quality. Some are due to accidents. Some, unfortunately, are due to arson.
The home to the left of the white house experienced some damage. The house across the street burned completely about a week ago.
Drew and I spoke with Reggie for a good while about the neighborhood. He has been an East St. Louis resident for 48 years and has military experience.
We got the impression that he knew everyone in the neighborhood. Passers by took their time to wave or say hello to him. He was all for us photographing the neighborhood.
Reggie also hit us with an astounding statistic: There have been 15 fires in East St. Louis in the last 10 days. (Notice the burned out home behind him.)