I wanted something better for me and better for the neighborhood.

This area right here is so stereotyped to be so bad, like a war zone.

This is the part of the community that they don't want to hear. They don't want to see.

These are the voices of the James Casey Homes, Nashville's oldest and largest public housing complex.

And it's about to be completely transformed, torn down, and rebuilt.

If we could really redevelop Casey where there are real

opportunities for low-income families, we will have done something that very few places have done.

It's a neighborhood surrounded by red-hot real estate and gentrification, a community

plagued by violence. As I was on top of him, telling him to stop resisting, I got kicked in the head.

And a place that few people take the time to understand.

What some people would say is two different cities.

You know, this is a city, but that's a city within the city.

It's a neighborhood in flux, a community defined by its struggles,

and a place where many residents have no choice but to stick it out and adapt in whatever way they can.

And I'm sitting and stepping on a pineapple spitzer with the little umbrella.

I do travel away from here in my mind.

For the last year, I've gotten to know the people who live in the Casey Homes,

the officers who police the neighborhood, and the officials who want to make it a model

for public housing around

the nation. Their plan is beyond ambitious. Demolish, build back better, attract renters who don't

need a government subsidy, all while guaranteeing no one gets displaced. It's a promise. And that's

the name of this podcast. So for six episodes, we'll find out

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