A Warner Robins woman says she's not going to stop pushing for change in her neighborhood and is thankful for the help she's already gotten.
On February 20th, Angela Whitman spoke at a Warner Robins Council meeting and asked for help lighting her street at night.
She says it's just the latest step in a lifelong effort to help underserved communities.
She moved to Johns Road in the northern part of Warner Robins two months ago. Before that, she had lived in Missouri.
Whitman says after a while, she noticed the street was completely dark at night, due to no lights.
“You know if something was to go on, I want to be able to see, you know, most people won't get involved. I don't care about that, I live here so I want to take pride in where I live,” Whitman said in her living room.
Since September of 2017, Warner Robins Police have 32 incident reports on file from Johns Road, averaging more than one a week.
So Whitman went to a Council meeting to ask for more streetlights.
“I mean I didn't have to wait for my complaint to get fixed, it was literally taken care of,” Whitman said with a smile.
Just a few days later, Whitman says her street had two new streetlights. The City came out to inspect the problem soon after the meeting, and Whitman said not long after that she had new lights.
Mayor Randy Toms said it showed the system worked.
“It highlights not as much our listening ability, but as much as how we've got great employees. That when they can get the job done, they get the job done. And that's what I'm most proud of,” Toms said in his office on Friday.
Toms said he thinks the idea could work and make criminals less likely to commit a crime knowing the lights are on. He said it’s not going to stop every crime, but he was willing to give it a try.
This isn't Whitman's first time asking local government for help and said she never felt ignored by Mayor Randy Toms or Police Chief Brett Evans.
She told 13 WMAZ she's pushed for neighborhood change in other states at least seven times in her life. She’s pushed for similar changes twice in Texas, once in Denver, and then in Missouri. Often, leaving a trail of news reports in her wake.
Whitman says her son, Angelo, was diagnosed with cancer at the age of nine and they often moved for his care.
Because of that, Whitman said she had to stay in poorer areas, or 'broken' communities, in order to afford paying her bills.
She knows that her current neighborhood is in the north side of Warner Robins and has a reputation, but said that's no excuse not to listen.
“You know every time people refer to this side of town, I heard people say it's the poor black community, or it's just the community nobody cares about. But that's not true, we do care about where we live, it's just getting the help to make it better,” Whitman said.
She said as a mother of four, she’s going to keep advocating for children whom cannot speak for themselves and for other mothers in communities like hers.
Whitman says she has no plans to stop going to Council meetings and urged others to get involved in the community and not expect leaders to do it all.