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The series analyzes the decline of seven neighborhoods that surround downtown Roanoke. Just three blocks in any direction from tourist destinations are neighborhoods in serious deterioration. The series chronicles the following: rural counties send their poor to Roanoke for more readily available social services, neighboring counties do not help finance these people's aid, the middle-class exodus stoked crime, city courts allowed the 20 landlords most often cited for building code violations to postpone repairs, the city received $50 million in federal money intended to create jobs and housing and instead spent it on downtown renovations and City Hall administration.