RALEIGH - A 72-year-old man in chronic trouble for housing code violations thinks he is being unfairly targeted by city inspectors and says that graffiti spray-painted outside his house are a racist message encouraging his family to leave.

R.J. Royster bought his house on Boylan Avenue west of downtown in 1970 -- an era when many of the buildings were condemned and you couldn't get a pizza delivered.

But now Boylan Heights boasts historic district status and houses routinely worth more than $300,000 -- and neighbors bristle at junk in the yard, shaky electricity and a drug call at Royster's house this year. He appears before the City Council today to address Raleigh's $297 charge for carting away debris, and a local NAACP official plans to air the elderly man's side.

A part-time bus driver, Royster has long drawn Raleigh inspectors citing him for junk in the yard, bad electricity, broken floors and cracked ceilings.

Police came to 715 S. Boylan Ave. to investigate a purported drug sale in January, a Raleigh police incident report indicates. Royster said that police accused his son of selling drugs to an undercover officer and that the son is now in jail. But it never happened in the house, said Royster, who insists he doesn't even allow cigarettes.

"The neighborhood kind of outgrew him," Councilman James West said. "He's got the historic district requirements, and he's of meager means. It was a different neighborhood in the '70s."

This afternoon, Royster will have help from J. Ronald White, president of the South Central Wake County Branch of the NAACP.

There is strong feeling among Raleigh's black activists that Raleigh would leave Royster alone if he lived somewhere else. Only a handful of black families still live on Boylan Avenue.

White said City Councilman Thomas Crowder told him he had warned Boylan Avenue residents to watch Royster's house and call 911 if they saw anything suspicious. Efforts to reach Crowder, who represents Boylan Heights, in his office and on his cell phone Monday were unsuccessful.

"Crowder says he's going to get them evicted and the house torn down," White said. "This family is being targeted."

Meanwhile, spray-painted images have appeared on two street signs outside Royster's house.

They show a man who appears to be in pain, with what Royster and White say looks like a rope extending from his head. It is painted several times with what appears to be a stencil, but it's an obscure image that could be interpreted many ways.

"It looks like a hate sign," Royster said. "First time I've ever seen anything like that."

West said he thinks Royster has made mistakes, but he hopes a solution can be struck. Otherwise, he said, low-income families all around Raleigh could be threatened by gentrification.

Royster paid $15,500 for his house in 1970. Today, Wake County assesses it at $301,785.

Royster has filed for bankruptcy twice. The city loaned him $18,000 to make repairs in 2006, making an exception in a program that normally tops out at $5,000.

Work finished in September of that year, and city inspectors signed off on it, giving Royster a certificate of occupancy.

In January 2008, inspectors returned with a long list of new violations: plumbing, cracks, combustible material, junk in the yard.

Records show many of them have been repaired, and Royster says his house is fine. He says, though, that he hired an unscrupulous contractor who failed to finish the original $18,000 work.

He has applied for another loan, but Raleigh has turned Royster down because he has numerous liens on the property.

Royster crosses his fingers. He doesn't want to leave. Anywhere else, he'd never live to see the end of house payments.