Young Man Found Fatally Stabbed in Buena Clinton Apartment : ‘Oasis Technique’ May Be Employed to Combat Neighborhood’s Crime

A few days before Antonio Rodriguez became Buena Clinton’s first slaying victim of 1985, Garden Grove officials met to discuss ridding the overpopulated slum neighborhood of crime and other problems through what they call the Oasis Technique.

At a meeting last week, Chief of Police Frank Kessler, Councilman Milt Krieger and Jeanette Justus, the city’s housing and neighborhood development manager, said they plan to travel to Fort Lauderdale, Fla., in March to study the Oasis Technique, named after a project that produced significant results in a slum area of that city about 10 years ago.

It involves expelling criminals from the area, a move that is more complex in Buena Clinton than Fort Lauderdale because the target community there was a publicly owned housing project. In contrast, Buena Clinton’s 101 apartment buildings are owned by some three dozen individuals and partnerships.

Owners Organizing An organization called the Buena Clinton Property Owners Assn. is in early stages of development, and its success is crucial to that of the Oasis Technique. One owner, Edward Kuo, is leading the move to establish the association and has already begun circulating a set of conditions, covenants and restrictions to owners.

The covenants include a requirement that landlords evict known, convicted criminals.

As of yet, not all the area’s landlords are cooperating, said George L. Tindall, assistant city manager. But officials are hopeful that support will grow as the association develops.

The covenants would stay with the property in perpetuity, and would permit the association to pay for the maintenance of a neglected building. The owner of that building would then be liable for all costs.

If the association is successful, one advantage to owners would be the availability of subsidized rental agreements with the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development. These would assure landlords that rents would be paid on time every month.

Federal Funds Available Another advantage would be the availability of federal funds to help landlords fix up apartments after destructive tenants move out. And, once the association is firmly in place, Buena Clinton’s population could be more easily controlled.

Noting that Garden Grove spends more money on Buena Clinton than on other neighborhoods, Councilman Krieger said citizens should not be required to spend money “to shelter the criminal element in there.”

At the meeting last week, the City Council and top administrators singled out drugs and narcotics as a major cause of crime in the 39-acre area of dilapidated apartment buildings in the southeast section of the city.

“Buena Clinton is a supermarket of narcotics,” Krieger said Friday. He said a recent police report showed that of 28 people arrested for possession or sale of drugs, “24 or 25 were back on the neighborhood’s streets” in a matter of hours. “They simply changed their location,” he said.

Overcrowding, Low Incomes “Overcrowding is the cause of much of the problem,” Tindall said. “The building owners are either unwilling or unable to control the number of people living in the apartment units. That, coupled with the very low income of many of the tenants, leads to crime.”

As many as 12 people live in some of Buena Clinton’s one-bedroom apartments, Tindall said.

Beside police and owner cooperation, the Oasis Technique calls for encouraging and building a sense of community pride among residents. “I’m convinced that if you’re going to support a community, the community will have to support itself,” Krieger said.

Krieger said the staff and the council are committed to changing the face of Buena Clinton. “Now we have to commit the people.”