Stanton : Wrecking Ball Readies Eyesore for New Homes

For years, the two houses on Santa Gertrudes Avenue in Stanton’s Little Mansions neighborhood stood vacant, the headquarters of local junkies, stray cats and spiders. Vandals ripped out every accouterment of worth, from wall heaters to medicine cabinets.

Neighbors on the otherwise pleasant, well-groomed street viewed the houses with dismay.

Then, deciding that enough is enough, Aliene Kelley, Eloise Lopez and other residents went to the Orange County Board of Supervisors demanding that something be done.

Early Thursday morning, after years of city, county and federal government involvement, wrecking crews applied the demolition ball to the houses.

Watching the crews were Betty Campos and Diane Crawford and their children.

The two women, who are sisters, and their husbands, Jorge Campos and James Crawford, were the winners of a lottery that allowed them to become owners of the properties.

The joint program of the city and county governments will be complete when new houses are built on the old foundations and the two families move in, probably in July, said Bob Pusavat, the county’s manager of housing and community development.

Also watching were Kelley, Lopez and other neighbors. They were joined for coffee and doughnuts in front of Lopez’s house by Supervisor Harriett Wieder, city Councilmen Sal Sapien and Jim Hayes and other officials.

“Mrs. Kelley was certainly instrumental in getting the ball rolling,” Hayes said, “but a lot of credit has to go to Mrs. Lopez and the other neighbors as well.”

Once the ball started rolling, Stanton bought the properties for about $60,000 as Federal Housing Administration (FHA) repossessions.

Then, abandoning any idea of rehabilitating the houses, the city called for applications in the special lottery, chose the Campos and Crawford families and provided loans for the land with no payments until the property is either sold or transferred, said Helen Brown, a county urban planner.

Then, with county assistance, the two families received low-interest FHA loans to finance construction of their new homes.

The houses will cost the families about $500 per month, Brown said. For their part, the Camposes and Crawfords have agreed to live in the houses for at least 10 years.

“The houses have been boarded up for six years and were definitely an eyesore,” Councilman Sapien said. “Mrs. Kelley and Mrs. Lopez have been complaining for a long, long time.”

On Thursday, however, Kelley and Lopez had stopped complaining.

“The street is going to look so so much better with the new houses,” Lopez said. “We’re just delighted.”