City Moves to Close Program It Aids : Pasadena Food Program Caught in Zoning Tangle

From the back porch of a two-story frame house in Pasadena, Dorothea Bradley hands out free food baskets every Tuesday to more than 100 poor and handicapped people--some of them the very ones who help her pick and box the fresh vegetables and fruits. Others donate $5, which she uses to buy grocery items in bulk at discount prices.

The sense of self-worth derived from this teamwork is as important as filling empty stomachs, said Bradley, 37, who has arthritis of the spine and lives on disability benefits.

“It’s their program. They’re doing it themselves,” Bradley said, pointing to the line of single mothers and handicapped people outside her home last Tuesday. “I’m just a vehicle.”

In just over two years, Bradley’s emergency food program, funded by the federal government and administered by the city, has become an important link in Pasadena’s private and church-based efforts to feed its hungry.

But last week, less than three months after one city agency cited the program’s value and ensured a third year of operation, Bradley learned that another arm of City Hall is moving to close down her program.

In a June 10 letter, the city’s Housing and Development Services Department told Bradley that local zoning laws did not permit the storage and distribution of food in a residential neighborhood. She was found in violation of three municipal codes and threatened with legal action if she continued operating her program.

While city officials acknowledge the contradiction in saving a program only to oversee its termination, they say they have no choice but to enforce the zoning code.

“Residential means residential,” said E. J. Remson, the head of the city’s zoning department. “Commercial or charitable activities are not to be conducted.”

Conversation Launched Project

Bradley said she never imagined problems would result from the simple premise that the poor could multiply their buying power by joining forces. It was a conversation in 1982 with two handicapped women lamenting life on fixed incomes that gave Bradley the idea of organizing a cooperative in Pasadena.

“I said, ‘Listen, I’ve got $5. If you give me your $5, I’ll go out and maybe buy $15 worth of food,’ ” she recalled. “It went on and on and on. Now we’re much more than a food program.”

Bradley’s informal program grew rapidly. Last July, she applied for and was awarded a $33,000 grant from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Instead of allotting the money for salary or administrative costs, Bradley uses it to rent a nine-passenger station wagon and pay other costs involved in her search for food. Bradley transports recipients to places up and down the state, to vegetable and fruit fields in Ventura County, artichoke fields near Monterey and fisheries in San Diego. The products they pick and gather are either donated by growers and merchants or purchased at bargain rates.

House Now a Warehouse

Bradley has transformed the house on Earlham Street, which HUD owns, into a warehouse. Its bedrooms are filled with boxes of matzo and cornmeal and gallon cans of olive oil and soy sauce.

Bradley, a large and ebullient woman, describes herself as an “aristohip,” a contradictory term that she defines as an aristocratic hippie who has grown up but not sold out. She agrees with some critics that her program is rough at the edges and would profit from more structure.

For instance, several of those in line to receive food last Tuesday said they were never required to show proof that they were poor or handicapped, Bradley’s usual procedure.

And last March, Bradley neglected to reapply to HUD for additional funding.

Showing its faith in the program, the Pasadena Grants and Risks Management Department stepped in and worked out a plan to continue the operation until the next HUD application date in September.

Anonymous Complaint

Bradley’s problems with the city began three weeks ago when an anonymous complaint was made to the city’s zoning code enforcement division. An inspector came out to her home and was met by Rick Cole, one of Bradley’s neighbors and a Pasadena city director. Cole complained to the inspector that Bradley’s home was unkempt and that the vegetables stored in boxes in the backyard often rotted.

“If I were operating a program illegally, I think I’d be a bit more considerate of my neighbors,” Cole said in an interview. “I’ve received six unsolicited complaints from neighbors about garbage and parking problems created by the people.”

But even Cole said he was in favor of the program continuing in some form agreeable to Bradley’s neighbors.

“Even though it’s a seat-of-the-pants program, I think Dorothea does more good than harm,” he said. “But she just hasn’t been considerate of her neighbors.”

Single Complaint

Bradley said that none of the neighbors except Cole has complained to her. She said her contract with the city’s Grants and Risks office, which monitors federally funded programs, calls for her to store food at her home and distribute it from the back porch, the activities that have gotten her in trouble with the zoning board.

“The city directors approved that contract, and now the city is saying I’m in violation of zoning,” Bradley said. “I wish they’d get their stories straight and speak with one voice.”

Charles Grandison, project monitor for the Grants and Risks department, didn’t know Bradley had problems with the city’s zoning office. He praised the program as effective in the fight against hunger in northwest Pasadena, which has a high concentration of poor families.

“She’s doing fine,” Grandison said. “We don’t have any problems with her compliance. I just wish Cole and the others would have come to this office first, and maybe we could have found a solution.”

Variance Possible

Ann Higginbotham, acting city prosecutor, said that the city could proceed criminally or seek an injunction if Bradley does not comply with the zoning order.