Court Convened in Apartments to Observe Conditions : Judge Sees Roaches, Rodents in Rent-Strike Units

An Orange County judge on Thursday watched cockroaches skitter across a kitchen floor and found rodents inside some apartments during an unusual hearing to examine conditions at two Santa Ana buildings whose residents are staging a rent strike.

Municipal Judge C. Robert Jameson, acting on a request made by both landlord and tenant attorneys, convened court at the two apartment buildings in the 1000 block of South Standard Avenue and then led an entourage that included a clerk, two bailiffs, an interpreter and several attorneys on a three-hour inspection.

Landlord Richard Zanelli, a partner in Beach-West Properties who claims he has made enough repairs to satisfy a landlord-tenant agreement, is seeking a court order to force tenants to pay rent and end a 2-month strike. The hearing is expected to continue today.

Tenants, sworn in while standing inside living rooms, kitchens or apartment doorways, testified about leaky toilets, stoves that didn’t operate, rickety front window screens that didn’t close and troublesome rodents that, despite traps, continued to plague them.

In one apartment, a tenant who said she had “trouble with cockroaches” was asked by tenant attorney Richard Spix of Santa Ana to point out where. As she replied, “Everywhere,” a half-dozen cockroaches scurried across a kitchen floor, all in view of the judge who turned his head in time to see the bugs disappear beneath a cabinet.

In another apartment, Jameson was told by tenant Armando Garcia Trejo that rats or mice have been nesting in a hallway heater and behind a bed. The judge then pushed back the bed to see for himself. “Yup,” he said, “there’s two of ‘em right there,” pointing to two mice peeking from a small hole.

A moment later, as Garcia was cross-examined by Zanelli’s attorney, Christopher Savage, about the size of the rodents, the judge interrupted and said: “I just looked at them. You can look at them for yourself. They’re mice. You can take a photo of them.”

After the hearing, Zanelli acknowledged that not all repairs have been completed and that rodent and cockroach problems persist. But he contended that strike organizers and some tenants were denying entry to repair crews as part of a campaign to prolong the strike.

“We know we have mice and we know we have cockroaches,” Zanelli said. “We’re doing everything we can, but the problem is with the tenants. Some deny us entry to help make repairs and others don’t prepare for fumigation by refusing to protect food, and remove or cover pots and pans.

“It takes cooperation of the tenants and the owners to get rid of the pest problems, and right now that’s what we don’t have,” he said.

Dilapidated conditions similar to the kind observed by the judge Thursday prompted about 120 tenants in May to join a broader strike with other Santa Ana tenants, the overwhelming majority of them Latino, many of whom are in the United States illegally.

Hostility caused by poor conditions at the two Standard Avenue buildings and the strike have strained relations among tenants, apartment managers and the landlord and property managers, all parties said. Rent for a one-bedroom apartment in the buildings is about $410.

Asked whether the rent was exorbitant given the conditions, Zanelli said that the rent market for “Spanish tenants” in the south Santa Ana area was $450 to $475. As a “gesture of good will” he keeps rents about 10% to 15% below market, he said.

Court-Approved Pact

Zanelli and some of his tenants reached a court-approved agreement June 3 after Zanelli promised to make repairs by July 1, in exchange for which he would receive the May and June rents that had been withheld. Tenants again went on strike in July, claiming that Zanelli had not kept his word. Occupants of about 33 of Zanelli’s 44 apartments are on strike.

Prior to Thursday’s hearing, Zanelli said that since June he has made substantial repairs, including replacement of stoves and linoleum floors and has upgraded kitchens and bathrooms. He said he has owned the buildings three years.

Santiago Ortiz, 37, a Vietnam veteran, said he believed Zanelli is gouging poor people to “get rich.”

“It’s people like Zanelli who have the money and the power to do whatever they want,” said Ortiz. “I’ve lived here for almost six years, and I’ve never seen any owner visit this place. We’re the ones who make them rich. We’re the workers and they don’t appreciate that.

“All we want is a little place to live, nice and clean. It’s not much to ask,” he said.