Committee Emerges to Fight Plan on Evictions

In what has been described as a classic example of community organization, a tenant committee has emerged from a mass of unorganized Northridge residents who four weeks ago had no idea that their homes were threatened by an unprecedented city neighborhood renewal plan.

It is called Padres Unidos (United Parents) of Northridge, and was formed to counteract a proposal that would make it easier for landlords in the Bryant Street-Vanalden Avenue area to evict 3,000 tenants and renovate their low-rent apartments into higher-priced units more in keeping with the surrounding middle-class neighborhood.

With prodding from professional tenant organizers, Padres Unidos has held two neighborhood information meetings at a nearby elementary school auditorium and has pulled together a street cleanup committee. The group’s next step will be to contact police and city officials about improving conditions in the area, which has been plagued with crime and blight.

Bilingual Flyer

For these predominately low-income Latino tenants, creating a bilingual hand-printed flyer stating “Stop The Eviction,” collecting $50 in an aluminum tray and speaking into a microphone have been like jumping off the high dive for the first time.

“We are talking about people who have never been to a meeting such as this before,” said Jose Galvan, who is with the Valley chapter of Concilio of Chicano Affairs. “It’s really scary.”

The proposal they are fighting calls for a one-time exemption to the city rent-control law that would apply only to 30 apartment buildings in the Bryant-Vanalden area. Under the plan, put before the City Council by Councilman Hal Bernson, evicted tenants would receive $1,000 in relocation assistance or three times the current rent, whichever is greater. In arguing for passage, Bernson said all previous efforts to clean up the area had failed.

The movement toward tenant organization was touched off after the council gave its preliminary approval to the plan on Aug. 7.

Work by Activists

At least three community activists, who believe the plan is racist and illegal, independently began going door to door to tell residents about it. At that time, most of the tenants were unaware that they were in danger of being evicted.

“We told them that they are not alone and that there were people who would help them fight the eviction,” said Francisco Vilaseca, staff organizer with the Coalition for Economic Survival, a tenant rights group. “But we said we would never be able to call other organizations together unless the tenants called for their support.”

“They were the perfect people to organize because they knew something was wrong with the conditions of their neighborhood, but didn’t know how to go about changing it,” Galvan said. “It’s a classic case of community organization.”

Leaders of 12 tenant and civil rights groups, who met with Padres Unidos late last week, agreed to use their organizational know-how to strengthen the efforts of the new tenant group.

The organizations, including the Fair Housing Council of the San Fernando Valley, Valley Labor Coalition and the Mexican American Political Assn., vowed to send letters to City Council members, circulate petitions and form a support coalition to advise the determined but unsophisticated Bryant-Vanalden tenant committee how to fight City Hall.

“Now that the tenants are organized, we can come in on a political level and lobby on their behalf,” said Raymond Magana, chairman of the San Fernando Valley Mexican American Political Assn. “We can meet with City Council members, write letters, make phone calls. But we had to have some basis for taking a position.”

The news of the proposal touched off fiery protests from such organizations as the American Civil Liberties Union and two tenant rights groups, the Coalition for Economic Survival and Inquilinos Unidos (United Renters).

Fearing that the plan would set a precedent throughout the city toward eliminating low-income housing areas, the activist groups began gathering details to prepare a lawsuit against the city if the plan is approved. Several of them also sent strongly worded letters to council members.

“Each of us from the beginning was waiting to hear what the people (Bryant-Vanalden tenants) had to say,” said Betty Hanna-Witherspoon, executive director of the Fair Housing Council of the San Fernando Valley, which mailed information to 400 of its members. “The mailing was something that we had to do even if the tenants didn’t do anything, because it smacks of everything we are about.

“What’s most important now is that the people who live there are taking control and providing their own leaders for the protest.”