Crackdown Quiets Drug ‘Marketplace’

One month ago, George Corneal said, he couldn’t sit on his front porch without being disturbed by screeching cars, blaring music and blatant drug dealing across the street. Day and night, he said, people were sampling drugs, using them and even leaving the empty plastic bags on his lawn.

But now Corneal says the source of his complaint--a low-income apartment building at 700 E. Mountain St.--seems more like a mausoleum.

“It’s really a remarkable turnabout,” said Corneal of the church-sponsored housing project that became the focus this summer of a police crackdown on the sale of marijuana, cocaine and heroin.

“It’s just as peaceful as can be.”

Calls to police, who last month described the 26-unit Northwest Manors II as a “marketplace” for drugs in the area, have dropped significantly, said Lt. Gary Bennett of the Neighborhood Crime Task Force.

‘Pretty Well Abated’

“Things have pretty well abated there,” said Bennett, who coordinates an undercover drug-buying program in the neighborhood. “We don’t intend to forget about 700 E. Mountain, but it’s not a significant problem anymore.”

Officials of Westminster Housing Group I, a nonprofit corporation that owns the building, say the change was brought about by increased law enforcement efforts and an agreement with police that the corporation will prosecute any trespasser after a second violation. The housing group, sponsored by Westminster Presbyterian Church, had blamed trespassers in the building’s carport for most of the drug activity.

“The problem now is one not of enforcing the law but of public relations,” said Westminster board member George Coulter, referring to complaints by neighbors that the housing group had not been responsive to problems at the building. “(Some of the neighbors) were a little surprised to see that we exist and we’re doing things.”

Coulter said that the corporation, which was established 14 years ago to provide low-income housing for residents displaced by the Foothill (210) Freeway, recently installed eight floodlights in the partially covered parking lot and is contracting to build several fences around the complex, trim overhanging shrubbery and place a metal gate at the entrance to the carport.

Tenant Involvement

A tenant association, which Coulter said has not existed for nearly six years, also will be reactivated.

Mary Quintero, resident manager, said a tenant association probably would help but added that the drug activity has been eliminated from the building.

“We no longer have any problems,” she said. “We are 100% improved.”

Sharon Thomas, a tenant for five years, said a community watch within the building will help keep the drug dealing out.

“I was scared before,” she said. “But when people are pulling together you’re less afraid.”

‘Things Have Cleaned Up’

Marvin Greer, who lives across the street from the yellow stucco structure in the largely low- to moderate-income neighborhood, said he was impressed by the actions of the Westminster corporation.

“Things have cleaned up,” he said. “I’d say it’s in the realm of 85% acceptable.”

Greer, one of several neighbors who demanded last month that the city condemn the building under the state Health and Safety Code, said he thinks that the threat of legal action prompted the owners to tighten security on the premises.

“If we had not been persistent as citizens, I don’t think the church would have moved favorably in this matter,” Greer said. “Our efforts have set an example. It shows that communities can be successful in these kinds of things.”

However, Coulter said improvements at the apartment building had been planned long before neighbors began complaining. But because the nonprofit project is regulated and subsidized by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the Westminster corporation has had limited access to maintenance funds, Coulter said.

Short of Funds

The floodlights, for example, were purchased nearly a year ago, but Westminster was unable to obtain funding to install them until this month, he said.

“HUD has told us they will do what is necessary to assist us,” said Coulter, adding that the housing board would apply for an increase in the rent subsidy to finance the stepped-up security.

He said that because funds from the subsidy accumulate slowly, the housing board probably would seek a short-term loan from the Westminster church foundation for the immediate improvements.

Corneal, one of several neighbors who opposed the low-income project when it was first proposed in 1971, said that he was satisfied with the housing board’s response to the drug problem.

“Finally, it looks like a building should look, instead of like a hide-out,” he said.