‘Dawdling on the Prison’

I am writing in response to your editorial (Jan. 27), “Dawdling on the Prison.” I agree wholeheartedly that the present state prison condition urgently needs a solution. However, I take issue with your support of the governor’s preferred Crown Coach site, near 12th Street and Santa Fe Avenue.

As president of Barrio Planners Inc., I have worked as an urban planner in the Eastside community for more than 15 years. I am aware that in the unfolding saga of the Crown Coach site, many important facts have been overlooked. The most important of these facts has been the absence of any legitimate environmental impact studies.

It is my understanding that state law usually requires a full environmental assessment before purchasing property for a major project, like a state prison. If studies had been conducted for Gov. George Deukmejian, Sen. Robert Presley (D-Riverside) or the state Department of Corrections, they would have discovered that the Crown Coach site is at the fringe of an industrial area that borders the larger residential community of East Los Angeles.

One of the major reasons used by the state in deciding the ineligibility of the old drunk farm in Saugus was the proximity of family homes. Surrounding the Crown Coach site are the communities of Boyle Heights, Commerce, South Gate and Vernon. According to their respective chambers of commerce, these communities have a combined total of 112,890 residents.

With a two-mile radius to the Crown Coach site, Los Angeles Unified School District’s Pupil Statistic and Reports Division indicates that as of December, 1985, there are five elementary schools with a total pupil enrollment of 3,973; and excluding two junior high schools with a total pupil enrollment of of 4,548; and excluding the 386 pupils enrolled at Salesian ParochiaL High School, there are 3,571 students presently enrolled at Roosevelt High School. This means that within a two-mile radius of a proposed 1,700-bed facility, with a designation range of medium to maximum security, there will be 12,478 school children under the age of 18.

There are also two major low-income housing projects within one mile of the Crown Coach property. Estrada Courts has 414 one-to five-bedroom units with an estimated resident population of 1,788 persons. Wyvernwood Apartments has 1,164 single to three-bedroom units with an estimated population of 3,901 persons. Not including other persons in the area, there are a minimum of 5,689 people whose quality of life is not even being considered.

Your editorial also made reference to the fact that, “38% of the state’s male inmates come from Los Angeles County.” However, you neglect to mention that there is an existing problem of overconcentration of prisoners in downtown Los Angeles.

In a statewide comparison, more than one-third of the entire state’s jail population and over three-fourths of the Los Angeles County Jail population resides within a five-mile radius of the Crown Coach property. Aside from playing host to the 1984 Olympics, downtown Los Angeles also holds the honor of hosting the largest jail in America, Men’s Central Jail, located less than three miles from the Crown Coach property; the largest women’s jail in American, Sybil Brand Institute, 4 1/2 miles from the Crown Coach property; and the seventh largest jail in America, the Hall of Justice jail, located 2 1/2 miles from the Crown Coach property.

Given the existing facts, it is difficult for any resident of the Eastside not to support Assemblywoman Gloria Molina’s proposal, AB 2547. No more prisons should be built in the area that already houses more than 12,000 prisoners. I would like to respectfully remind The Times, that as journalists, your role is to objectively present the facts, not to create state policy. The community deserves the opportunity to voice their concerns. If the governor or the state Department of Corrections ever have the courtesy to hold a public hearing instead of selective community meetings on the Eastside, the media would be given the opportunity to cover existing massive opposition to the Crown Coach site by Eastside leaders and residents.

FRANK VILLALOBOS

Los Angeles