Social Security Appeals Office in Watts Area : Protesters Gain a Partial Victory

Residents of South-Central Los Angeles who are rallying to save a local Social Security office targeted for closure won a victory of sorts last week when federal officials agreed to open a satellite office in the Watts area.

The commitment came after a meeting Thursday between Social Security officials and Rep. Augustus F. Hawkins (D-Los Angeles), who was instrumental in establishing the Office of Hearings and Appeals in Lynwood almost a dozen years ago.

Hawkins arranged the meeting after receiving a petition and letters from more than 300 Watts- and Compton-area residents who have cases at the office, which considers previously rejected claims for Social Security benefits.

“Because of the hardships and illnesses suffered by the claimants of our communities, it is essential that (we) have a hearing office which is accessible to the people. . . ,” the petition protesting the planned closure said.

Plan to Move Office

Social Security officials plan to move the Lynwood office and a similar office in Downey to a yet-to-be-built building in Downey, about five miles from the Lynwood facility, which is on Century Boulevard near Imperial Avenue.

Officials said that the consolidation would save the federal agency $200,000, and improve services to clients by combining staff and office equipment and allowing the agency to process claims more efficiently. In addition, officials complained about crime in the area.

But area residents who use the Lynwood office said that the move would burden them with higher travel costs at a time when most are struggling to survive on tight fixed incomes. Unlike the Lynwood office, the proposed Downey location is not easily accessible by bus, they said.

“It would be a real inconvenience for me to have to travel that far, but I’d have to if I wanted to pursue my claim,” said Mary Jones, 38, a cancer patient whose claim for disability was denied last year.

‘I Can’t Afford the $20’

Now, when she goes to the Lynwood office for hearings on her appeal, she takes one bus, then walks three blocks. To get to the proposed Downey location, “I guess I’d have to take a cab,” she said. “I can’t afford the $20 there and $20 back, but I’d have to find a way to pay it. I guess I’d have to let a bill or something go.”

Attorneys who represent clients such as Jones said they fear that difficulty in getting to the new office might discourage some people from appealing claims that had been rejected--even though about 50% of the benefit denials are ultimately overturned.

“Claimants’ lives are at risk if they can’t get to the hearing office,” said Ellen Finkelburg, a private attorney who helped organize the “grass-roots effort” to save the office. “For a lot of my clients, it’s a race to get their benefits before they die.”

Social Security officials said that the new location will be safer for clients, and they cite a “high incidence of crime” as one reason for closing the office in Lynwood.

Thefts, Assaults Cited

It “became desirable that we move out,” said Faith Hunt, an administrator in the Social Security regional office in San Francisco, “not only for our employees but for people who go there.”

Hunt said there have been several thefts in the Lynwood building, which also houses medical offices, and two people were assaulted in the building’s elevators. “We require that employees not go into the elevators unaccompanied. That’s how serious we feel it is,” she said.

But some employees of the federal agency who work in the Lynwood office said crime is not a big problem.

“I’m not aware of any crime problems here more than anywhere else, and I live in Orange County,” said Stephen Fleck, an administrative law judge who hears cases at the Lynwood office. “We have to be very careful, but that’s true everywhere now.”

Fleck agreed that the proposed Downey location would be inconvenient for many of the clients, most of whom are handicapped and indigent. About half the office’s clients rely on public transportation, he said.

Most of those problems would be overcome under the arrangement worked out last week by Hawkins and Social Security officials.

Lillie Bennett, a Hawkins aide, said the Lynwood office probably will remain open at least until the end of the year. In the meantime, federal officials are looking for a location for a satellite replacement office in the Watts area--probably in a building that already houses senior citizen services and is easily accessible, Bennett said.

“We don’t want to stand in the way of progress, but neither do we want our citizens to be without an office,” Bennett said. Under the new plan, the Watts-Compton area would lose its Social Security staff and claim-processing capability, but would retain an administrative law judge to hear appeals so that clients would not have to travel out of the area.

Administrative law judges now conduct as many as 100 hearings a month at the Lynwood office, but the processing time for claims is as long as six months, Bennett said. The new plan could cut processing time to 60 to 90 days, she said.