L.A. to Study Crime, Decay in Housing Projects

Los Angeles city officials will select a panel of experts this week to find ways to improve living conditions at city-run public housing projects, some of which have become overwhelmed by gangs, drug trafficking and vandalism.

The study will focus on the city Housing Authority’s 21 projects, including one in the San Fernando Valley--the 448-unit San Fernando Gardens in Pacoima, where residents say they welcome a cleanup.

The panel was authorized by the City Council at the request of harbor-area Councilwoman Joan Milke Flores, whose district includes about half of the public housing units in the city. Flores said in an interview that run-down conditions and unchecked crime at many of the projects prompted her to push for an independent review of conditions there.

“They deal drugs right in front of you, out in the open,” Flores said. “You can imagine how upsetting that is for mothers with kids. It isn’t right. This is government housing, and there should be standards.”

Wide Range of Options

The panel is expected to look into a wide range of options, including tearing down the projects and replacing them with developments that integrate public and private housing.

It is expected to make recommendations in November to the City Council, which will then report to the Housing Authority.

The authority is an independent agency financed largely by rents and federal subsidies. City Council exerts indirect influence over it through the authority’s board of commissioners, which is appointed by the mayor with council approval.

San Fernando Gardens, between Pierce Street and Van Nuys Boulevard, has long been regarded as a trouble spot for drug trafficking and gang activity.

Police Target Area

For more than a year, special police patrols have targeted the area. Apartment manager Leonard Carter said drug trafficking persists but seems to have been isolated to one neighborhood alley.

Edgar Arbando, a San Fernando Gardens tenant representative, said he hopes the city study will come up with solutions for curtailing drug dealing, considered the neighborhood’s No. 1 problem by the approximately 2,000 tenants of the project.

“We live with the drug selling all day and especially at night,” he said. “For families with children, this is our biggest problem. There are many people here living in a swap meet of drugs. Something has to be done.”

Arbando also said building improvements such as repair of air conditioners are needed. Because the second-story apartments have poor ventilation, tenants--and especially children--often suffer sleepless nights from the heat, he said.

Crime Called Top Concern

Jean Miller, another San Fernando Gardens tenant activist, said she believes an in-depth look at the project’s troubles is “not just welcomed, it’s needed.” Crime problems are the tenants’ biggest concern, she said.

Most of the authority’s projects were built in the 1940s. Some, such as the 400-unit Normont Terrace in Harbor City, were developed as temporary military quarters and were never intended as public housing.

The panel’s work is separate from a study to be conducted this summer on how the projects can be redesigned to increase the number of units, improve security and possibly add private housing, offices or shops.

Portions of the studies may overlap, but Flores defended the double effort, saying the problems are so great that both the city and the agency need to brainstorm on how to solve them.

Frustrated With Authority

“The housing projects need all the help they can get,” Flores said.

Flores said she began pushing for the city study about a year and a half ago because of her frustration with the authority. The problem-ridden agency, which is under new leadership, refused for years to respond to complaints from residents and city officials about crime and run-down conditions, she said.

“We had people complaining all the time, and nothing was being done,” Flores said.

The agency’s former executive director, Homer Smith, had been criticized by his own employees, city officials and private consultants for allegedly bad contracting practices, wasteful spending and dictatorial personnel moves within the authority. Smith resigned in November, 1985, and was replaced in October, 1986, by Leila Gonzalez-Correa, who had headed the housing authority in Austin, Tex.

Flores said the City Council’s decision to conduct its own study is not meant to imply that the Housing Authority remains unresponsive or that its new director is not doing her job. Instead, she said, it reflects an awareness among council members that the agency cannot solve problems at the projects by itself.

Gonzalez-Correa, meanwhile, said the authority is working to improve its image and accountability.

One of the most important changes, she said, has been centralization of waiting lists at the projects. Until recently, each project maintained its own list and accepted and rejected its own applicants. With thousands of people signed up on more than one list, officials had no way to gauge the true need for public housing. In addition, poor tenants evicted from one project could get into another one.

“We are cleaning the lists now, and eventually we will have a citywide list,” Gonzalez-Correa said. “We are also going to be computerized, so there will be no way that anyone can alter their place on the list.”

The agency has also stepped up its effort to evict bad tenants and ensure that they are replaced by good tenants, she said. The agency intends to hire an attorney to handle eviction cases, and she is considering allowing resident councils at the projects to have a say in approving applications.

“You go to the projects and the people are frustrated because they say they used to have such good neighbors, but those people are gone because they are afraid to stay there,” Gonzalez-Correa said. “We certainly don’t want to discriminate against our tenants, but we do have to screen our tenants. The law provides for that.”