For Blighted Area, Project’s Defeat Means More of Same

The large, blue, hand-painted letters on the facade of the eight-unit apartment building in the heart of Anaheim’s Jeffrey-Lynne neighborhood spell Hampstead Manor, but the building’s location and appearance belie that lofty name.

The building, at 1601 Hampstead Ave., is one of 115 apartment complexes in this neighborhood of mostly poor, Spanish-speaking residents in the shadow of the Disneyland Hotel. But its grimy, overcrowded, run-down condition is a microcosm of the entire area, several square blocks that have been steadily beaten down over the last 10 years by drugs, crime and violence.

Six weeks ago, city officials believed they had found a solution. They touted the 4,400-acre, $2.7-billion Katella redevelopment project as a means to finance major structural improvements and to ease traffic congestion around the city’s entertainment corridor. It also would pave the way for rehabilitating some of the city’s blighted neighborhoods, such as the Jeffrey-Lynne area.

But now that plan has been scuttled and officials say they have no alternatives for improving the area’s living conditions. In the political power struggle between the city and the middle-class homeowners who defeated the Katella project, the residents of Jeffrey-Lynne were dealt out, many observers say.

“It has to do with power, with someone leading a pack who was misinformed (about redevelopment),” said Frank Morales, executive director of the Neighborhood Improvement Program of Anaheim.

“As a consequence, something that would have provided better housing for a lot of people was shot down. I think it is now going to be difficult to generate any movement toward this effort, not just with money but with the influence and power of city officials who see support of any kind of redevelopment as dangerous.”

Morales blamed city officials for poor communication but said opponents of the project had not taken the time to find out what the project would entail.

During the short battle that determined the fate of the Katella project, proponents went almost unheard. Most attention was focused on city officials who stressed the benefits of alleviating traffic congestion and on a quickly formed group of homeowners who felt threatened by the city’s powers of eminent domain.

The homeowners, alarmed by a registered letter received just before the final public hearing on the project, objected to the plan. They maintained it would threaten their property rights and would largely benefit big business. Faced with an organized opposition and threats of legal action, the city canceled the project.

There were, however, homeowners in the project area who supported redevelopment.

“I am terribly disappointed that people reacted the way the did. They took advantage of the situation and made a mountain out of a molehill,” said Irene Jennings, who served on the city’s Project Area Committee representing the south Anaheim district that includes Jeffrey-Lynne.

“Everyone in my neighborhood would have been affected and we all thought it was to our advantage to get new sewer lines and underground wiring. There are times when someone has to give to make things better for others. Especially for people like those in Jeffrey-Lynne who don’t understand the issue and are afraid to say anything.”

One Jeffrey-Lynne resident said last week that many new residents are not concerned with housing conditions and that others do not understand tenants’ rights.

“A lot of people don’t realize that they don’t have to take some of these things that happen to them,” said the man, who would identify himself only as Joe. “Most people just work hard and mind their own business.”

Gerald Resch, president of the South Anaheim Neighborhood Council, said many of the homeowners who worked to defeat the Katella project ignored the residents of Jeffrey-Lynne, which is named for two streets that intersect in the center of the area.

Organizers did not print fliers for neighborhood meetings in Spanish and claimed there was no one to post them in the area, he said.

“The thinking seemed to be that these were all tenants and that they wouldn’t be interested,” Resch said. “When I would try to point out that the city had the names of all the landlords, I would be ignored. I’d be surprised if 5% of the people in that neighborhood even knew about the project.”

‘Katella Disaster’

City officials have been reluctant to discuss what is planned for Jeffrey-Lynne in the wake of what they have termed the “Katella disaster.” Lisa Stipkovich, assistant director for community development and planning, said the city needs time to assess the problems and formulate solutions.

“Right now people are still very suspicious,” she said. “We have just come out of a difficult time in dealing with the public and I want to make sure we work closely with the neighborhoods before making any recommendations. Even with redevelopment there would have been no quick solutions, but it would have given us a financial resource that we don’t have now.”

Stipkovich said the city will continue to focus most of its efforts on another rehabilitation project in north Anaheim’s Chevy Chase district. Hamburger magnate Carl Karcher and Anaheim developer Terrance K. Barry have bought a mile-square area of apartments in a $25-million renovation project that, if successful, might become a model for cleaning up other run-down neighborhoods in the city, Stipkovich said.

In the meantime, a few property owners in the Jeffrey-Lynne area have received rehabilitation loans for their rental property, but Stipkovich noted that “not too many owners seem interested in those.”

The only obvious signs of city involvement in the neighborhood are the daily visits of housing code enforcement officers, who battle both absentee landlords and a social environment that often abets substandard living conditions.

John Poole, who heads the code enforcement division, said his office receives more than 12,000 complaints each year about code violations and makes more than 25,000 inspections annually. The city prosecutes 500 repeat offenders each year.

Crackdowns Ineffective

The Jeffrey-Lynne area has been targeted in the past with well publicized sweeps by code enforcement officers. Eighteen months ago the former owner of Hampstead Manor, already on probation for previous housing code violations, was told to clean up the building. A code enforcement officer familiar with Hampstead Manor said the owner made an effort at repairs.

But now, months later, the building appears in worse shape than ever.

A recent inspection of several units revealed missing smoke detectors and thermostats, improper lighting fixtures and hanging sockets, cracked doors and peeling paint, creaking floors and water spots. There was evidence of massive water leaks throughout the building.

In most apartments, toilets and sinks were flooded. There was mildew on bathroom walls, and termite and roach infestations were found.

Some units had barely any furniture: a few mattresses and pieces of luggage, evidence of a “bachelor pad” where as many as 14 young men, sleeping in shifts, might stay, said senior code enforcement officer Richard La Rochelle.

Other units were overburdened with furnishings, with extra beds in living rooms and more than one refrigerator. In several units, bedroom doors were fitted with dead-bolt locks. None of the tenants, however, will admit that more than one family resides in any of the units because they fear authorities will break up their families, La Rochelle said.

Afraid to Complain

Many of the neighborhood’s problems, La Rochelle said, stem not only from delinquent landlords--few of whom have on-site managers--but also from the acquiescence of tenants, many of whom, authorities say, are illegal aliens afraid to complain about conditions.

And Morales, of the Neighborhood Improvement Program of Anaheim, noted that for many of the tenants even substandard living conditions in Anaheim are a vast improvement over conditions left behind in their homelands.

“It’s a shock reaction sometimes,” Morales said. “You will walk into a place and think how bad it is, but some tenants don’t see a problem with how they are living. Most of these people are hard-working; that’s the reason they are here.”

Other housing experts say the lack of low-income housing in Orange County exacerbates exploitive conditions.

“Some unscrupulous landlords will bring in tenants at the market rent and invite them to bring in other families so they can charge them a higher rent,” said Talmadge Wright, an urban housing analyst with the county’s Fair Housing Council.

Exploitation Cited

“They are terribly exploited by landlords and employers. A cheap labor pool is necessary if Disneyland and the hotels are to continue to function. With a lack of low-income housing, that means overcrowding. The only thing that can be done is to have tenants organize or they will get stomped on.”

Until a year ago, Resch of the South Anaheim Neighborhood Council owned an eight-unit apartment building on Lynne Avenue, in the heart of the neighborhood.

He said he employed a resident manager and was frequently on the property himself. When he bought the property eight years ago, Resch said, there was very little communication between owners and the city or any joint arrangements to keep the buildings up. He was cited several times for allowing graffiti on walls and for overflowing trash dumpsters and disabled cars in alleyways.

“There are some things that landlords can’t do anything about.” Resch said. “I can’t change people’s habits. If they want to take the screen off a window to allow more air or drink on the doorstep, I can’t arrest them for that--only tell them to stop. There is a lot more the city could do in working with the owners.”

One joint venture between the city and owners, Resch said, was the establishment of an assessment district in the area to provide money for street lighting.

Resch said his group is may seek federal funds for a full-time consultant to work with Jeffrey-Lynne residents, to assess problems and educate tenants.

“You have to convince people first that something is terrible, and then that they can do something about it before they will become involved,” he said.