Crime Targeted at Mar Vista Gardens Units

At peak hours, usually weekend nights, the drug peddling can be so brazen that buyers and sellers drive into the public housing complex, make their deals, and drive away.

“Just like driving up to a fast-food chain restaurant,” mused 50-year-old Odell Hadley, an observer of life at Mar Vista Gardens for some 20 years.

“Sometimes you have to wait for them to finish selling their drugs before you can park your car.”

Plagued by pushers, gang violence, crime and neglect, Mar Vista Gardens, Los Angeles’ only city-run, low-income housing project on the Westside, has become the target of a new anti-crime task force.

Formed by Galanter

The 25-member, loosely knit committee was formed earlier this year by City Councilwoman Ruth Galanter. Tenants, neighboring homeowners, police and a contingent of public agency representatives participate.

The task force is looking at ways to fight crime, get residents involved through neighborhood-watch committees and tackle other problems such as parking and truancy.

In tandem with the task force’s deliberations, police stepped up patrols of the 601-unit complex, located west of the San Diego Freeway and north of the Marina Expressway, and reported numerous arrests.

Reaction from residents is mixed so far and progress slow. Many tenants say they have seen similar efforts in the past fade quickly, with little or no lasting improvement. And many say they are too scared and intimidated to take part.

Galanter introduced the task force with a flurry of publicity. She and Los Angeles Police Chief Daryl Gates appeared at a public meeting at the Gardens late last month to explain the task force’s role and promise police support in ridding the complex of “hoodlums” and returning control to residents.

But even there, the presence of gang members was unmistakable, witnesses said. Gang members attended to keep tabs on who was there and who said what, according to tenants who said they are often intimidated by gangs and afraid to get involved in anti-crime efforts.

At the forum, Gates took questions from the audience, written on slips of paper. According to a Galanter aide, a couple of gang members joined in, submitting sarcastic, scrawled queries.

“Imagine, with the chief of police and a councilwoman there!” the aide said. “They were that bold!”

Larger War

In many ways, the crusade by police and officials to rid Mar Vista Gardens of gangs and drug pushers is a microcosm of the city’s larger war on crime, waged night after night in neighborhood after neighborhood.

“It’s too many of them (criminals) against the Police Department,” said Angie Jarquez, 35, a mother of two who has lived in the project for six years. “When the police leave, we are on our own. You always have to worry when you live in a place like this.”

Jarquez said that nevertheless she has seen some improvement: fewer shootings and some arrests of alleged pushers.

Residents for some time have complained of finding discarded syringes on their sidewalks, of seeing unruly youths drag race on their front lawns, of watching the nearest park become a gang headquarters, of hearing sporadic gunfire in the latest turf skirmish. Unknown “outsiders” too often lurk about the complex, tenants say.

‘Hasn’t Cleared Up’

“They (the police) picked up the riffraff . . . (but) it hasn’t cleared up,” Doris Murray, 32, a seven-year resident, said. “People are still driving in at night. There are a lot of pushers that live here. I’d like to see them raided.” She doesn’t like to do it, but Murray says she must keep her 8-year-old son “very locked up” and close by her side to keep him safe.

The Los Angeles police assigned a nine-member “special problems unit” to the Gardens in January and stepped up highly visible patrols and undercover drug-buying operations.

Police reported 91 arrests in January and 77 in February, many on narcotics and gang-related charges. They maintain that crime is on the decline.

Police officials say Mar Vista tenants are often reluctant to call police. Many tenants say they do call but are ignored.

‘Have to Build Trust’

“This is a difficult area to get involvement,” Capt. Vance Proctor said. “You have to build trust, convince the people that you are not a lightning strike, not just here for a few days. We want them to know that we’re in for the long haul.”

The Mar Vista del Rey Homeowners Assn., representing residents who live around the housing project, is participating on the task force. Its president, Salvatore Grammatico, warns, however, that the cleanup could take years.

He said he saw more police patrols when the task force was formed, but also noted more gang graffiti, suggesting no let-up in gang presence.

The police clampdown “discouraged gang activity in the complex, but it overflowed the problem into the community,” Grammatico said.

Deep-Rooted Problem

“It’s going to take a long time. This is a problem that is deep-rooted in this community but that is also a national problem,” Grammatico said. “It’s like a minestrone bowl in there. There are so many different ingredients that have to mesh together, come to work together. . . . It’s not going to happen overnight.”

The homeowners association vehemently opposes a plan by Galanter to place seven trailers at the Gardens for homeless people. Under the association’s pressure, Galanter agreed to delay placement of the trailers until Mar Vista Gardens is cleaned up.

The city is also spending $6.2 million in federal grant money to renovate 481 units at Mar Vista Gardens, a complex built in 1954 and one of 21 low-income projects the city runs.

Hadley, the 20-year resident, praised the job police have done so far in cracking down on criminals. Watching some of the raids, he said, “is better than watching TV.”

City Sued

Hadley sued the Los Angeles Housing Authority in 1979 to force improvements in the conditions at Mar Vista Gardens; chief among his demands was better security. The suit was settled out of court in 1983, with the city promising to beef up police patrols.

“Cops are no stronger than the people living here,” Hadley says now. “Cops can’t give 24-hour protection. People have to do their part too.”