Builder Seeking to Nip Problems in the Bud

Cape Cod-style condominiums aimed at attracting the commuter set and a crowded, low-income housing project rife with gangs and drugs make unlikely neighbors, destined to provoke fears, suspicions and anger.

But in northeast Pacoima, the potential for friction between future owners of the Griffin GlenOaks townhouses and residents of the crime-ridden Van Nuys Pierce Park Apartments next door has prompted a creative gesture.

This summer, the condominium builder plans to offer children and teen-agers from the project such gifts as T-shirts, sports team sponsorships and memberships to a nearby Boys & Girls Club.

The hope is that demonstrating an eagerness to get involved in the community will smooth out problems before they arise; that, for the neighborhood youths, developer Griffin Homes will become synonymous with having good, clean fun.

In the apartments and the surrounding community, the offer is being met with equal shares of enthusiasm and skepticism.

Delfina Martinez, who lives in Pierce Park Apartments near some of her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, said she thought the club memberships in particular would be welcomed because the apartments have only a basketball court for recreation.

“I think it is a wonderful idea for the kids,” she said. “They really don’t have anything over here.”

But Manuel Velasquez, a social worker with Community Youth Gang Services, said it would be nearly impossible to woo young people away from the lucrative drug trade with anything short of well-paid jobs, especially because the Boys & Girls Club of San Fernando Valley is viewed as a place for “the goody-two-shoes kids.”

“These guys are dealing, you know,” Velasquez said. “They’re averaging about $300 a day selling, so that’s a lot of money. What’s going to pay them that equivalent? Their life styles are set.”

Velasquez’s job with Community Youth Gang Services, which is partly funded by city and county governments, takes him to the projects, where he tries to stop gang violence and crime.

Pacoima is widely known for its crime problems. In past years, statistics from the Foothill Division of the Los Angeles Police Department have indicated that a quarter of the drug arrests in the northeast Valley occur in and around Pierce Park and the San Fernando Gardens, a public housing complex two blocks away.

Describing a pattern that has become typical of low-income areas across the nation, Pierce Park mother Ida Perez said older drug dealers hire minors as drug runners, rewarding them for their services with both money and gifts.

She said a block wall was removed from the back of the apartment complex several years ago because dealers were waiting behind it to recruit children walking to school.

Gang expert Lewis Yablonsky, a sociology professor at Cal State Northridge, said the Griffin Homes offer is admirable, but he fears it would be “kind of a snowflake in a storm.”

“The real issue is going to be who the inhabitants of the condos are and to what extent they become integrated into that community, what kind of relationships they develop with the kids around there,” he said.

John-John Jordan, who claims membership in the Pacoima Piru Bloods gang, is two years too old for the Boys & Girls Club, which accepts ages 7 to 17. But he said he has no interest in joining anyway.

One afternoon last week, Jordan was standing near Pierce Park’s central courtyard busily making deals for what he called “life insurance--you know, the kind that makes your life more enjoyable.” He suggested that if Griffin Homes wants to improve relations with Pierce Park, it should deal directly with him and his gang.

“I’ll tell you what,” he said. “We’ll protect his place if he pays us insurance.”

A common thread in discussion of the Griffin Homes proposal is that such a simplistic approach might not lure hard-core gang members, but could be attractive to younger children.

“That’s for the little kids,” Pierce Park resident James Patterson, 18, said when asked what he thought about the offer.

Rose Castaneda, a former assistant apartment manager at Pierce Park, said if the club did succeed in capturing the attention of the youths, “it’s going to be a better role model, instead of just watching their older brothers and sisters.”

Yablonsky agreed. He compared it to a more extensive program that he helped coordinate in New York City, which not only provided some sports and social distractions, but also helped gang members find jobs.

“It’s a start,” he said. “You peel away the followers and leave these hard-core guys with no one to really lead.”

Don Trotter, senior vice president at Griffin Homes, said the company is willing to spend at least $10,000 during the next three years on the program.

Local government regulations frequently require private developers to pay for parkland or other community improvements, but voluntary donations such as this are less common.

Trotter called it “pulling Pacoima up by the bootstraps.”

“If the community understands that there are builders coming in, developing the community for the benefit of the community, they will be supportive of what’s going on,” he said.

Construction supervisor Dick Eisleben said the first signs of trouble surfaced a few months ago when garbage was dropped into the condominiums’ back yard by Pierce Park youths. Then there was some graffiti on the new plywood walls, some missing lumber and some windows broken by rocks.

Eisleben saw the seeds for friction and his response was to talk with the young people and give them Griffin Homes T-shirts. Later, he and Griffin executives came up with the recreation idea.

“I never fight fire with fire,” Eisleben said. “No matter what happens, I use the sugar and spice and everything nice.”

Longtime Pierce Park resident Barbara Taylor said she was surprised to see condominiums going up in her neighborhood.

“It just seemed kind of funny to me,” she said. “With the problems that are going on in this neighborhood, it’s definitely going to draw something, but I don’t know what.”

Potential developers could see that Pierce Park Apartments are well-kept and clean, but graffiti and stripped hulks of cars encircle the property. They also could see hanging out in Pierce Park groups of seemingly aimless young men who police, residents and gang experts say do a rapid business in drugs.

“On the streets, they say you can find anything there,” Velasquez said.

In addition to the Pacoima Piru Bloods, two other gangs operate out of Pierce Park, said Velasquez: Pierce Boyz and Van Nuys Boyz.

Faith in Future

Trotter downplays the community’s troubles. He said Griffin Homes selected the location not only because land costs in Pacoima are relatively low and because it was one of the few available parcels that was big enough--and already zoned--for the 324 homes they plan to build, but also because they have faith in Pacoima’s future.

Pierce Park once was considered the core of the drug and gang activity, but Police Capt. Valentino P. Paniccia said that, recently, the drug trade and related crimes such as burglary, robbery and assault have spread out of the apartment complexes and into the neighborhood.

“Obviously, we didn’t strawberry pick,” Trotter conceded. “We chose one that was pretty tough.”

Several years ago, a Malibu developer--Sunset Pacific Development--started to build condominiums on the lot now owned by Griffin Homes. In January, 1984, when that project had reached the framing stage, it burned to the ground.

Arson investigators never determined who set the fire. A year later, the field burned again because of children playing with matches. Pierce Park residents remember the fire and some of the teen-agers snicker when asked about it, but they deny any involvement.

“They tried to blame that on us,” said gang member Jordan.

‘So Much Vandalism’

Former assistant manager Castaneda remembers a spate of theft and vandalism during that construction.

“There was so much vandalism,” she said. “Kids were going over, getting wood, building little cars. . . . Pretty soon, there were little cars all over this place.”

The Boys & Girls Club could provide an antidote to the boredom that gives birth to such malicious mischief, said Dona Thedford, the club’s associate director. The club offers recreation and crafts classes from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays during the summer and after school the rest of the year. Last summer, the club drew 150 youths a day, she said.

The club’s chief goal is to “become the stronger of the elements that are pulling on the youngster,” Thedford said.

To prevent gangs from taking over the club, members must show identification at a security gate and employees watch for gang-related conduct.

“Kids are fully aware that you belong to the Boys & Girls Club and that’s all you belong to,” Thedford said. “If they do happen to belong to a gang somewhere else, they know they don’t have that connection here.”

Even if Pierce Park youths accept the free memberships and stay clear of trouble by spending their days at the club, Trotter acknowledged that getting them to make the connection between the club and the nearby condominiums may be difficult.

24-Hour Guard

“In many cases, we probably won’t make that connection,” he said. “But we hope some of them will say, ‘Oh yeah, we know those guys.’ ”

Griffin Homes will not be counting on good community relations alone, however. The condominium village will include an electronic gate, 24-hour security guard, bright outdoor lighting and burglar alarm wiring ready for hookup in every unit.

As of Thursday, Trotter said the company had sold 23 of 87 units in the first phase--scheduled for completion this fall. Eisleben is so certain of the company’s ability to work through the neighborhood problems that he bought one of the condominiums.

One of the secrets to GlenOaks’ appeal, in spite of its location, may be its price range, which at $68,000 to $99,000 undercut similar developments elsewhere in the Valley.

Post cards mailed to 70,000 Valley renters play on the theme of a popular soap opera by inviting them to “join the young and the rentless” by buying a home “in the North Valley.”

But nowhere on the card does it mention Pacoima.

CONDOMINIUM DEVELOPMENT IN PACOIMA

Private developer Griffin Homes is trying to head off friction between Pacoima condominium buyers and next-door neighbors at a housing project. One of the solutions is to offer neighborhood youths memberships in a nearby Boys & Girls Club, which has prompted praise and skepticism.

1 -- Boys & Girls Club of San Fernando Valley

A youth center that offers recreation and crafts classes weekdays during the summer that last year attracted about 150 youths age 7 to 17.

2 -- Griffin GlenOaks condominiums

A 324-unit townhouse complex, of which 87 units are expected to be completed by the fall.

3 -- Van Nuys Pierce Park Apartments

A 430-unit privately owned and federally subsidized housing project. Although the crime rate there has been somewhat lower in recent months, police still consider it one of the centers for gang and drug activity in Pacoima.

4 -- San Fernando Gardens

A 448-unit public housing project owned and operated by the city Housing Authority. Police report more violence in the area in recent months.