L.A. Help for Armenian Refugees Urged

Contending that Los Angeles service agencies will be overwhelmed by the expected arrival of more than 10,000 Soviet Armenian refugees by the end of the year, City Councilman Michael Woo on Thursday urged the city to take the lead in coordinating private and public resources to meet the newcomers’ needs.

City departments should be encouraged to look at ways of coping with the influx--such as recruiting Armenian-speaking police officers, Woo told a press conference. He also urged approval of a $340,000 Community Development Department grant to the Armenian Relief Society, a community service organization helping to resettle the refugees.

“The current influx of Soviet Armenians . . . is the single largest influx of any ethnic group since the resettlement of Vietnamese boat people in the late 1970s,” Woo said.

Since October, about 8,000 of the refugees have settled in the Los Angeles area--primarily in east Hollywood and Glendale--and, according to State Department estimates, an additional 2,000 to 5,000 are expected before the end of the year, Woo said. The figures represent about 90% of the Soviet Armenian refugees who began arriving in the United States last year after Soviet officials began granting them visas as an apparent byproduct of glasnost.

Woo also released a report by the city’s chief legislative analyst that said drastic cuts in federally funded programs have cost the state $23 million annually to administer welfare cash grants, health screening and job-training assistance for refugees. Noting that further federal cuts are proposed, the report said, “The burden for assisting this (refugee) community is going to fall increasingly on local government.”