Huntington Beach : City Reaching Out to Troubled Neighborhood

A holiday festival with food, music and two dozen booths with social services representatives will be held from noon to 4 p.m. Saturday at Commodore Circle as part of a city effort to help residents of the troubled street.

The Commodore Community Festival, said Huntington Beach Mayor John Erskine, is a way for city leaders and residents of surrounding neighborhoods to show support to the mostly poor Latino residents. The residents have been working together on preventing crime and substance abuse, getting children into school and reducing overcrowding in the apartments on the cul-de-sac.

The street, which is behind the Five Points Shopping Center near the intersection of Beach Boulevard and Ellis Avenue, has for years been regarded as the worst in Huntington Beach--a victim of absentee property ownership and overcrowded housing that has left the area plagued with crime. But the city has begun a number of new programs there to improve conditions and help the residents, who also include Vietnamese and Laotian immigrants. Acting as a coordinator between residents and various social services agencies, city officials have arranged for an Alcoholics Anonymous chapter at a local hospital; added police patrols; established a youth employment contact and organized a residents community task force. They also are interviewing candidates for the position of an on-site manager to monitor overcrowding in the numerous apartments.

The festival, Erskine said, will allow a friendly atmosphere in which residents can meet with police officers and Neighborhood Watch organizers, and gather information about services such as subsidized day care and legal aid.