Northeast Valley Unites to Fight Against Alcohol Abuse Problems

The Los Angeles Police Department sent more than 50 officers into the streets in and around Pacoima last weekend, looking for drunk drivers who have made those roads the most dangerous in the San Fernando Valley.

Last year, more than one-third of the Valley’s drunk-driving fatalities occurred in the northeast corner of the Valley. So police have targeted Pacoima and surrounding areas for a number of task-force sweeps. Last weekend’s effort netted 115 arrests for driving under the influence.

Now, people who live in those neighborhoods are offering to help. In what police say may be a first for Los Angeles, a group of community leaders has vowed to go door-to-door, if necessary, to stop residents from drinking and driving.

“The community as a whole is aware there is a problem, but they are not aware of the immensity of the problem,” said Xavier Flores, founder of the newly formed Latino Coalition on Alcohol Issues. “We need to get out to the community for a strong educational push. We need to do intense work with the owners of the stores and restaurants that sell liquor. They need to be told how big the problem is and what they can do to curtail it.”

The coalition is not the first community group to take on alcohol abuse. The South-Central Organizing Committee, in South-Central Los Angeles, has been successful in fighting the number of stores and restaurants that receive licenses to sell liquor in its neighborhoods. The Pacoima Coordinating Council has waged similar battles.

But the coalition has gone a step further by pushing for in-the-street education and by focusing its efforts on Latinos.

“There seems to be a cultural problem, and the coalition is taking a cultural approach,” said Capt. Bruce Mitchell of the police department. “It’s something new.”

During 1988, there were 281 drunk-driving-related accidents in the largely Latino neighborhoods of the Police Department’s Foothill Division, Mitchell said. There were 41 serious injuries from those accidents and 11 fatalities. Those figures are higher than for anywhere else in the Valley.

Said one Valley traffic officer: “We have a lot of open, high-speed streets, a lot of bars and a lot of drinkers. What can I say?”

The National Council on Alcoholism, which handles court referrals from drunk-driving cases in parts of Los Angeles, said Latinos account for 90% of such cases heard in the San Fernando Courthouse, and more than 60% of those in the Van Nuys Courthouse.

“The Latino community is being affected adversely by alcohol problems at a higher rate than the general population,” Flores said.

Flores, who works for a government-funded alcohol abuse program, decided to form the coalition after he became aware of the extent of such abuse in Pacoima. He telephoned more than 20 people who were involved in the community, asking them to join the group.

As a first step, the coalition held a public meeting last month. Officials from the Police Department, the county and state Alcohol Beverage Control Department attended and offered information on the extent of the Latino community’s drunk-driving problem.

“We’re trying to accumulate data,” said Jose Hernandez, the coalition’s chairman and a professor of urban planning at Cal State Northridge. “We know Chicanos have the largest problems that are related to alcohol issues. We’re trying to find out why.”

Some of the answers come from residents. On Monday afternoon, business was brisk at La Hub Liquors on Van Nuys Boulevard in Pacoima. A few of the customers said they didn’t think their community had a problem. Most, however, said they were aware of it. One woman pointed to the concentration of liquor stores and bars in the area.

“You can just imagine,” she said.

Another resident blamed unemployment, saying too many out-of-work people are spending their days drinking.

“It seems that people here are talking about it more,” said Edith Brown, a member of the Pacoima Coordinating Council. “It’s quite a bit of a worry.”

Flores is quick to point out that the community’s drunk-driving problem may not be entirely a cultural one. Like the resident outside the liquor store, he spoke of the jobless.

“I think economics plays a bigger role than anything else,” Flores said. “I don’t care if they’re black, white or Chinese, if they have the same economic situation, you’ll find the same thing.”

However, there are social factors involved. Hernandez said some Latinos are newly arrived in the United States and may have come from places where laws governing drunk driving and public drunkenness are not enforced. Those who do not speak English may be unclear about California’s drunk-driving laws.

Another problem is the availability of liquor. The state allows for a certain number of liquor licenses per area, based on population. Pacoima has 11 fewer liquor stores and bars than is allowed, but many of its outlets are concentrated in a small area--31 stores and bars along a short stretch of Van Nuys Boulevard.

“I know that there are some outlets that sell liquor to juveniles,” Hernandez said. “We have to educate those entrepreneurs. We have to say that we won’t stand for it.”

Coalition members hope to start such work in the next few months. At this point, they are still pouring over the data from last month’s meeting, trying to put together a game plan. They are also seeking funding.

“Sometimes we are criticized because we are emphasizing the Chicano community,” Hernandez said. “But we have to start somewhere, and because the statistics show there is the biggest problem with Chicanos, we’ll start there.”