Private Fund Offered to Fight Crime

Apartment owners along a notoriously crime-ridden street in Panorama City took the unprecedented step Thursday of offering private money to increase police patrols in their neighborhood.

The offer met with enthusiasm from a Los Angeles City Council member, but drew a warning from a police executive that it could lead to wealthier neighborhoods buying more security at the cost of less protection in poorer areas.

Five owners pledged $1,000 apiece and told city officials they believe that another 30 apartment owners along a half-mile stretch of Blythe Street between Van Nuys Boulevard and Brimfield Avenue are willing to pay to get drug dealers and gangs off the street.

The street has been plagued for years by drug dealers, who frequently rent local apartments and sell their wares from the curb, a stubborn problem that has returned after a two-year special police campaign to crush the trade.

Would Set a Precedent

If approved by the City Council, the donation would mark the first time in Los Angeles history that private money would be used to increase patrols, said Cmdr. William Booth of the Los Angeles Police Department.

The department has previously accepted donations of office space, equipment and clerical and interpretation services for police substations from merchants in such areas as Koreatown and Baldwin Hills, Booth said.

Victor M. Meyerstein, who owns an apartment house in the area and suggested contributing the money, called Blythe Street “an isolated desert in an otherwise prosperous area.”

“If we really want to get rid of the drug dealers, we have to put our money where our mouths are and pay for it,” he said.

If the Panorama City apartment owners manage to raise their goal of $35,000, the money would provide two uniformed officers to patrol the neighborhood eight hours a day on overtime pay for about two-and-half months, said Lt. Ron Seban of the LAPD’s Valley Bureau.

Bernardi Supports Idea

Councilman Ernani Bernardi said he strongly supports the effort, which apartment owners discussed Thursday at a meeting called by Bernardi.

The money would have to be donated to the city treasury, and then appropriated for police pay, Booth said.

“I’ll try in every way I can to get this money through the council to the police,” Bernardi said.

“You’ve got a prison on Blythe Street right now, and your guards are the drug dealers. A lot has been done to clean up the area already, but we had to cut back when the money ran out.”

He was referring to a special narcotics task force, composed of 13 uniformed officers borrowed from police divisions throughout the Valley, which combed the area for drug dealers from July, 1987, until May of this year.