Permit for Home Denied After Crime Complaints

Bowing to complaints from neighbors, the City Council has voted unanimously to deny a request to build a single-family home in a district plagued by crime and beset by problems with undocumented workers.

The council’s action came Tuesday night after 10 residents of the area around Walnut Street south of Chapman Avenue gave emotional testimony, saying the two-story home, like others in the neighborhood, would be used as a boardinghouse for illegal aliens, and that might lead to more crime in the area.

Melissa Albidrez, a Walnut Street resident, said that a code enforcement officer inspects homes in the area “in less than a minute” and that police reports listing complaints are incomplete.

“The lack of communication between city officials and this community is disgraceful,” she said.

Mayor pro Tem Norman Z. Eckenrode and Councilman John O. Tynes both decided to vote against the construction permit request after a representative of the lot owner told the council that the house would be used as a rental.