Switch of L.A. Welfare Cases to Inglewood Draws Protest : Social Services: Neighbors say last welfare office there drew crime, traffic and trash.

A group of Inglewood residents is protesting a county decision to send thousands of welfare recipients who are served at an office in south Los Angeles to northern Inglewood beginning next week to relieve overcrowding at the office on Imperial Highway.

The county Department of Public Social Services says extreme congestion at the Southwest District office leaves them no choice. That facility, with a caseload of 28,000 from the South Bay and Westside, is one of the county’s busiest welfare offices. It serves clients seeking General Relief, food stamps and medical assistance, along with those seeking Aid for Families with Dependent Children.

In August, the Fire Department cited the Imperial Highway office for overcrowding in the 133-person waiting room. Hundreds of clients now gather in the parking lot during the busiest times of the month, waiting for workers with a bullhorn to call them inside.

Beginning Monday, all AFDC clients will be moved to a building the county leases on Redondo Boulevard in Inglewood. An estimated 12,000 people a month will use the new site, county officials said.

Residents living near the Inglewood facility, which is separated by an alley from single-family homes, say that when the county operated a full-service welfare office there from the early 1970s to the early 1980s, robberies, assaults, loiterers, parking problems and trash were an everyday part of life.

“Last time that thing was there we had dirty diapers and beer bottles everywhere,” said Grace Randall, who lives across the street from the facility. “Who’s going to pick those up? I get sick of smelling dirty diapers.”

Will M. Steward, division chief for the social services department, called the community’s response an overreaction.

He reminded community members that some of those going to the Inglewood facility will be residents of that city too. He said AFDC clients will bring with them far fewer problems than residents experienced before.

Residents have collected more than 250 signatures opposing the move. They pleaded with county officials at a hastily called meeting Tuesday night to postpone the decision until the county can study the effect of the office on the neighborhood.

City Councilman Anthony Scardenzan, who represents the area, called the meeting between county officials and residents after receiving citizen complaints. He said he feared that “12,000 strangers” a month would harm the neighborhood.

State Assemblyman Curtis Tucker Jr., also at Tuesday’s meeting, said the county should have given residents more notice about the move. He said he will work with residents to monitor the facility.

Richard Kaufman, who has spearheaded the citizen opposition, said: “I’m not down on the recipient. I’m not down on the child. I’m down that the county is moving this into our back yard without any notice.”

The county says a majority of the AFDC clients using the facility will be single mothers. The previous welfare office at the Inglewood site was a full-service facility that included those seeking county General Relief funds, most of whom are single men.

“We’ve evaluated (the residents’) concerns and decided to proceed with the move,” said Carol Matsui, a spokeswoman for social services director Ed Tanaka.

County officials said they will station two security guards inside the building and one outside. Workers will be hired to keep the area free from trash and graffiti. The Inglewood Police Department has also said it will increase patrols in the area.

Kaufman and other residents still fear trouble.

“If you have 12,000 women,” Kaufman said, “you have 12,000 boyfriends.” He said he plans to document every incident that occurs at the facility.

Another resident, Deborah Madsen, said she was concerned that the office would lower the property values of neighboring homes. “I tend to think that welfare recipients tend to be less educated, less socially responsive. I tend to think that Inglewood is a better place than L.A. because we have fewer welfare recipients.”

A welfare fraud unit, which does not have visits from clients, now operates in the 40,000-square-foot Inglewood facility. It will be moved to the Imperial Highway office.

County officials said the Inglewood facility, which the county rents in a lease that expires in 1996, will have a waiting room that will hold between 150 and 175 people. Joyce Murrell, director of the Southwest AFDC operation, said that space will be more than adequate to accommodate the AFDC clients.

“We have families, women and children waiting out in the cold (at the Imperial Highway facility) and the winter is coming on,” said Marcine Shaw, a senior deputy to County Supervisor Kenneth Hahn. “We can’t continue that situation.” She said she saw one woman nursing her baby while standing in the parking lot. Another woman was crying as three children hung onto her dress, she said.

Rising numbers of clients have put a strain on several of the county’s 31 welfare offices during the beginning-of-the-month rush. The county’s overall caseload rose by 15% in 1988 and county officials predict that number will grow.

There has also been overcrowding at the Civic Center office on Skid Row and the Rancho Park office in West Los Angeles. The county is consolidating four cramped offices in the Long Beach and Harbor area with a more spacious facility near Compton. In San Fernando, the county is seeking a new building to replace the cramped Maclay Avenue facility.