Inglewood officials usually bristle at all the...

Inglewood officials usually bristle at all the negative publicity their city receives. They lash out at those who regard Inglewood as a haven for crime and other South Bay cities as prosperous places to live and work.

But things were a little different at a City Council meeting last week. Those same Inglewood officials were trumpeting their city’s deficiencies in an attempt to drive away from Inglewood a halfway house for parolees.

“Take your suggestion to Beverly Hills,” Inglewood Councilman Garland Hardeman told state Department of Corrections spokesman Nal Pedrosian. “Brentwood, too. That would be a nice place. All we have is dope dealers, prostitutes and gangbangers.”

Councilman Daniel Tabor decried the lack of public transportation in Inglewood and said his city lacked enough jobs for the 80 parolees who would be housed in the proposed facility on Century Boulevard. He said there are far more jobs and much better bus service in Torrance, Redondo Beach and other South Bay cities.

Councilman Jose Fernandez added: “We have enough problems now. You would be putting (the parolees) into an area where there are illegal activities.”

Mayor Edward Vincent, a county probation officer, said the councilmen aren’t knocking Inglewood, they’re just trying to make a point.

“How many halfway houses do you find in affluent areas? How many garbage dumps do you find there, too?”

After the uproar, the state decided not to move into Inglewood after all. But Jerry Dimaggio, the regional corrections manager, was not swayed by the council’s comments.

“The real point is that Inglewood has the second largest parole population in the county,” he said. “Most of the people in this program would be from Inglewood. Take it to Beverly Hills, they say. The fact is we don’t have many parolees returning there.”