TUSTIN : City Targets Southwest Crime Spots

A bluish-gray mold covers the living room ceiling and wall of Luis Quintana’s $860-a-month apartment. The carpet is dirty and worn, and the electricity comes via a heavy-duty extension cord that runs through a hole in the wall to the apartment next door.

Quintana, a 23-year-old construction worker, moved here from Santa Ana two years ago seeking a bigger apartment. The place he shares with four friends in the Cosmopolitan Luxury Apartments may be bigger, but the 293-unit complex also is riddled with crime and code violations, city officials say.

In an effort to clean up the Cosmopolitan and other problem spots in the city’s aging southwest area, city officials have recommended creating a staff team and revising city laws to allow more aggressive enforcement.

Problems in the southwest section of Tustin have increased in the past few years as neighboring Santa Ana has cracked down on overcrowding, graffiti and gangs, Tustin officials say. Some say the problem has migrated to Tustin’s southwest.

Whatever the reason, city officials agree that the area has changed. The neighborhood, bounded by the southern and western edges of town, the Santa Ana Freeway and Red Hill Avenue, is about 10% of the city, but police spend about 33% of their time and money here, a city study found. Income level and voter registration are lower and unemployment is higher than in the city at large.

“Tustin’s supposed to be this sleepy little village, but if they sleep too much, they’re going to let this problem get out of control,” said Stephen Huber, president of an advisory company for a well-maintained complex in the southwest area. Tenant turnover caused by crime is high, Huber said. One resident’s car was stolen four times before he moved, Huber said.

City officials say the biggest problem is the Cosmopolitan apartments, at the end of Newport Avenue next to the railroad tracks.

The boxy apartments with high walls and narrow corridors won design awards about 20 years ago when they were built, but city officials say the nooks and crannies of the complex serve criminals and hinder police.

City inspectors have found open electrical wiring, stagnant pools of water, mushrooms growing on a ceiling after the boiler on the roof broke and patios that serve as trash dumps and bedrooms.

“It’s too crowded, and the apartments aren’t built right. You could get hurt,” said Edward Aguirre, 10, who must carefully step over a hole in the stairs as he makes his way to the second-story, two-bedroom apartment he shares with his parents and two cousins.

A couple of months ago, city officials ordered the Cosmopolitan owners, a group of Japanese investors, to clean up the property, senior city planner Susan Tebo said. Since then, the Superior Court has placed the complex in receivership and appointed a company to oversee the rehabilitation work. Clayton Cook, who was appointed by the court, and John Lembeck, president of the property management company handling the Cosmopolitan for Cook, said they support the city’s plans.

Lembeck said residents of 25 to 30 apartments are being evicted and no more units are being rented until many of the problems are corrected.

He attributes the multitude of problems to poor management, overcrowding and absence of security.

“There’s been a couple of shootings in the last three weeks,” Lembeck said. “We have a security company that we hired. We had one in the beginning, and it was so bad that they left. We had to hire another security company.”

Next Monday, the City Council will consider establishing an interdepartmental team, a property maintenance ordinance and a policy allowing city employees to issue citations to those who violate city codes.

“We’ve been doing inspections in that area of town and sending the police in already,” said City Manager William A. Huston. “This is a more formal approach and a more aggressive one.”