CLIPBOARD

The recent history of Santa Ana could be told simply by walking north from Edinger Avenue on Orange Avenue in the east side neighborhood. There are beautiful old single-family homes--California bungalows, Queen Anne-style or redwood homes--with manicured lawns. Ancient trees line the streets. North of McFadden Avenue, the gracious homes are now surrounded by protective fences of wrought iron or hedges.

But approaching Chestnut Avenue, the trees are gone, replaced by rental space advertisements. At the corner of Bishop Street, a sign reads “Victorian Style Garden Condominiums.” Along the row of apartment buildings on Chestnut Avenue west of Halladay Street the sign simply reads “For rent.”

And now residents do not walk alone at night in the east side: They’ve been warned it’s not safe.

“It’s a different world at nighttime,” said Rita Corpin, who has lived on Myrtle Street for nearly 40 years and chairs the neighborhood association. “Through the years, I’ve watched fences and bars on the windows go up,” Corpin said. “There (are) enough significant problems.”

The controversy over the number of apartments or residential units per acre in Santa Ana has been well-documented. The law permitting 120 apartments per acre caused overcrowding and a glut of transient residents. Bowing to protest, the city council lowered that number to 90 and in 1986, further reduced the allowable apartment density to 22 units per acre.

“I remember hearing what the developers promised”--Corpin herself had been appointed to the Planning Commission at the time. The city “believed the developers who said these would be quality apartments and condominiums, and we got an instant ghetto: ongoing problems with drugs, cars double- and triple-parked, gangs”--and graffiti.

Santa Ana Police Lt. George Saadeh confirms that 90% of calls received by the Police Department are clustered north of Chestnut Street, a high-density area with 10 to 15 people per apartment. This area is 70% tenant-occupied and/ or has absentee landlords, he said. The area south of Chestnut Street is 75% owner-occupied, “a real hometown neighborhood.” The residents are a mix of predominantly Latino and Anglo in the south; to the north, residents are nearly all Latino.

The East Side Assn. has been in existence since 1978 and is one of the oldest neighborhood organizations in the city. Meetings occur every other month, and complaints are voiced about excessive noise, litter and parking on lawns. A police representative attends the bi-monthly meetings. Based on the number of reported crimes in July, a foot patrol has been started. Lt. Saadeh says officers “get to know the residents and that the crooks know they’re there.”

The parking lot at El Mercado, on the northeast corner of Main and Bishop Streets, had become the site for the sale of fraudulent green cards to undocumented aliens. The attraction was the photo machines at El Mercado. The business, however, had spilled over onto Cypress Avenue.

Earlier this year, there would be a dozen or so people waiting for their green cards every day, said Priscilla Holmberg, who has lived on the block for 40 years. They’d be hiding, standing behind vans, scooting down so she couldn’t see them, she said. The people standing around were relatively harmless, she said. But the illegal manufacture of immigration cards is a federal offense.

“Photo machines provided the anonymity that people needed to make the card,” said police spokesman Saadeh. “There would be 75 people lined up for the photo machine.” He had the machines relocated so they weren’t in the high-density areas, which cut back the production of false green cards by 70%.

The area is no longer the focal point for green cards, Holmberg said. But with the green card trade came the drug pushers. Her solution was to buy a bullhorn and to holler at the drug dealers she saw during the day.

The Police Department’s solution was to try to find the root cause of the drug activity. “Pay phones are involved in the drug traffic,” Saadeh concluded. As with the photo machines, 50% of the phones were removed from the high-density areas, and the remaining 50% were made to be available for outgoing calls only.

Gangs have been an east side presence for 40 years. And three gang-related deaths occurring in the neighborhood early this year inspired local resident Michael Salgado and his wife, Veronica, to form a grass-roots group: PAGE, Parents Against a Gang Environment.

While they haven’t be entirely eradicated, the mark that gangs made over Labor Day weekend was with paint, not bullets: insignia on the walls and on the trees.

“Recently gang activity has gone down tremendously,” said Saadeh. He attributes this improvement to the police force’s response. “The gang-related unit has doubled in size,” Saadeh said. “There will be 20, 30 units on weekends.”

“We’re very encouraged,” he continued. “It’s a cooperative neighborhood, (and the police force) is working closely with all agencies that can help us.”

“We’re really a tough little neighborhood,” Corpin said, but she observes that some residents have lost heart. “I keep seeing people moving out of the neighborhood, long-term neighbors moving away. We had really formed a bond, and one by one they’re leaving.”

“What’s keeping our wits about us is that we do have a neighborhood association,” Corpin said. “We have made an impact, with the city’s help and the Police Department. We couldn’t have done it without them.”

But Holmberg has a most resounding affirmation: “I could look the whole world over and I wouldn’t find nicer neighbors.”

Population Total: (1990 est.) 17,331 1980-90 change: +20.8% Median Age: 25.1

Racial/ethnic mix: White (non-Latino), 11%; Latino, 77%; Black, 1%; Other, 11%

By sex and age: MALES Median age: 24.9 years FEMALES Median age: 25.5 years

Income Per capita: $7,926 Median household: $29,811 Average household: $32,066

Income Distribution: Less than $25,000: 42% $25,000-49,999: 36% $50,000-74,999: 16% $75,000-$99,999: 5% $100,000 and more: 1%