EL MODENA : Residents Complain About Grant Process

Residents of the El Modena area have filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development challenging the way county officials go about distributing federal grants in the neighborhood.

While residents say they appreciate past support for projects such as temporary housing for the homeless, a day-care center and senior-citizen programs, they believe that the county this year sidestepped requirements for citizen input on the spending of Community Development Block Grant money.

County and community administrators of the program say the complaint is a power play by a small group of residents in El Modena, an unincorporated island within the city of Orange.

El Modena regularly receives federal money to pay for capital improvements such as sidewalks, curbs and gutters, and to provide staff and operating funds for community service and nonprofit organizations that serve the area’s moderate- and low-income residents.

Last year, El Modena received nearly $750,000 through the county office of Housing and Community Development to pay for neighborhood development and rehabilitation projects.

The grant program requires that area residents participate in deciding which projects should be funded, but residents were not notified of the December meeting where they could vote for specific projects, said John Lozano, a lifetime resident of El Modena and a board member of the El Modena Service Committee.

Those who did vote were senior citizens who were coincidentally attending other programs at the El Modena Community Center, Lozano claims. Other voters were not even residents of the unincorporated area, he added.

As a result, a $300,000 grant for expansion of the community center to provide a wing for senior citizens was approved while the option of funding youth programs or projects was never raised, Lozano said.

“We’ve taken care of the homeless, we’ve tried to take care of the children, we’ve done a lot for the seniors. Now it’s time to get something done for the youth,” Lozano said.

Bob Pusavat, director of the Orange County Housing and Community Development Program, said program guidelines were not violated. The meeting was attended by a diverse group of more than 100 community members, he said.

“We try to get as many people as we can for input,” Pusavat said. “And we try to go to the people that need help.”

Annie Quintana, chairwoman of the neighborhood’s grant committee and community liaison to the county, said more than 400 flyers announcing the meeting were delivered in the area.

“Some of (the complaining residents) were at the meeting,” Quintana said. “If they had said that night that we need youth programs, we would have tried to do something, but they didn’t say a thing.”

Sam Rodriguez, another service committee board member, said residents want to hold another meeting where the community can vote on funding priorities.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development has directed the county to handle the complaint. Residents say that the county has denied any wrongdoing and that they have taken their concerns to the offices of U.S. Sen. John Seymour (R-Calif.) and Rep. William E. Dannemeyer (R-Fullerton).