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I wish the article by Cora Jordan “When a Bad Neighbor is Illegal” (Sept. 8) had been published three years ago. When we moved into an area of Redondo Beach a few years back, the property we purchased included eight feet of the adjacent lot to the north, which gave us a small side yard. The house to the north is a rental which could be more accurately described as a nightmare.

When we moved in the occupants of the rental were an interesting group. The endless stream of cars stopping by to purchase drugs went on through all hours of the night. They manufactured drugs, burglarized two houses in the neighborhood, and had two stolen cars in their possession when police finally raided the place.

When the neighborhood got together and demanded eviction of the tenants, Mr. Landlord got angry with us, and said we were just greedy homeowners interested only in our property values, and it wasn’t very Christian of us to evict his tenants.

It took Mr. Landlord over 75 days to evict them because he was too cheap to get a competent attorney to file the correct papers. A neighbor who was an attorney, and has since moved, counseled Mr. Landlord as to how and what papers to file, and didn’t charge him a dime.

Now the rental is a boarding house for 8 to 10 male occupants. The faces change constantly, but the cars remain the same. The property is an eyesore, especially the back yard. On more than one occasion I’ve heard snoring coming from their garage during the early morning hours.

The tenants seem to think the side yard on the front of our property is an extension of their driveway for both parking and litter, and the space between their garage and our fence has been a perfect place for urinating.

Numerous letters and or phone calls to the City of Redondo Beach Department of Codes Enforcement, have done little to correct the problem, and Mr. Landlord’s opinion: the occupants are not his responsibility.

I suppose a lawsuit will be the only effective course of action. Which brings to mind Eddie Murphy’s infamous line during a Saturday Night Live spoof of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, “Why look, boys and girls, it’s Mr. Landlord. Can you say scum-bucket?”

BRIAN LANNAN

Redondo Beach