LANDLORDS VS. DRUG DEALERS : DRUG WAR CROSS FIRE : Tenants: Activist says landlords can’t shrug off their responsibility by saying, “It’s not my problem.”

Life on Winona Boulevard in Hollywood was becoming unpleasant and even dangerous.

Gangs were congregating along the street and residents like 66-year-old Janet Barber and her roommate, Anne Korthals, were living in fear.

The apartment building next door to their home became a hangout for the homeboys. There was trash thrown onto the street, noise at all hours of the day and night, gunfire and the occasional torching of cars parked in front of the building.

When repeated attempts to get action out of the landlord failed, the neighbors sued him for nuisance in small claims court.

Four neighbors--including Barber, Korthals and Barber’s tenants, True and Alexandrea Rawlings--eventually recovered a total of $8,000. The plaintiffs also prevailed on the court to order a list of improvements at the apartment building next door.

“I couldn’t stand not being able to protect my tenants from thugs,” said Barber, a former professor and a member of the Immaculate Heart Community of religious women. As a result of the lawsuit, she said, “it’s definitely not a gathering place for gangs now.”

“Landlords have a responsibility and they can’t shrug it off,” said Ron Lazar, an activist with Street Peace in Hollywood and a resident on Winona Boulevard. “They have no right to say, ‘It is not my problem.’ ”

Lazar was originally a plaintiff in the lawsuit brought by Barber and others. The landlord appealed to the Los Angeles Superior Court, however, which reduced the small claims court award from $20,000 to $8,000 and pared the number of claimants down from 10 to four.

Despite the amended award, the suit did result in a safer community with one less eyesore, said Lazar. He and his neighbors are now being called by community activists all over California for advice on how to clean up gang- and drug-infested neighborhoods.

“When a problem begins,” said Lazar, “go to the neighbors and ask for help.”

Ralph Isaacs, president of Baldwin Village Apartment Owners Assn., agrees with Lazar.

Isaacs’ association was created three years ago “to accentuate the positive,” he said. Landlords in the area meet regularly to discuss tactics that work and ways to improve the neighborhood.

Landlords who don’t take the time to look after their buildings deserve to be sanctioned, said Isaacs. “You have to shape up or lose your building.”

“We still have problems, but the drug scene has lessened quite a bit,” said Isaacs. “Hands-on landlords are the crux of our strength.”

Dealing with drugs in a neighborhood requires “sensitizing everyone involved,” said Sharyn Romano, co-chair of United Streets of Hollywood, a networking group of watch groups and community organizations.

“We recommend to property owners that they get in touch with the community,” Romano said.

This summer, United Streets participated in an annual Neighborhood Watch Night Out. Activities included a protest march in front of dilapidated and gang-inhabited buildings in Hollywood. Such events, said Romano, are intended to galvanize the neighborhood and to put pressure on those whom activists characterize as recalcitrant landlords.