Phoenix House Plan Rises Again : Rehabilitation: Neighbors still oppose purchase of a vacant Lake View Terrace hospital for a center to assist teen-age drug abusers.

A nonprofit foundation that combats adolescent drug abuse has revived plans to turn a vacant hospital in Lake View Terrace into a rehabilitation center, prompting neighbors of the site to revive the fight that defeated the project three years ago.

Plans by the Phoenix House Foundation to operate the facility as the Nancy Reagan Center were called off in 1989 when the former First Lady withdrew her support due to a storm of opposition from neighbors and Los Angeles City Councilman Ernani Bernardi, who represents the area. Reagan’s support was crucial at the time to raising money for the project.

But Phoenix House representatives said Monday that their plans were brought back to life last week when they signed a contract with trustees of the former Lake View Terrace Medical Center to buy the property for $3.2 million--less than half the previous price of $7.6 million.

Since the original plans were dropped, the group has inspected 32 other potential sites throughout Los Angeles County and found that the Lake View Terrace property was still best suited for the center, said the foundation president, Dr. Mitchell S. Rosenthal. And because slumping property values have reduced the price, the property could be purchased without the backing of Nancy Reagan, he said.

The foundation has placed a $300,000 deposit on the 15-acre property on Eldridge Avenue, he said. But because the hospital closed in 1986 after filing for bankruptcy, the final sale must be approved by a bankruptcy judge.

Upon hearing of the revived plans, Bernardi and a Lake View Terrace homeowners group vowed Monday to resume their opposition to the rehabilitation center. Their concern has been that the center would lower property values in the area and that some of the 150 adolescents it would treat might stray into nearby neighborhoods and steal to buy drugs.

“My gut-level feeling is that the community will oppose it again,” said Lewis Snow, secretary of the Lake View Terrace Home Owners Assn. “The issues haven’t changed and the neighborhood hasn’t changed.”

Bernardi said he has not heard details of the new proposal but has not changed his views. “If it’s the same group with the same proposal, I can only say I would have to take the same position--I am adamantly opposed,” he said.

As proposed, the center would serve adolescents from 13 to 17 years old in a long-term, regimented program that would include therapy and on-site high school classes. Some of the youths are sent to the foundation’s centers by judges and others are placed by their parents. The center would initially serve about 50 youths and then expand to 150 within two years. No alternative drugs would be prescribed and the adolescents can return home after nine to 15 months of treatment.

Although the foundation had previously won a city permit to operate the center, Rosenthal said that it is no longer valid and that the group must apply again. “The fact that we had done this before does not give us any leg up,” he said.

Rosenthal said the center’s strict rules would keep adolescents from wandering off the grounds. And he said the youngsters would be involved in community service, such as participating in drug education and AIDS prevention programs.

“Far from being a destabilizing influence, we are a stabilizing influence,” he said.

For 25 years, the Phoenix House Foundation has operated 14 centers that have treated 50,000 adolescents and young adults in New York, New Jersey and California, including one in Venice, Rosenthal said. He said the Phoenix House in Venice provides 50 of the 93 beds in the county for drug-addicted teen-agers.

Before the previous plans to purchase the center were killed, the foundation had raised $2.5 million toward the project and had additional pledges for more than $2 million, foundation spokesman Chris Policano said. When Nancy Reagan withdrew her support, the pledges disappeared, he said.

The foundation has since held fund-raisers and has raised enough to purchase the property once the sale is approved by a bankruptcy judge, Policano said.

As for community opposition, Rosenthal said the criticism came from a vocal group of about 25 residents who did not understand how the program operates and why it is needed. “The reason it died was not because of the opposition; it was because Mrs. Reagan withdrew,” he said.

But Snow said Reagan withdrew because the community did not support the center and he now believes that Lake View Terrace homeowners can consider her an ally.

“Now we can use Nancy Reagan as a rallying cry,” he said. “If Nancy just says no, Nancy just says no.”

But Judith De La Torre, 16, who completed the Phoenix House program in Venice, said the fears of Lake View Terrace residents are unfounded. De La Torre, a Bell resident who entered the center when she was 14, said the program provided her with a “positive environment” where she could build her self-esteem, get off drugs and get away from gangs.

She said she plans to finish high school, attend college and then become a probation officer. “I want to help kids,” she said. “I want to relate my experiences with them.”

Mary Cooley, a former Pacoima resident whose daughter completed the Phoenix House program in Turlock, said youngsters who go through the program are trying to change their lives.

“When a person seeks help, that is not bringing a criminal into the community--that is bringing someone who wants to change,” she said.

Phoenix House Proposal Chronology

* 1984--Lake View Terrace Medical Center files for Chapter 11 under U. S. Bankruptcy Code.

* 1986--Lake View Terrace Medical Center closes.

* 1988--Phoenix House Foundation announces plans to buy the property for a drug abuse center called the Nancy Reagan Center.

* March, 1989--A city permit to allow the property to be used for a rehabilitation center is approved by Los Angeles administrators.

* March, 1989--Residents and Councilman Ernani Bernardi appeal the permit.

* May, 1989--Nancy Reagan revokes her support following community opposition.

* July, 1989--Phoenix House withdraws its proposal for the project.