THE TIMES POLL : Most in L.A. Expect New Riots but Feel Safe

With a pessimism that stops well short of panic, most residents of Los Angeles think another outbreak of rioting is likely within the next few years. But while a significant minority plan to leave the city because of the violence, most continue to feel safe and find satisfaction in their neighborhoods.

A Los Angeles Times Poll found that 67% of residents believe the city has not seen the end of the sort of violence that swept through neighborhoods from Hollywood to Long Beach.

Moreover, the poll clearly shows that people’s assessment of the quality of life in the city has taken a sharp drop. Of those surveyed, 85% said “things are going badly” in Los Angeles, compared to 60% who expressed that view before the riots and 25% who felt the same way in 1985, the year after the Los Angeles Olympics.

Among Anglos, three of four predicted more violence. Two of three African-Americans also did so, as did three of five Latinos.

Well over half the residents--including people from every area of the city--said their lives were disrupted by the rioting. Fifteen percent said they or immediate family members lost jobs or businesses as a result of the violence.

The Times Poll, conducted by John Brennan, surveyed 1,409 adult residents of Los Angeles from Saturday through Tuesday. The poll has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points. Some of those polled agreed to be interviewed for this article.

Almost three-fourths of those surveyed said the city is a bad place to raise children, and more than half think Los Angeles is as dangerous as New York City.

More than one in six residents have become so disenchanted that they are ready to leave.

“I have three children. I want them to grow up in a safer environment,” said one respondent, Jackie Harrison, a 22-year-old black homemaker and mother of three. A resident of South-Central Los Angeles, she has lived in the city for 11 years.

“I don’t want my kids to grow up in Los Angeles, California. It’s a shame to say. But kids should be safe and have protection. Los Angeles is not the right place to raise a family.

“I’ve wanted to leave before, because of the violence, the gang-banging, the drive-by shootings. L.A. is too expensive and there are too many problems. Now it’s made it even more so for me to hurry up and make the move.”

Carlos Membreno, 19, is a Latino manager of a pizza store that burned down, leaving him unemployed. After seven years in South Los Angeles, he also is ready to leave town. “Before, it was all right living here. But now it’s like you can’t trust anybody. Downstairs there’s a liquor store. The neighbors were looting the place. I felt ashamed. Before, it was bad, but not that bad. Now everybody here wants to purchase guns. More guns, more violence. It’s going to get worse.”

If most people aren’t ready to leave, many residents have gone sour on the city. Four in 10 said that, as a result of the rioting, they will never again feel as good about Los Angeles.

While some directed their criticism at City Hall and the Police Department, in the follow-up interviews others said it is the people who have let the city down.

“I did not have misgivings about L.A. before,” said Greg Rasmussen, 27, an Anglo computer programmer who lives in Canoga Park. “After the riots, with the way the people of L.A. have reacted, specifically the looting, the beatings and the burnings, to say I live in a city like that, I’m embarrassed, I’m ashamed.”

Andrew Park, 19, a Korean-born student, said he had become disillusioned with Americans.

“How do I explain it?” he asked. “I have been here seven months. When I came here I said to my friends, this is gorgeous. This is beautiful. Now my American dream is broken. I’m so disappointed in American people.”

Still, there is a substantial core of people--three out of five--who continue to find satisfaction with life in their neighborhoods. A far larger group, nearly 80%, said they expected to suffer few if any hardships because of the riots’ after-effects. Two-thirds said their lives were already back to normal.

Just over half said that if an out-of-town friend were offered a good job in Los Angeles, they would recommend the move.

And asked to identify what they like best about Los Angeles, other than the weather, people most often cited the city’s cultural diversity.

In the interviews, some said they thought the city would bounce back from adversity. Others said there was no point in moving because the problems of Los Angeles are universal and cannot be escaped by moving someplace else. Reflecting the city’s emotional resilience, Marvin Alperin, a furniture manufacturer who lives in the Wilshire district, said, “I feel like I can feel good about L.A. again. We can change. We can be the most magnificent city in the world. There’s no reason for us not to be able to change, not to be able to be better.”

“There’s always something wrong with somewhere else,” said Olaf Pooley, a London-born screenwriter and actor who has lived in Los Angeles for 12 years. “There’s no point in moving somewhere else because of ‘these riots.’ At some point, sooner or later, there will be violence somewhere else. . . . I like living in L.A. I’m not going to be pushed out because there were some riots.”

Charles Doak, 60, a local minister, talked about the inescapable social ills afflicting Los Angeles.

“Why would I stay? There’s no place to hide. The issues confronting Los Angeles will also be issues of this country, this world. We may be a precursor to some of the struggles of the 21st Century. That is the frontier we have in Los Angeles--how you live together and do it separately, honoring traditions, languages and ethnic life. So, here we are. I have no intention of leaving.”

In other cases, however, optimism was tempered by a sense of uncertainty about the future.

Although 60% of residents say they still feel safe where they live, their comfort level is down from 75% in April, when the city was last polled. This time, the poll found that 42% of men feel unsafe, compared to 37% of women. Among ethnic groups, 45% of Latinos feel unsafe, compared to 38% of African-Americans and 33% of Anglos. Geographically, 44% to 48% of people who live in central and southern Los Angeles feel unsafe, compared to 32% of residents of the San Fernando Valley and 30% of Westside residents.

Half the people said they were planning to make changes in their lives, such as buying a gun, installing an alarm, or just being more careful--the answer most frequently given.

Judy Brown, 42, an Anglo who is a comedy teacher and critic, said she finds the city “a little bit scarier.”

“I thought, do I want to have children in this city? Does this mean Los Angeles is on a downward, unlivable spiral? I don’t know.”

Brown is not alone in her fears.

The poll also found that almost one of three people said there were public places in their neighborhoods--such as theaters, stores, parks and beaches--that they once frequented and now avoid because of their fear of recurring violence. One in four said they would avoid certain roads and freeways.

“It’s a question of security. If you are in the wrong place at the wrong time, you could get beaten or killed, or anything,” said Kakuro, a 66-year-old Japanese-American retired postal worker who lives in the Crenshaw district. He declined to give his last name.

“I’m about 20 blocks from where the riots first started up, at Florence and Normandie. I think the gangs have taken over the city. You can’t go anyplace. You’re basically shut in your house,” said Gloria, 49, a disabled teacher of Creole descent.

“I’m afraid to go out in the yard to talk to anybody, for fear somebody might start shooting,” said Gloria, who did not want her last name used. “The violence has gotten worse since the riots. I don’t believe it’s over. They’re saying that it is. I don’t believe it.”

In some ways, people have rearranged their views of what is wrong with Los Angeles.

Residents still point to crime, transportation and pollution when asked to identify what they like least about the city. But asked what they regard as the most important problems in the city, those responding to this week’s poll put a much greater emphasis on crime, unemployment and racism. Five times as many people cited unemployment than did when asked the same question in July of last year, and more than seven times as many cited racism.

Moreover, when people were asked to say how racial feelings in their neighborhoods were affected by the rioting, more than half said their neighbors had become resentful or indifferent to other races and ethnic groups. On the other hand, more than a third said their neighbors feel more sympathetic.

As for the city’s future, residents are divided over what the quality of life will be like five years from now. About a third say it will be better, about a third say it will be worse, and an equal number predict it will be about the same.

Assistant poll director Susan Pinkus contributed to this article.

TIMES POLL CHARTS: T4, T5