BUENA PARK : Charity Says Rebates Will Curb Project

William Hardin didn’t pay $8 to have his address painted on the curb in front of his house because he said he was leery it could be a scam.

“I’m concerned that people give them (curb painters) the money and you don’t know who’s getting it,” said Hardin, a longtime Buena Park resident. “I didn’t think it was credible. . . . I was unhappy about the fact they wanted $8 for painting a curb and they didn’t say anything about a charity.”

Hardin wasn’t alone.

City Hall has received about two dozen complaints in the last month about the curb painting, said Jim Morrie, senior code enforcement officer.

Soroptimist International of Buena Park, a nonprofit organization, received a 30-day permit to have Residential Addressing Service perform the work, in which an estimated 11,000 address numbers were painted on curbs during the last month. Residents were then asked to make an $8 donation, since that was the estimated value of the work.

In their agreement with the Downey-based curb painting company, Soroptimist will receive $1,500 of the donations collected, said Bonnie Frawley, a Soroptimist member and chairwoman of the curb painting project.

Proceeds will benefit the group’s Sole Kids program, which provides new shoes for needy Buena Park children, Frawley said. She said the group has so far received $606.

Morrie said the complaints came from residents who did not want curbs painted or who did not want to pay. Others said wrong numbers were painted on their curbs.

Flyers were left in neighborhoods notifying residents of the work, Frawley said. She said the flyers also stated that donations were voluntary.

“It was strictly a donation--nobody had to pay for the service,” she said.

Austin Reinitz, Residential Addressing Service owner, said one employee was fired after he allegedly pocketed donations he had collected.

Moreover, there have been problems with illegal curb painters--those who don’t have a city permit to do the work, Reinitz said.

“If you paid a bootlegger unknowingly, it still gets people upset,” Reinitz said. “A lot of people think we’re the bootlegger.”

Reinitz said about 40% of Buena Park residents whose curbs were painted donated money.

“It hasn’t been very good,” Reinitz said. “The bootleggers robbed a lot of donations.” He said in other cities where his company has done the work, as many as 80% of the residents made a donation.

The Soroptimists started the shoe giveaway last year in cooperation with Payless Shoe Source at Buena Park Mall, said Soroptimist member Mary Sutherland, who coordinates the shoe program.

Sutherland said children from low-income families are referred to the program by local school officials. They receive a $10 voucher to pick out a pair of shoes. Last year, 75 pairs of shoes were given away. And since last September, 32 children have received shoes, she said.

But Soroptimist members said that while the curb-painting project appeared to be a good way to earn extra funds for their shoe program, they’re not sure if they’ll do it again because of the negative reaction.

And to make amends, Frawley said the group will refund donations to upset residents if they call (714) 739-5338.

“We apologize to Buena Park residents for any inconvenience or misunderstanding,” she said. “We will give refunds, but it’ll hurt the (shoe) project.”