Voice Sought for Alondra Park Neighbors : Government: Residents of the unincorporated community hope that the election of an advisory town council will give them greater input in county matters.

All they want, they say, is a name and a voice.

Armed with both, residents of an unincorporated area near Alondra Park hope to prevent the decline of their neighborhood. But first they must sponsor an election to form the South Bay’s first town council, an advisory body that would represent the area on county matters but could not levy taxes or set policy.

Surrounded as the neighborhood is by Torrance, Gardena, Hawthorne and Lawndale, its residents see the formation of the council as a step that would give them a measure of local control in a county government they feel is distant from and indifferent to their concerns.

“We’ll have an identity if that happens,” said Patricia Mastromauro, a Cerise Avenue resident who has been active in the community’s affairs.

About 1.7 square miles in area, the Alondra Park neighborhood is home to 12,215 people, most of whom live in single-family homes, according to 1990 census figures. The area is a well-kept middle-class neighborhood that also includes Alondra Park, El Camino College and a half-mile commercial strip of Crenshaw Boulevard. Census figures list the median price of a house at $225,000.

But the area has its share of problems, including drug dealing, graffiti, a growing gang problem in one of the northern tracts, prostitution along Crenshaw Boulevard and crime in Alondra Park, which residents feel is linked to the presence of the homeless in the park. Residents say they have repeatedly contacted the county and the Lennox Sheriff’s Station for help, with mixed results.

“You really have to be on them to get attention,” said Earnie Neagle, chairman of the El Camino Community Election Committee. He said the area’s community association has usually worked with one of outgoing Supervisor Kenneth Hahn’s staff members, but “it’s the idea we always have to go out there and make it known.”

In 1989, faced with a growing graffiti problem in the area, residents banded together to paint over graffiti and monitor their community for further vandalism. Mastromauro and another resident, Judy Root, formed the El Camino Community Assn., keeping the association going once the graffiti problem was under control. The association got representatives from the Lennox Sheriff’s Station and various county offices to attend its monthly meetings, at which residents could air grievances and ask questions.

“The county is responsive to those things they can easily deal with, and those are mostly public works types of things,” Root said. “With more abstract types of things, like decline and blight on Crenshaw, they aren’t as responsive.”

Mas Fukai, chief deputy for the recently retired Hahn, whose district encompassed the area, said he feels that the area was always well served by Hahn’s office.

Still, many residents felt frustrated dealing with what they considered were unresponsive county officials and they began thinking about forming their own town council. An intermediate step between county representation and incorporation as a city, town councils are elected bodies that can propose amendments to the county’s general land-use plan, endorse or oppose legislation and act as the elected voice of a community.

They have no taxation or law enforcement power and must raise their own funds. They can, however, choose a name for the community and give it a voice.

“One of the things we’re trying to get is being able to control what happens in our neighborhood, and there are a lot of things we are afraid will happen if we do not stand up and make ourselves known,” Neagle said. “We are just trying to make sure we can stand up and have a voice and take ourselves where we want to go.”

Neagle said the association was host to both Yvonne Brathwaite Burke and her opponent, Diane Watson, during the campaign for the supervisor’s seat vacated by Hahn this year. Brathwaite Burke, the new supervisor for the area, gave her support for their efforts, Neagle said.

Other towns, such as Acton and Leona Valley, have formed town councils to try to protect their way of life, while more urbanized areas such as Altadena and Stevenson Ranch in the Santa Clarita Valley have also formed town councils.

Supervisor Mike Antonovich said that having one elected body to work with and speak for the residents makes things easier for the county and its planning officials.

“I support the council because it empowers the people in the community to have a voice in their government,” he said. “It provides participation and we have a positive involvement.”

But the El Camino Community Assn. has not been without its divisions.

A little over a month ago, Mastromauro was ousted from her position as head of the association because some residents felt that she was acting without the full consent of the participants. Mastromauro said that while she is still involved with the association, she leaves the leadership to others now.

Neagle, who moved to the area in April, said he knows about feelings on both sides but hopes he can pull people together to work on the election.

“A lot of people have different interpretations about what happened,” Neagle said. “I’m trying very hard to bring everyone back together. There were complaints that people were not able to contribute to the effort.”

Neagle said the election to authorize the council will cost about $4,000, but the committee has set a tentative date of Jan. 30 for the election regardless of how much money is raised by that time.

So far, the association has raised about $1,000 through raffles and other fund-raisers. Neagle said the money is needed to print the ballots and compose an election package containing a synopsis of the charter and pro and con arguments about the council.

“I believe everybody who is involved personally wants an election,” he said. “And just about everyone does want some representation, someone to come forward and help lead the neighborhood.”