Changing the Rules of the Slum Game : Palmdale Moves to Annex County Land, Signaling Trouble for Brazen Property Owner

The Palmdale City Council is fed up with Los Angeles County. That’s why it voted this past week to begin annexing an unincorporated part of the county where a convicted Los Angeles slumlord owns 72 decrepit rental houses. The council’s welcome step is based on the idea that the city won’t put up with the landlord’s intransigence over numerous building code violations. Palmdale thinks it can do better, and that wouldn’t be too difficult.

Part of the issue here involves the way in which Palmdale was incorporated in 1962, with “islands” within its boundaries that are still a part of Los Angeles County. This 116-acre island abuts the Desert Sands Park in Palmdale, in which the city has invested some $5 million. Raw sewage from the property’s leaky septic tanks had been pooling at the boundaries of the park in 1991, and the city had no legal jurisdiction to intervene.

The second and more important point involves the fact that Palmdale then had to rely on the county to force the slumlord to address building and health code violations. The record here has only served to highlight the fact that Los Angeles County enforcement efforts against slumlords are weak, ponderous and ineffective, particularly when compared with Los Angeles city’s more aggressive procedures.

The properties are owned by Milton Avol. Between 1979 and 1986, Avol was prosecuted for slum violations at a number of his Los Angeles-area apartment houses. In 1985, he gained national notoriety when an inventive judge sentenced him to 30 days of “house arrest” in one of his own buildings.

Although the county cited Avol for multiple building and health code violations, only the health code problems were addressed. That is because the county continues to pursue the somewhat lame practice of threatening to demolish structures unless repairs are made. Typically, the deadlines pass without progress and the county extends them. In the case of Avol and the Palmdale-area properties, that had happened three times as of March.

By contrast, the city of Los Angeles used 52 criminal prosecutions last year to force landlords to bring 1,628 units up to code and pay more than $350,000 in fines. It obtained a guilty plea from Avol in April involving a Hollywood apartment complex. In that case, Avol was required to pay more than $16,000 in fines and penalties and in costs to city agencies. He also had to perform 200 hours of community service and bring the buildings up to code. Some progress has already been recorded.

Perhaps the city of Palmdale will pursue a similar solution once it has incorporated the land on which the slum property sits. It has already taken an important first step.