NORTH HILLS : Fair Educates Residents About Rights and Services

North Hills residents walked from table to table in a church auditorium Thursday, picking up pamphlets and tips on everything from legal rights to breast-feeding.

The service fair at the United Methodist Church in North Hills, the idea of Los Angeles City Councilman Richard Alarcon and the North Hills Community Coordinating Council, brought together public and private agencies in an effort to educate residents about what services are available to them.

“A lot of people are afraid to call or don’t know who to call” to get help, Alarcon said. “It’s a question of bringing government to them.”

Valerie LeFall took half a day off from work to attend the afternoon event. She and Don Perry came to get advice from San Fernando Valley Neighborhood Legal Services Inc. on their high utility bills.

Bringing the information to residents lets them know “that there are people out there who are willing to listen to you,” Perry said.

While residents milled around in the auditorium, about two dozen apartment owners sat in the next room trying to piece together a coalition.

“We need to get together. We need to be a force in this community,” Nate Walker, principal owner of Investors Management Co., said to other property owners.

After more than an hour of discussion, a handful of owners volunteered to set up the organization, decide what dues should be paid, and how its money and time should be spent.

The group, tentatively named the North Hills Apartment Owners Assn., is an outgrowth of owners’ frustrations with the neighborhood and its crime and image problems.

“We’re all getting very, very tired of putting more money in and seeing no positive outcome,” said Tony Swan, president of the coordinating council and property supervisor for Walker’s company. “We have to work together to make improvements.”

The fledgling organization and service fair were a start.

“It’s saying to these people, don’t hide in your apartments. There are programs out there that can help you, anything to make it a better place to live,” Swan said. “We just want to do it in a positive way.”