Tempers Flare on Lines for Food Vouchers

Frustrated and hungry earthquake victims converged by the thousands on county welfare offices Wednesday, growing unruly at times as they waited hours for emergency food stamp vouchers.

Los Angeles police went on temporary alert after receiving several reports of pushing and fighting, but no one was arrested or injured.

Most people in line patiently accepted long waits as their best chance of getting food for their families, who have been suffering since the Jan. 17 quake.

Ramona Barajas, 27, of Pacoima, had been waiting in line since 2 a.m., hoping to get food stamps so she could feed her two children a substantial dinner. Her family had been living on soup and milk for days, she said as she stood outside the Panorama City office.

“I hope to buy some chicken and meat with this,” she said. “My children need to eat better than they have been.”

At the Panorama City office, more than 2,000 people began showing up before dawn Wednesday, some as early as 1 a.m., hoping to get vouchers before the office closed for the day.

Nearly that many lined up at another office on South Vermont Avenue. And at least 1,000 lined up before noon at the office on Beverly Boulevard near Downtown.

The crowds initially overwhelmed staffers at several county Department of Public Social Services offices where emergency food stamps are being distributed to earthquake victims through Feb 7.

Frustrated applicants at the Panorama City office, many without food or a place to live, waited in a line three blocks long Wednesday.

Working out of a large tent in the parking lot, county social service officials had already processed 600 applications by noon--as many as on the entire day Tuesday--and there were still about 1,500 people pushing and shoving in line.

“The vast majority are current welfare recipients whose situation has been exacerbated by the earthquake,” said Bryce Yokomizo, the social services department’s East Valley district director.

Scuffles broke out in lines at some offices on Tuesday when some applicants mistakenly believed that the emergency program, which began Monday, was about to end.

The one-time-only program is designed to give a one-month food allowance to quake victims as quickly as possible.

“Whether a person comes in today or on Feb. 7, they would get the same amount of food stamps, based on their household circumstances,” said Mary Robertson of the social services department’s food stamp program.

She suggested that applicants wait a day or two before applying if they already have food. “They would have a shorter wait, the closer we get to Feb. 7,” she said. “The lines may be several hours wait now, but they may begin to go down before next week.”

The emergency program goes into effect only when there is a major disaster, Robertson said. “The rules are set by the United States Department of Agriculture, and the intent is to rapidly process requests,” she said. “We are to issue food stamps on the days they apply.”

Stringent eligibility and verification requirements used in the regular food stamp program are not imposed, Robertson said. For the emergency program, “the USDA only requires verification of identity and residence,” she said.

At the Beverly Boulevard office west of Downtown, applicants had to show a valid California driver’s license or identification card and make an oral declaration.

In the declaration, applicants must report their income and cash under penalty of perjury, Robertson said. Eligibility is based on income and cash available, minus earthquake-related expenses such as the cost of spoiled food, home repairs, temporary shelter and medical bills.

A single person is eligible for $112 in food stamps, and a family of four can get $375. The allotment increases about $85 for each additional person, Robertson said.

On Wednesday, the Panorama City center was scheduled to open at 7 a.m., but did not open until about 9 a.m., raising the ire of those waiting in line.

“We stood here until 10 before something started moving,” said Susan Bradford, 28, an unemployed mother of six who lives in Van Nuys. She was making her first application for food stamps. Her fiance, Jason Delman, worked at a Robinsons-May department store in Sherman Oaks, which will be closed for six months because of last week’s temblor. The couple has had no income and a dwindling supply of food.

“This has been real rough on the kids,” she said. “We don’t have a refrigerator anymore, our food is going bad, and any help we can get at this point would be good because we’re desperate.”

Many of the people complained that rampant line-cutting left them at a standstill for hours.

“These people are constantly cutting in line and the police aren’t doing anything about it,” said Susan Stawinski of Sun Valley, pointing to a group of men in front of her. Stawinski had been waiting for food stamps since 4:30 a.m. along with her friend, Mary Junco, and Junco’s two children, Kristin, 2, and Christopher, 6 months. “In six hours we moved about 20 feet,” Stawinski said.

Los Angeles police tried to keep tempers down, stepping in to break up arguments, many involving people who couldn’t understand each other because of language differences. But officers said they could not handle the mass line-jumping.

“I try to let the crowd handle them (line-cutters) because we just don’t have enough manpower for that,” said Sgt. Nicholas Wade.

Charo Castaneda, 22, of Panorama City, has been living in her car with her two young daughters since the earthquake. All three have been living on beans and cheese, she said, adding that she has no husband and no job and is desperate for food.

“I’m totally dependent on welfare,” she said. “Whatever my friends can give me is all we have had up to now, and we can’t go on like this much longer. A family can’t survive like this.”

At the Beverly Boulevard office, some jostling and line-cutting were reported Wednesday, but by late morning, Los Angeles police and county public safety officers had the crowd under control and moving along in a line that stretched more than a block.

“I’ve been with the department for 30 years, and I’ve never seen an operation like this before,” said James E. Kemeny, deputy director of the office, in the 2900 block of Beverly Boulevard.

On Tuesday, LAPD officers went back to normal shifts for the first time since the Jan. 17 earthquake. Some were quickly summoned to stay on longer shifts after trouble was reported at welfare offices Wednesday.

“It’s mainly crowd control at this point, but we want to be safe,” said Officer Don Cox, a department spokesman.

On Wednesday, extra officers were outside the Beverly Boulevard offices, where near-chaos had caught officials by surprise the day before.

“We weren’t prepared for it on Tuesday,” said a county safety officer who asked not to be identified. “Nobody expected this kind of reaction. There was no traffic control Tuesday, only two safety police officers.”