VAN NUYS : Letters Hope to Take Bite Out of Crime

These letters could spell trouble.

The Sepulveda Boulevard Business Watch will soon send “citizen complaint” letters to Van Nuys merchants in an effort to clean up prostitution, drug dealing, graffiti and other crime near their businesses.

Flip Smith, president of the 75-member business watch, said the letters will begin going out next month to Sepulveda Boulevard businesses and are intended to bring community and business crime-fighting efforts closer together.

“It’s kind of the community working with businesses to help businesses out,” Smith said.

Residents will alert Smith to businesses that seem plagued by criminal activity, then Smith will send the merchants a form letter informing them of the problems surrounding their location.

The letter also advises merchants on tactics to deal with crime, such as increasing security, improving lighting and joining the business watch.

Smith said the merchants may simply be unaware of the severity of the crime problems or just need a simple reminder that the community is concerned.

Since September, businesses along the crime-plagued Sepulveda corridor have come under increasing fire for prostitution or other illegal activities that swarm around their locations. City zoning officials have ordered six motels to increase security or risk closure, and a doughnut shop and coin laundry are also being investigated for possible sanctions.

The letter-writing effort was praised by Romana Catton, a Neighborhood Watch activist who has encouraged businesses to clean up crime in their area. She said the new effort is a friendly form of peer pressure.

“I think it’s a wonderful idea,” Catton said. “It comes from their peers. And I hope the business owners take the letters seriously and listen to the needs of the residents, because we are their client base.”