ELYSIAN VALLEY : Neighbors Want Factory Moved

Residents of this community along the Los Angeles River have renewed their effort to force a cleaning-solvent factory to move out of the primarily residential neighborhood.

Residents say Mission Kleensweep, which manufactures detergents, hand soaps and cleaners for commercial use, spews foul-smelling and possibly hazardous chemicals into the air, blocks the narrow residential streets with noisy, bulky delivery trucks and ignores neighbors’ repeated complaints.

Although company President Bob Rosenbaum insists he has gone out of his way to accommodate neighbors’ concerns, residents say the company at 2433 Birkdale St. does not belong in a neighborhood of single-family homes.

Some residents have been fighting the company for more than 20 years. But in recent weeks, the effort to send Mission Kleensweep packing has taken on new energy, partly because of the company’s effort to turn an adjacent lot into a parking lot for its 45 employees.

Mission Kleensweep’s request for a conditional-use permit for the lot, which Rosenbaum recently bought, sparked fears among residents that the company wants to expand. Leaders of the Elysian Valley Property Owners, Renters and Businessmen’s Assn. quickly rallied residents in opposition.

About 100 residents attended the series of meetings and told frustrated tales--in English, Spanish and Chinese--of how the factory has grown nearly six times in size and made physical changes before obtaining permits, of the 18-wheel trucks that rumble through the neighborhood at dawn and pose safety hazards for children on their way to school.

The company president said he responded quickly to residents’ complaints of early morning truck traffic by delaying first deliveries until 6:30. But the nature of his business requires early delivery of his products to commercial cleaning crews, he said. “We try to be a good corporate citizen, believe me,” Rosenbaum said.

City and regional agencies said the company has complied with all laws regulating hazardous waste storage and disposal. The company’s fumes have never violated air quality standards, officials said.

“Our inspectors have done some intensive monitoring in recent months, taking air samples and smelling odors, but no violations have been found,” said Sam Atwood of the South Coast Air Quality Management District. “Odors,” he added, “are very ephemeral.”

But Isabel Clasen, a 49-year resident who lives next door to the plant, criticized the air quality agency for not responding to complaints until recently. “How would you like to sit down to eat a barbecue dinner on your patio and smell those fumes?” she said.

Longtime residents said the previous owner was even less cooperative than Rosenbaum, who assumed control 10 years ago.

Residents have scored small victories over the years. With a petition drive, they got the area rezoned in the late 1970s to allow only single-family homes, and they persuaded various City Council members over the years to reject several Mission Kleensweep expansion proposals.

Two weeks ago, a city zoning administrator also rejected the company’s request for the parking lot, which Rosenbaum had argued would get employee cars off the street. But several dozen residents, backed by a Legal Aid attorney and representatives of Councilwoman Jackie Goldberg, crowded the hearing room to voice complaints about the company’s record.

And after years of slow or no response to resident complaints, the air quality agency cited the company in February for blowing sawdust onto private residences.

Rosenbaum said the company is digging a pit for proper sawdust storage and is working on ways to “hermetically seal” the roof to prevent dust and chemical emissions. He said he is also installing a charcoal air-filtration system.

Residents said they will continue to fight the company.

“It isn’t that we’re against business; we’re against someone who abuses the community,” said Virginia Adams, another longtime resident. “Now’s the time he should relocate someplace.”