Thousand Oaks Offers a Forum for Earthquake Victims : Aftermath: Residents will voice opinions on how well city staffers performed after the Northridge temblor.

Nearly three months after a frightful pre-dawn rattling sent their chimneys tumbling and pillars crumbling, Thousand Oaks residents will get a chance to criticize--or compliment--city staffers on their response to the Northridge quake.

In an unstructured forum Tuesday evening, the City Council will offer the podium to residents affected by the Jan. 17 earthquake.

The city’s building and safety managers will also have an opportunity to describe their programs for preventing earthquake damage and inspecting homes after a disaster hits.

“We’ve got to get the message across that our buildings are built to code,” Councilman Alex Fiore said. “They’re supposed to withstand earthquakes of a certain magnitude. And in the last one, our buildings held up very well. Compared to other jurisdictions, even Simi, our damages were minuscule.”

Thousand Oaks’ quake-related losses, including every casualty from cracked foundations to chipped china, total an estimated $35 million, City Manager Grant Brimhall said.

The single largest chunk of damage occurred in the main library on Janss Road, where the collapsed metal ceiling and burst water pipes will cost about $2.5 million to repair.

Although Thousand Oaks’ cleanup tab amounts to just one-tenth of the cost in neighboring Simi Valley, the quake brought real pain to many. Still struggling to pin down responsibility, some quake victims intend to ask tough questions at the council forum, which starts at 8 p.m. in City Hall.

“People are looking for answers,” resident Pat Prosser said. “I doubt the city has control over everything, but maybe there’s a button they could push somewhere to get some kind of response.”

The violent tremor tilted floorboards and cracked plaster in her Sunburst Drive condominium, and Prosser has still not determined who will pick up the repair bills. She’s been poring over city and lease documents, but so far has found only confusion.

After weeks of frustration, Prosser said the forum “might allow us to vent a lot of stress.”

That’s partly what Mayor Elois Zeanah hoped to accomplish when she scheduled the forum. She wanted to call attention to Thousand Oaks’ suffering and perhaps spur the city to help its worst-hit residents.

Because the most severe damage was clustered in pockets, along certain streets of a few scattered developments, some victims have blamed shoddy construction--or poor inspection by city staff.

“They bought in good faith, thinking they were buying in a city that had one of the strictest building codes around,” Zeanah said. “They’re wondering how these construction defects could have escaped inspection. They want help.”

Building and Safety Director Barry Branagan has said that his inspectors perform spot checks as projects are built, but do not have time to monitor a development from start to finish.

“No governmental agency in the world can guarantee that your homes won’t get cracks during an earthquake,” Councilman Frank Schillo said. “That’s stupid. People have to realize that it was an act of God.”

Instead of complaining publicly, Schillo suggested that residents work directly with inspectors. “Do you want to get something done, or do you want to sit around and be mean and nasty?” he asked.

Schillo said he feared Tuesday’s televised forum would degenerate into an all-out attack on city staff, and might sow distrust of the building and safety department. Several property managers agreed that the meeting could swiftly turn negative.

“We only hear from people who complain,” said George Cox of Gold Coast Assn. Management. But while unhappy residents often talk louder, their gripes do not necessarily represent the majority view. “Most of the people we deal with got their inspections quickly and were very pleased,” Cox said.

Despite his distaste for the public forum, Schillo said he hoped the meeting would offer a chance for the council to discuss a $500,000 earthquake-relief grant from the federal government.

The money, distributed last week by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, is earmarked to help low- and moderate-income residents. But it can also be used to rebuild toppled block walls, an expense that Federal Emergency Management Administration grants and earthquake insurance sometimes do not cover.

“That’s something concrete where the city can come in and help,” Schillo said.

The council has not yet decided how to disburse the money or whether to hold a public hearing for selecting recipients. Staff members are also investigating whether the money can be used to help refurbish the library.