Regional Report: LITTLE TOKYO : Fatal Carjacking Renews Effort for Police Outpost

In the aftermath of the slayings of two Japanese college students in San Pedro during a carjacking, Little Tokyo community leaders are stepping up their efforts to open a ko-ban, or police outpost, on 1st Street.

For nearly two years, community leaders have sought to open a police outpost in Little Tokyo that would provide assistance to crime victims in Japanese and English. But the project became entangled in red tape at City Hall.

With the March 25 killings of the two Japanese students and the resulting concern about crime among visitors, Little Tokyo community leaders want Mayor Richard Riordan and other city leaders to make the ko-ban a high priority.

Community leaders have also added tourist information--such as public transit schedules and sightseeing tips--to the list of services they hope to offer.

“It’s very fitting right now. We can provide tourists assistance at the ko-ban, “ said Brian Kito, a Little Tokyo merchant and member of the Greater Little Tokyo Anti-Crime Assn., a community group spearheading the project. “The city should jump on board.”

Community leaders envision an outpost-information center staffed by bilingual volunteers. Police officers would stop to take reports and provide information and assistance, similar to an arrangement used in Chinatown for the last nine years.

Such small police booths are found on many street corners in Japan, providing victims with a convenient and non-threatening place to report crimes. Little Tokyo community leaders hope a similar setup will encourage crime victims, particularly tourists, to report even small incidents such as items stolen from cars. Many crimes go unreported, they said, primarily because of the language barrier.

The anti-crime association has gathered a corps of volunteers and has been seeking space in a city-owned building at 303-307 1/2 1st St. as a ko-ban site.

Councilwoman Rita Walters has backed the proposal. But the early 1900s building needs to be repaired and seismically improved. City construction crews had expected to have their work done by December, 1992, but a series of construction and bureaucratic problems created delays and threatened the police outpost project.

A key problem was a city plan for only two store spaces in the renovated building rather than a restoration of the original four spaces. General Services Department officials believed two larger spaces would be easier to lease and use, particularly because the site has narrow street frontage, said Frank Mercier, a senior real estate officer for the department.

But that would have left no room for the police outpost because two prior tenants, a restaurant and a water purification company, wanted to return to the building, community leaders said.

So ko-ban supporters enlisted the help of Walters and Gloria Uchida, the area’s Community Redevelopment Agency project manager, who persuaded city general services officials to provide a third space in the building.

“We have this thick bureaucracy . . . and it went around in circles,” said Carolyn Cooper, a senior analyst in the City Administrative Officer’s department who supported the three-space concept.

Cooper said she expects repairs on the building to proceed quickly now that the number of spaces has been clarified. The city has budgeted about $600,000 for the improvements. The money will come from seismic retrofitting bonds approved by voters in 1990, Cooper said.

Doc Nghiem, a city structural engineer, said the building has been gutted and architects should have interior plans, including upgraded restrooms and improved access for the disabled, drafted by early May.

The project should go out to bid by June and construction, which is expected to last four months, should begin by September, Nghiem said.

“We’ll do the best we can to speed it up,” Nghiem said, although he noted that city construction and engineering employees have been occupied with Northridge earthquake repairs.

Meanwhile, community leaders hope to get mayoral and City Council support for a low-rent agreement for the police outpost. The anti-crime association would like a nominal lease, such as the $1 per year some other nonprofit groups and agencies pay for renting city properties.

Another alternative that community leaders want to discuss with city leaders is having the anti-crime association become the building’s landlord and benefit from rents provided by the other tenants. The association would sublease the spaces and use rent proceeds to help pay the police outpost’s insurance and maintenance costs.