THE NEXT LOS ANGELES / TURNING IDEAS INTO ACTION : The Public’s View : THE TIMES POLL : An Enduring Optimism

Our optimism has always confounded the experts.

In an essay about Los Angeles in the depth of the Depression, novelist James M. Cain complained about bad food, nutty religions and economic stagnation. A “Gethsemane of woes,” Cain wrote. Yet, to his consternation, he found the people behaving as if they were living in paradise.

Sixty years later, as they struggle through another round of misfortune, Los Angeles County residents are still in a surprisingly good mood.

A recent Times Poll makes it clear that, despite all that has befallen Los Angeles in the last few years, most people have not slipped into a slough of despond, do not intend to pull up stakes and fully expect the economic picture to brighten fairly soon.

According to the poll, 78% of Los Angeles County residents said they are satisfied with the way things are going in their personal lives, and nearly 70% expressed similar sentiments about the communities in which they live. And although concerns about crime and joblessness continue to preoccupy many people, 67% said they feel safe and 66% said their personal finances are secure. Moreover, a majority of people surveyed predicted that the local economy will be on the mend in a year.

The Times Poll, directed by John Brennan, interviewed 1,239 county residents between June 17 and 20. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus three percentage points.

It’s not just the lucky ones who are upbeat about living in Los Angeles.

In the space of a month, Ronald, an unemployed aerospace engineer in Chatsworth, lost his job and part of his house when the earthquake struck. Almost 60 and beginning to run out of savings, Ronald worries that his job prospects aren’t what they once were. But he has every expectation of bouncing back.

“I’ll get a job doing something,” said Ronald, who asked that his last name not be used. “Painting, wall papering, flipping burgers if it comes to that. We’ve got enough savings to get us through to the end of the year. So I guess we are kind of close to the hairy edge. But I’ve been laid off before, and I’ve never felt like we’re going down the tubes.”

Ronald agreed with a large majority of people surveyed--77%--who said that their communities’ most prized attributes, the things that drew them there in the first place, had not lost their value.

Proximity to work and the availability of affordable housing were the most oft-cited reasons people gave for choosing to live where they do. But when asked what was most appealing about their communities, the answers often had to do with the look and feel of a place: neighborhood peace and quiet, the climate, natural surroundings, parks and privacy.

“We have everything here that other places only tend to have one of--the mountains, the oceans and the climate,” said Ronald.

Like many other people surveyed, he places a high value on the people who live near him. What distinguishes them, he said, is “an attitude that they can make it on their own, that they don’t need someone to hold their hand.”

The poll found that as residents think about the future of their communities and how to make life better, they tend to place a heavier burden of responsibility on themselves than on government.

Although most said they believe that local government bears the greatest responsibility for reviving the economy and improving transportation, more people look to families and individuals than to government when it comes to making Los Angeles safer from crime and to raising the community’s moral values.

“I think that the parents have to teach the children what is right and what is wrong, rather than the school teaching them, or the television teaching them,” said Tammy, who described herself as a 56-year-old housewife in the San Fernando Valley.

“Of course, the way you live yourself as a family sets an example. To a large degree, the way you live your life, I believe, is what teaches your children,” said Tammy, who did not wish to give her last name.

When it came to recommending specific remedies for the city’s economic, transportation and moral ills, people were not of one mind. However, a clearer consensus emerged when people were asked what they would do make Los Angeles a more livable place. The largest number of answers focused on hiring more police and sheriff’s deputies and on cracking down on various types of illegal activities, including illegal immigration. Asked about illegal immigration in a separate question, 72%, including majorities of all four ethnic groups polled, said it is a problem.

The poll asked county residents to rate the quality of life in their communities in a variety ways. More often than not, the answers were positive, although people living outside the Los Angeles city limits tended to be more enthusiastic than city dwellers.

Almost two-thirds of the people polled said Los Angeles is a good place to raise children. Sixty-three percent said race relations are good. About 60% rated public transportation as good. Almost three-fourths gave favorable ratings to local police and sheriff’s departments. About 50% said local public schools are doing a good job.

The recent steady stream of newcomers also implies a vote of confidence in Los Angeles. The youth, education and earning power of many of the new arrivals suggest that people on the way up still believe they can build productive lives in Los Angeles.

Slightly more than 10% of the county’s adult population arrived here during the last five years. A majority--59%--are younger than 30, 36% have college degrees and 34% have incomes of more than $40,000, the poll found.

Although many people said they think families and individuals could do a better job than government at making things better in their communities, the poll results did not reflect a particularly high degree of community activism.

A bit less than half of the people surveyed said they take part in activities like charity work, neighborhood crime watches, parent teacher associations, local politics, church-sponsored activities, Scouts, youth sports or classroom volunteer work. However, just over 60% said they would be willing to devote a couple of hours a month to some form of volunteer work.

Locally, some of the people polled told reporters in follow-up interviews that they wanted to volunteer their time but cited age or ailing health or past failures as reasons why they aren’t doing anything today.

Nellie Fisher of Torrance said she gave up in exasperation after trying for years, as the president of a senior citizen tenants’ association, to persuade whites and Asian Americans to get together.

“When the Asians started moving in, they didn’t want to come in with us,” Fisher said. “They had their own things, their own ethnic pot lucks, and they didn’t want to mix in. They wave and are nice and friendly but seemed to want to keep their distance.”

Fisher said that one of the things she prizes most about Los Angeles is its cultural diversity, but she said she is at a loss about how to promote social ties between groups.

Fisher is not alone in her frustration. Although a majority said race relations are good in the county, many people were at a loss when asked to recommend one step that could be taken to promote racial harmony.

Nor was there a consensus among people who did offer recommendations for improving race relations. Sixteen percent said that local institutions should sponsor more cross-cultural programs; 12% called for an anti-bias curriculum in local schools and 12% said parents should do more to teach children tolerance.

Ironically, African Americans, the group with the highest rate of community activism--62% reported doing volunteer work of some sort--were the most pessimistic about the state of their own lives and that of their communities.

Asian Americans, on the other hand, reported the lowest rate of participation in community activities--34%--while indicating the highest levels of satisfaction in their own lives--90%--and in their communities--75%.

But there were exceptions to the ethnic trends.

Rene Dean, who described herself as a middle-aged woman who lives alone on a monthly disability check, spoke of the stimulating life she has found as the only black occupant of a West Hollywood apartment complex full of Russian emigres who speak little English.

“I wanted decent housing, and this is where I came,” said Dean, who moved from central Los Angeles two years ago. “It was a little hard at first. The neighbors didn’t know what to make of me.”

Then Dean found that Jewish Family Services would drive her to the doctor and the grocery store. And a bilingual girl in the building helped her communicate with her neighbors. She planted a garden for the first time. (“Where I used to live, the kids tore up all the plants,” she said.)

Today, Dean has no desire to follow friends who have moved out of town.

“You can’t escape the gangs or the natural disasters,” she said. “I think you can make a quality life for yourself no matter where you are if you care enough, and I do care.”

If the clear-headed optimism of people like Dean bodes well for the future of Los Angeles, there remains an undercurrent of discouragement. Twenty-three percent said they are strongly considering moving out of Los Angeles County in the next two years.

Asked what are the most important problems facing their communities, people pointed to crime, gangs, drugs and unemployment, in that order.

But for all those contemplating a better life somewhere else, there are many others held in place by the memories of better times. For such people, optimism is the stubborn refusal to give up on a place they used to love.

Living alone in an apartment near Hollywood and Vine, Evelyn Ewing waits for the day she can move back into the house in Beachwood Canyon where she lived since moving from Minnesota 50 years ago.

The earthquake that knocked her house down around her is just one of many things to which Ewing reacts with soldierly fortitude.

“The crime, the filth, the graffiti, the potholes. . . . You heard it all before,” Ewing sighed.

“Do I think about leaving? Sure. I was offered a house at Leisure World, free. But I’m still here. I’m an upbeat sort of person. I’m a survivor.”

Satisfaction Scorecard

In spite of economic recession and a series of epic disasters, residents of Los Angeles County are generally satisfied with where they live. The same is true of residents of the city of Los Angeles, although they are somewhat less positive about certain facets of Southland living.

How Do You Rate the Following? (Good to Excellent)

LA County LA City Shopping 79% 72% Police/Sheriff 73% 63% Parks/Recreation 72% 68% Environment 68% 58% Public safety 67% 55% Raise Children 63% 48% Race Relations 63% 55% Traffic flow 61% 54% Cultural Activities 60% 54% Public Transit 60% 61% Public Schools 51% 49% Local Government 40% 41% Affordable Housing 41% 385 Jobs/economic opportunity 20% 16%

Satisfaction With Community

Despite riots, fires and earthquakes, community satisfaction among county residents has not declined in the past two years. It remains lower than that measured nationally, however. Los Angeles County: 69% in 1994 Nation: 76% in 1994

What People Like Most Quiet: 13% Good location: 11% The people: 11% Convenience: 9% Community spirit: 9% The climate: 8% Good neighbors: 8% Family/Friends: 7% Safety: 6% Natural beauty: 5%

Community’s Biggest Problems Crime: 34% Gangs: 31% Drugs: 12% Unemployment: 10% Poor schools, education: 7% Graffiti: 5% Homelessness, poverty: 4% Recession, the economy: 4% Too much growth, overpopulation: 3% Illegal immigrants: 3%

How We See Our Community

COMMUTERS: Seven-in-10 county residents commute somewhere daily; 44% alone in the car, 15% in carpools, 6% by bus and 2% by train. The median average daily commute is 40 minutes both ways. Despite all the publicity they get, very few people have excessively long commutes: only 5% say they spend more than 2 hours on the road each day.

*

TRAFFIC: Even among those who commute daily by car, most describe their community’s traffic flow as good.

NEIGHBORS: Half of whites in the county live in white neighborhoods, but the other half live either in mixed race or minority-dominated areas. Two-in-10 blacks live in Latino neighborhoods but just 1% of Latinos inhabit black sections.

WORRIES: Drugs are a particular community problem for black county residents, gangs very much worry Latinos.

ARRIVALS: Asians account for 10% of the county’s total adult population. But a full quarter of those who have moved here in the last five years are of Asian background.

UNDOCUMENTED: Asked if illegal immigration is a problem for the county, eight-in-10 whites and blacks say yes. But so do 71% of Asians and 54% of Latinos.

OUTTA HERE: Most of those looking to leave the county want to move out of the state altogether. About 3-in-10 are looking to move elsewhere in southern California; just one-in-8 are northern California-bound.

REASONS: Crime, more affordable housing and better work are the main reasons people give for wanting to move out of the county.

LEAVING ANYWAY: Not everyone who wants to leave the county is unhappy. In fact more of would-be movers movers are satisfied with their current community than dissatisfied.

Satisfied: 55%

Dissatisfied: 43%

GOOD DEEDS: The most common community activities for county residents are church-sponsored functions. Others include assisting in youth sports, classroom volunteer work and charity activities.

TELECOMMUTING: When people were asked to volunteer ideas for improving transportation, virtually no one mentioned telecommuting--encouraging people to work at or near home via computer.

*

HOW THE POLL WAS CONDUCTED

The Times Poll interviewed 1,239 adult residents of Los Angeles County, by telephone, June 17 through 20. Telephone numbers were chosen from a list of all exchanges in the county. Random-digit dialing techniques were used so that listed and unlisted numbers could be contacted. Interviewing was conducted in English and Spanish. The sample was weighted slightly to conform with Census figures for sex, race, age and education. The margin of sampling error for the total sample is plus or minus 3 percentage points. For certain subgroups, the error margin may be somewhat higher. Poll results can also be affected by other factors, like the wording of questions and the order in which questions are presented.

*

Contributing to this story were Times assistant poll director Susan Pinkus and staff writer Adam Bauman.