Parolee Visits Fewer, but Neighbors, Lawmakers Press for None : Sherman Oaks: Ex-convicts calling at site across from park have dwindled by 70%, but officials had promised to close office by mid-August.

The number of paroled convicts visiting a controversial parole office in Sherman Oaks has been reduced by 70%, but lawmakers and an influential homeowners group vowed to continue protesting until all are sent elsewhere.

Parole officials pointed to the trend Wednesday as proof of their intention to eventually keep a promise made by state Department of Corrections chief James Gomez to close the office. But they also acknowledged that because of problems they have encountered in finding new office space, they cannot say when the promise will be kept.

An average of 12 ex-convicts now appear every day at the office at 5121 Van Nuys Blvd.

Before drug and psychiatric programs were removed at Gomez’s order, parole officers were seeing 35 to 40 parolees a day.

The fact that convicted criminals are still coming a month after Gomez promised to have them directed elsewhere has renewed calls for the office to be moved out of Sherman Oaks. Five parole units, each of which has seven to eight parole officers who usually meet their clients off-site, continue to operate out of the site.

The complete move out of Sherman Oaks may now be years away, according to Frank Marino, head of the controversial office, which opened earlier this year across the street from a public park and near a residential neighborhood.

“It (the move) could take months, it could take years,” said Marino.

Corrections spokesman Tip Kendel said that because parolee visits have been eliminated except for emergency drop-ins, the promise has been kept.

When the office opened on April 25, hundreds of paroled felons each month reported there, and neighbors and legislators loudly protested. Gomez pledged at a public meeting in May to move the office by Aug. 17.

The Corrections Department planned to move back to the building it had occupied in North Hollywood, near the corner of Laurel Canyon Boulevard and Vanowen Street. But negotiations with the owner, who has quoted prices that Marino termed “unacceptable,” have yet to be concluded.

And residents who lived near the North Hollywood site for years without protest began a campaign of their own aimed at blocking its return, triggering a dispute between powerful politicians and influential residents’ organizations.

Political and community leaders Wednesday vowed to fight to make sure Corrections moves the entire office.

“We’re going to make sure it moves,” said Sandy Miller, chief of staff for state Sen. David Roberti (D-Van Nuys).

“Sen. Roberti is adamant about the Sherman Oaks parole office relocating due to the fact that it is directly across from a park, and it is not a safe environment.”

Roberti and others have maintained that the Van Nuys Boulevard location violated the Corrections Department’s own guidelines for siting parole offices at least a quarter-mile from parks and schools.

“They have made a commitment to the public to get out of that location, and that remains our expectation,” said Alisa Katz, chief of staff for City Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky.

Richard Close, president of the Sherman Oaks Homeowners Assn., said that he did not think the department had changed its mind about the move, but that it had run into delays.

In anticipation of the move to Sherman Oaks, the Corrections Department closed its Van Nuys office and crowded 65 employees into the 10,000-square-foot North Hollywood office. Employees can’t move back to North Hollywood without some extra elbow room, Marino said.

“We couldn’t possibly move all the people back into that one location,” he said. When Roberti and other politicians succeeded in getting the Corrections Department to agree to move the parole office in May, Van Nuys and Hollywood residents--who have had parole offices in their communities for years--complained that Sherman Oaks was getting favored treatment.

After the brouhaha, Roberti helped establish a citizens committee to research an appropriate site for the parole office. According to committee member Don Schultz, most members were from Van Nuys and North Hollywood, and they found that the Sherman Oaks site was the best location for the parole office.

“(The committee’s decision) was well thought out and based on knowledge and meeting with parole officials,” Schultz said. “There is no need to move it other than that certain people in Sherman Oaks don’t want it there.”

State Assemblyman Richard Katz (D-Sylmar) also opposes the move. Katz said he has written Corrections Department officials, but said he did not think his letter contributed to the delay.

“I have heard that there are problems with the ownership of the (North Hollywood) site, that there are asbestos problems and parking problems,” Katz said. “I am not at all surprised that they are having trouble. They should stop playing games and stay in Sherman Oaks where (the department’s) study said they should be, and be done with it.”

The Sherman Oaks office keeps tabs on 4,100 convicted criminals. The state had signed a five- to 10-year, $2.5-million lease for the Sherman Oaks site.