MID-CITY : Anti-Crime Coalition Seeks New Members

Sylvia Lacy is looking for a few good neighbors.

Not that she doesn’t have a few already. For two years, the dry-cleaning plant owner’s Wellington Square Improvement Assn. has worked with close to 35 other block groups to assist the Los Angles Police Department’s Wilshire Division in community crime-fighting efforts.

But there is strength in numbers, and in order to truly effect change, a greater number of city blocks in the area need to join the cause, said Lacy, who serves on the Wilshire Community-Police Advisory Board.

Lacy and other watch-group leaders have launched a campaign to recruit block leaders from Mid-City neighborhoods not active in community improvement to fill geographic gaps in the area’s crime-fighting efforts.

One of the area’s worst zones is the Washington Boulevard corridor between La Brea and Redondo avenues, where motels lure prostitution and drug traffic, Lacy said.

“Lots of that activity gets pushed onto residential streets,” she said. “On a street where there is a block group, it (crime) doesn’t last a minute. They get on the phone to the police right away and nip it in the bud.”

New block groups joining the informal coalition, which has no official name, learn ways to clean up their neighborhoods and get assistance from police and city agencies.

Block captains from each group meet every three months to discuss trouble spots, distribute information, put together plans for community improvement and receive updates on progress, Lacy said.

In addition to working with motel owners to help curb drug activity and prostitution along the Washington Boulevard corridor, one of the group’s main goals is to work with local liquor store owners to decrease loitering and crime near the stores.

Another goal is to polish the Washington Boulevard streetscape. Last month, the combined block groups planted several trees, donated by the Los Angeles Conservation Corps, along the corridor. A week ago, they tied 250 Christmas bows onto the boulevard’s light fixtures.

Another tree planting is scheduled for Feb. 18.

“Our goal is to really feel like a community, and improve the quality of life in this neighborhood,” Lacy said.

Information: (213) 732-4676.