O.C. Residents View Situation Apprehensively

As the U.S. government on Monday lurched toward a shutdown, residents across Southern California wondered how it might affect them.

The early word: Wait. And wait some more.

Even if the federal government grinds to a halt today, essential government services will continue undisturbed: crime fighting, mail delivery, air traffic control, courts and the like.

People seeking the “nonessential” services--passports, Social Security checks and tax help--might be standing in line a little longer. People venturing into some national parks might find them understaffed--but open.

Federal administrators in Orange County and elsewhere in Southern California said they were preparing to send most of their employees home early today if the President and Congress fail to reach an agreement on the budget. In most cases, skeleton crews would remain to handle pressing needs.

“No agency will be totally shut down,” said Ed Wasielewski, field officer for the General Services Administration at Laguna Niguel. “All will be open, although operating in a severely truncated capacity.”

Even so, talk of a pending shutdown troubled some needy people.

“Oh my God,” said Virginia Ramos, a legally blind Santa Ana resident who came to the Social Security office Monday. “I hope things aren’t delayed too long.”

Ramos, who receives $436 a month in federal disability payments, came Monday to apply for an increase. Her husband recently lost his job as a truck driver.

Those looking for a silver lining in the nation’s pending shutdown won’t find it in the nation’s pocketbook. A study conducted following a federal shutdown a decade ago found that the government lost $62 million a day in salaries and lost productivity.

One dramatic effect of a possible federal shutdown was already showing up in airports Monday. Travelers who banked on getting passports the same day they applied found themselves frustrated.

Susan Steinmetz and Janie Ahn, for instance, flew to Los Angeles from Phoenix on their way to Korea. They hoped to pick up passports during a two-day layover. When they arrived at the Passport Service office in Westwood on Monday afternoon, the line stretched out into the lawn.

They didn’t get their passports Monday.

“I don’t know what we are going to do,” Ahn said. “Nothing is working out.”

Orange County residents will still be able to apply for passports at post offices in the county. If they want same-day service, they will have to brave the lines in Los Angeles.

The government shutdown comes as the U.S. Department of the Interior attempts to negotiate the purchase of nearly 1,000 acres of the Bolsa Chica wetlands, a haven for migratory birds next to Huntington Beach.

Talks between the department and landowner Koll Real Estate Group are expected to continue, since they are being handled by Assistant Interior Secretary George T. Frampton Jr., considered an “essential employee,” an Interior Department spokeswoman said.

But the shutdown could have an impact on a federal wetlands restoration plan scheduled for review Thursday by the California Coastal Commission. With 80% of Interior Department employees being furloughed, it was uncertain Monday who would remain to present the federal plan at the meeting in Los Angeles.

Travel to national parks could get trickier too. Most non-emergency employees of the National Park Service were ordered to pick up furlough notices this morning. Here are some of the potential changes:

* At Cleveland National Forest, visitors won’t find anyone in the visitor information center if the federal government shuts down, said Judy Behrens, district public affairs officer for the U.S. Forest Service.

* In the Santa Monica National Recreation Area, schoolchildren and others will be turned away from regular ranger lectures and guided hikes at the Rancho Sierra Vista/Satwiwa interpretive center, Paramount Ranch and other popular destinations. Only about one-third of the 77-person staff will be on duty; hikers will be asked to stay off the parks’ trails and to use neighboring state parklands instead.

* At Joshua Tree National Monument, the staff will be reduced from about 70 to a dozen.

* Yosemite and other large national parks will remain open for the time being, but entry gates, ranger stations and other facilities will be closed. That means visitors can zip through the front gate without paying the normal $5 fee, although rangers still will patrol to see that camping fees of $3 to $14 are paid. Cabins and other facilities run by the Yosemite Concession Services Corp. also will remain open.

Among military personnel, confusion was the order of the day. Many in uniform at both Camp Pendleton and the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station believed that, at the very least, paychecks might be delayed.

But after phone calls and clarifications throughout the day, public affairs officers set the record straight: Uniformed personnel will not be affected. Only civilian employees on base might have their paychecks furloughed.

“That’s right, military in uniform will not be affected under any circumstances,” said Staff Sgt. Janice Hagar, a spokeswoman at Camp Pendleton. “Military in uniform will get their paychecks on the 15th, no matter what.”

With government workers left largely to determine their own essential status, it was perhaps not surprising that a wide range of services will remain in force today. The U.S. Department of Agriculture will inspect meat and poultry. The Customs Service will process travelers. Federal Aviation Administration airline inspectors will check on planes.

Around Southern California, many federal employees said they wouldn’t mind a day away from work.

Joked a courthouse employee in Los Angeles: “I was hoping that they would say I was nonessential, so that I could get the day off.”

Times staff writers Davan Maharaj, Deborah Schoch, Susan Steinberg, James Rainey, Colleen Krueger, Aaron Curtiss, Tony Olivo and Kate Folmar contributed to this story.