FOCUS: Orange County Focus is dedicated on Monday to analysis of community news, a look at what’s ahead and the voices of local people. : PERSPECTIVE : A Remarkable Turnaround in Buena-Clinton Area

Stella Ramirez and other residents of Garden Grove’s Buena-Clinton area don’t need the latest FBI statistics to tell them that crime in the city is down.

In the past decade, they have witnessed the remarkable transformation of their neighborhood from a crime-ridden slum to a quiet place where Ramirez feels comfortable taking evening strolls.

The improvements resulted from a partnership involving not only police and residents, but also city planners, code-enforcement officers, redevelopment experts and federal housing officials. The campaign focused on crime as well as its causes: joblessness, a lack of social services and poor living conditions.

“We tried to tie it all together,” said Stanley L. Knee, Garden Grove’s police chief. “If you want to attack crime, you have to also realize all the things that contribute to crime.”

The strategy has paid off. In the mid-1980s, Buena-Clinton was the city’s highest-crime area, earning a reputation as Orange County’s worst slum.

The latest statistics show Buena-Clinton is not even among the city’s 20 highest-crime areas. Police said the number of crimes reported in the area fell from 941 in 1987 to 236 last year.

Other cities have found similar success in turning around their most troubled neighborhoods.

In Huntington Beach, the city spent five years refurbishing the former Commodore Circle area. The improvements were so striking that the City Council even changed the name of the neighborhood to Amberleaf Circle after the rows of trees planted along once-blighted streets.

City officials express pride at their success but emphasize that revivals don’t come cheaply or easily. They require millions of dollars and a significant change in attitudes.

As a result of the latter, “I think you’ve seen a big shift in the neighborhood’s feeling about the police,” said Fran Andrade, a community activist in Huntington Beach’s Oak View section, which also has been the beneficiary of revitalization efforts.

“Before, there was little communications or respect for the” police department, Andrade said. “Now, the police are out in the community and are attending meetings. It’s made a big difference.”

*

While Buena-Clinton and the former Commodore Circle are miles apart, the neighborhoods have several key similarities. Both contain high-density apartment complexes built about 30 years ago during the height of the county’s development boom. Similar neighborhoods exist across central and north Orange County.

Urban planners said the apartment complexes were designed as starter dwellings that residents would leave as soon as they could afford something better. That constant flux did little to foster community pride, and as more luxurious dwellings were built, older neighborhoods began to deteriorate.

By the 1980s, Buena-Clinton was plagued by drug-dealing and overcrowding. Police and firefighters were constantly being called to the area.

“We had as many as 15 individuals living in one three-bedroom apartment,” said Michael D. Fenderson, Garden Grove’s deputy city manager. “Whenever you have that kind of overcrowding, it just wears out everything.”

In examining Buena-Clinton’s decline, Garden Grove officials realized crime was only part of the problem. Many of the apartments were run-down and needed repairs. The overcrowding resulted largely from a lack of jobs.

One of the city’s first moves was to purchase and demolish several apartment complexes, replacing them with a factory that manufactures water pumps for recreational vehicles. The plant provides employment for some residents.

The federal Department of Housing and Urban Development stepped in with its Section 8 program, which helped to reduce overcrowding in the remaining apartments. The program offered residents subsidized rents but restricted the number of people allowed to live in each unit. Aggressive code enforcement prompted slumlords to sell their buildings, leading to a consolidation of apartment ownership in the hands of landlords willing to make repairs.

The city also closed off a street in Buena-Clinton and created a small park.

Police, meanwhile, focused their efforts on meeting residents, who in turn helped to identify suspects in crimes.

“We spent a lot of time getting to know people,” Knee, the police chief, said. “We wanted to make people feel comfortable about providing us with information.”

Huntington Beach employed similar tactics in Commodore Circle. Police Capt. Ed McErlain said a key to success was gaining the trust and respect of residents, who now work with officers on crime prevention programs.

“The whole thrust of community policing is the realization that we can’t do it alone,” McErlain said. “It’s not just about addressing problems today, but dealing with them in such a way that we don’t have another problem next week.”

While some of the federal rent subsidies have expired, officials said both Buena-Clinton and Amberleaf Circle remain in good shape, largely because the cities have maintained strong code enforcement and community policing efforts.

“It takes constant monitoring,” Fenderson said.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Neighborhood Revival

Garden Grove’s Buena-Clinton district was considered one of Orange County’s worst slums during the 1980s. However, an aggressive program involving city police, planners and housing experts has revitalized the neighborhood. Some of the problems and steps city officials took to solve them:

Crime: Adopted a community policing strategy; officers got to know residents, who in turn helped identify criminals.

Overcrowding: Used federal Section 8 program that provides residents with subsidized rents but restricts the number of persons in each housing unit.

Unemployment: Purchased and demolished some apartments, replaced them with a privately run manufacturing plant that employs local residents.

Aesthetics: Closed part of a street and created a neighborhood park; restricted street parking.

Living Conditions: Code-enforcement officers demanded that landlords make repairs; city encouraged consolidation of apartment ownership.

Youth Services: Police helped to organize hockey lessons for youngsters and took them to professional hockey games.

Measure of Results

Garden Grove police say the number of crimes reported in the neighborhood has fallen about 75% from a decade high in 1987:

Sources: Times reports, City of Garden Grove; Researched by SHELBY GRAD / For The Times