Panorama City : Cleanup Offers Boost to Community Image

In Panorama City, the stigma police want you.

“We sweep. We knock down weeds. We do anything we need to do to clean up the area,” said the Los Angeles Police Department’s Randy Hoffmaster, senior lead officer in Panorama City.

Hoffmaster is organizing another big community cleanup for Jan. 20 and wants everyone to participate.

“The first thing that comes to mind when people think of Panorama City is crime or that it’s a bad area,” he said. “To combat this misconception, we want to give the image of a nice, clean area . . . to eliminate the stigma.”

Hoffmaster and residents’ groups have been teaming up with the Panorama City Graffiti Busters and local Neighborhood Watch associations over the last year to make community cleanliness a priority. They’ve kept to a schedule of about one major cleanup project every three months.

Residents pick up trash, pull weeds and allow their trucks to be used to haul away large items--such as sofas or refrigerators.

Local businesses pitch in, too, supplying trash bags and other materials. An anti-graffiti group uses sandblasters to remove and paint to cover taggers’ scrawl.

The last cleanup, held in October, coincided with the city’s Operation Sparkle project. About 100 volunteers showed up, Hoffmaster said.

This month’s cleanup will be held from 8 to 11 a.m. throughout Panorama City. Volunteers will meet at about 8 a.m. in the parking lot of the Ralphs supermarket at Roscoe and Van Nuys boulevards.

For more information, call Hoffmaster at (818) 756-9485.