Two Families in Two Troubled Cities

Compton and South Pasadena recently have been the subjects of multiple scandals involving public officials that have tarnished their municipal images. The latest Compton official in the news was former City Council member Patricia Moore, convicted this week in a bribery scandal; the schools are in receivership and former U.S. Rep. and Mayor Walter Tucker is in prison after being convicted of extortion and fraud. In South Pasadena, a sex scandal and charges of a cover-up for a police officer involved in a hit-and-run accident have rocked the police department; two former city officials have been charged with embezzlement in separate cases.

In both cities, one with long-standing unemployment and gang problems, the other with a staid and prosperous image, longtime residents with a stake in their towns have had to deal with seemingly endless bad news. How did the series of shocks affect them? Did they feel betrayed? What did they tell their children? Do the scandals affect their towns’ futures?

JIM BLAIR talked with JOSE MARTELL, 42, a self-employed maintenance worker and his wife, MARIA, 41, a housekeeper, the parents of four children, from Compton; and from South Pasadena, ERIC STEEN, 39, a sales director, and his wife KAREN, 40, a self-employed illustrator, parents of three.

Question: Why did you choose to live where you do?

Jose Martell: We’ve lived in Compton since 1984. I chose to live here because of my job. Most of my clients are here in Compton and the Lynwood area. I found an area with the kind of people that I can live with. Good churches. And we’ve found good teachers in the schools. For me and my family this is the place where we can grow together.

Eric Steen: My grandfather was an immigrant from Sweden who moved to South Pasadena in the 1930s. Karen and I attended South Pasadena High School. When we were married we originally lived in Phoenix. In 1989 we moved back to South Pasadena to be closer to the families.

One of the reasons we love South Pasadena is the diversity not only of different types of people but different types of talents in the community.

Q: Have the recent scandals affected your view of your city and have they affected your children?

Maria Martell: Always, when we feel there is a problem in Compton--or any city--I’ll call my kids to sit down around the table and we explain about the problems.

Jose Martell: Usually we try to give them examples of regular people, like us like our family, to show them the good lessons they can learn when bad things happen. We show them that we’re taxpayers, that we pay for everything and that its easier to be on the good side. We’ve told them about heros, but that’s the problem--it’s hard to be a hero. It’s better to see that ordinary people can do their best. I and my family see the news on television together, and we see that these things are happening all over the country.

I think we are now more aware of who is in charge, but we know that sometimes people may be one kind of person before getting the job and [a] different person after they get the job. We will know more when we vote.

Eric Steen: It’s shocking and very sad. South Pasadena is a city with a great spirit of volunteerism. There are a lot of really good people in the community devoting a lot of time and effort.

There’s been the former assistant city manager allegedly embezzling from a transportation fund. South Pasadena has a history of fighting the 710 freeway and public transportation is a burning issue [here]. To have the assistant city manager allegedly involved with embezzlement of transportation funds is especially ironic.

My last thought of the former chief of police was seeing him in the Fourth of July parade, waving at him and thinking about what a good job he was doing. And then to hear that he allegedly participated in a coverup and reinstated an officer involved in an alleged hit and run incident. It makes me feel bad that I even gave the guy a friendly wave.

Our three children are 9, 6 and 3. The 9-year-old has heard a little bit about the police situation.

Her response was, “Gee, I thought the police were our friend. I thought the police always do good.” And then you have to explain that sometimes a policeman or policewoman can make mistakes just like everybody else.

Karen Steen: I know there were a couple of pieces on TV about the police sex scandal and I tried to discourage her from being in the room. It just didn’t seem appropriate information for her.

It’s really sad for all the people trying to give back to the community who have a feeling of betrayal because some officials made mistakes.

I really don’t think it has anything to do with South Pasadena as a community and the people that live and work here. The people at the government level who got off track have nothing to do with the essence of our town.

Q: How do you see your future and your children’s future in your city?

Maria Martell: When we [go to] community meetings, I listen to the talk about the good things we can do or are going to do. But sometimes I say, Who’s going to help? Who’s going to make the difference?

Jose Martell: In the past, Compton always looked like a forgotten city. Now I think we [are starting] to be aware of that and to work together.

Certainly when you see bad news, people think of looking for a better place to live; but as time has been passing, we know that this place has a lot of opportunities for our kids. There is more violence on TV and in the news than in the neighborhood where we have been living.

We know that there are a lot of different people here in Compton--African Americans, Latinos, Asians. We don’t try to be like other people, but we care about the way we can work together. I know a lot of people here who I can do something for and they can do something for me, too, for my family.

My eldest is entering college next year to become an architect. He is telling me, “I can live in Compton, too, because this is the place that needs to be improved. I’m not telling you that I’m not going live all my life here, but certainly I’ll be back.”

Eric Steen: You could say there’s been a changing of the guard. The people who were responsible [for] some of the things in the past are gone now--sort of a house cleaning.

As the parents of young children, one of the things we’re most involved in is the public schools. Last year, there was bond measure to provide funds for capital improvements [to the schools] and it won by a landslide.

But South Pasadena is also a city without much of a tax base, so it doesn’t have much money to do even simple things like street maintenance and repairing sidewalks that have deteriorated. So that’s a problem.

Q: What do you see yourselves having in common?

Eric Steen: I think we’re going to have a lot of the same challenges, that we want our families to be safe--as a parent the safety of your children is one of your greatest concerns whether you’re a father in South Pasadena or a father in Compton. We all want educational opportunities for our children.

Jose Martell: We are looking for the best place for our kids to grow [up]. They think [their] children can make it--that they can have a little piece of [the American] dream. And we [do], too. But we are tired of that slogan “I have a dream.” We have been dreaming for years. Now we need to wake up to reality and fight with it every day.