City to Try Shalimar Approach Elsewhere

City officials want to use aggressive tactics already shown to reduce crime on Shalimar Drive in another westside neighborhood with gangs, drug deals and loitering.

A proposal before the City Council on Monday includes placing blockades in an alleyway wedged between 19th and Center streets and Monrovia and Placentia avenues to curtail traffic associated with illegal activities--a method partly credited with reviving Shalimar.

“The bottom line is that it was very successful on Shalimar, and it will do the same thing in that alley,” said Mayor Joe Erickson, who put the measure on the council agenda.

Though some problems on Shalimar remain, street bollards, neighborhood watch and community policing have, in the last two years, largely returned the neighborhood to residents.

Unfortunately, Shalimar’s woes are popping up elsewhere.

“I am proud of the success with the barriers we have on Shalimar, but I am disappointed that some of those criminals moved their business over to Center Street,” Erickson said.

The alleyway cannot be closed at both ends since area residents, businesses, emergency vehicles and trash collectors use it often, said William Morris, Costa Mesa’s director of public services. Suggested solutions include poles at one end or in the center of the alley that limit but not bar access.

Increased patrols and dozens of recent drug busts have cut the alley’s crime but additional help from City Hall is needed, said Costa Mesa Police Lt. Alan Kent, who oversees the westside.