Loans Lure No Oxnard Police to Move to Troubled Area

It was a promising idea aimed at rejuvenating one of this hardscrabble city’s most notorious neighborhoods.

Nearly two years ago, City Council members launched a loan program to entice police officers to buy homes in Southwinds, a half-square-mile slice of 1,500 households.

Yet despite the incentives, no Oxnard police officers have moved to the neighborhood.

City leaders had hoped the loans would encourage officers to have a stake in Southwinds. Word would spread that authorities were upping their crime-fighting efforts. Criminals would take heed. The program, leaders hoped, would cap the city’s community policing efforts.

“So far, no takers,” said Marvin Petal, vice chairman of the Southwinds Neighborhood Council.

But the news is not all bad: Although many residents and officials are disappointed in the housing program’s slow start, they say other community-policing efforts are taking hold in the neighborhood.

Petal and others reason that numerous factors, from fear of being targeted by criminals to the hassle of moving, have kept police officers and their families from moving to Southwinds.

“I talked to some of the police, and they thought if they moved into the neighborhood, they’d put their families at risk by putting themselves within proximity of the bad guys,” said Petal, who lives in a walled community off Downwind Way.

“The dope traffic in the neighborhood, fights at bars, booze to minors . . . this has been a notorious neighborhood,” he said. “There is some progress, but there is some ways to go yet.”

Oxnard Police Sgt. Tom Chronister said the well-intentioned housing program simply did not have much potential.

“Obviously, [officers] aren’t considering it,” he said. “Most of these guys already have homes. Many of these guys are married and have their own homes. I don’t know what incentive it would take to get someone to move into the south end of town.”

Nevertheless, the program still has broad support.

Several months ago, Oxnard officials decided to offer home loans to police in other cities. Officials said a Santa Barbara County sheriff’s deputy has applied for the housing assistance program and is poised to move to Southwinds. The neighborhood is bounded on the west by J Street, on the north by Pleasant Valley Road, on the east by Saviers Road and on the south by Hueneme Road.

On the national level, President Clinton last month voiced support for a Housing and Urban Development report that calls for subsidies to encourage police officers to live in the inner city.

“It’s always a challenge to get things kicked off,” said Dena Fuentes, the city’s redevelopment services manager.

Fuentes acknowledged that persuading officers to move to Southwinds has not been easy, saying that a sluggish housing market in recent years and the neighborhood’s reputation have not helped.

But Fuentes pointed to the Santa Barbara County deputy’s expected move as evidence that police housing programs can work.

“It’s taken a while,” she said, “but this is a very positive find.”

The housing program was approved by the Oxnard City Council in November 1995. The incentives included a $30,000 deferred loan to be repaid when an officer sold the Southwinds home. Officers also would get a $5,000 loan that would not have to be repaid if they stayed in the neighborhood more than five years.

A host of other steps have been taken to fight crime in Southwinds, Police Chief Harold Hurtt said.

Several years ago, three full-time police officers were assigned to the area. A new police storefront just opened.

A youth recreation center has also opened, and leaders say it will help keep teens who might slide into gang life on the right track.

And, Hurtt noted, South Oxnard will benefit from a $4.52-million state grant awarded this spring to pay for programs aimed at fighting gangs and delinquency.

Residents and city officials say things in Southwinds are getting better. But on the whole, South Oxnard still has problems. There were 225 juvenile crimes in South Oxnard in 1995 and 1996, including six homicides.

Hurtt said the police housing program could have helped, but that “it’s just one element of community policing. There are a lot of other elements.

“If I were a young officer starting out and could get that type of financial assistance, I’d take advantage of it,” added Hurtt, who lives in upscale River Ridge.

About half of Oxnard’s 192 police officers live in the city, he said.

City Councilman John Zaragoza said that the limited number of houses in Southwinds has hampered the loan program. The neighborhood is made up almost exclusively of apartments and condominiums.

But Zaragoza and other leaders say that Southwinds has made progress in recent years by cutting down on graffiti and creating Neighborhood Watch groups.

“I think they’ve made a lot of strides there,” Zaragoza said. “Southwinds has a lot of really dedicated people. The neighborhood has gotten better. I don’t think the housing program was a make or break deal.”

Siguen Constanza, chairwoman of the Southwinds neighborhood council, said residents are eager to participate in the neighborhood’s revitalization. She got involved, she said, to encourage Latinos in the neighborhood to play a bigger role.