Defending Their Turf

Residents of the boxy Craftsman bungalows and Spanish Colonial homes acknowledge that their downtown neighborhood is already overshadowed by jails, courthouses, and numerous social service organizations.

But now they say the small community that they’ve struggled to foster could be destroyed by the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, which is planning an expansion project that will mean yet another jail, armed guards, and more traffic in the area.

“It’s like putting a TNT plant next to a nitroglycerin facility,” said Tim Rush, a resident of the Washington Square neighborhood, who opposes the INS expansion. “How much is an area supposed to stand up to?”

By October, the INS hopes to install six new jail cells at its 801 Civic Center Drive offices.

The goal is Southern California’s first INS sub-office, which will provide a full range of services--ranging from processing benefits to immigration law enforcement--and eliminate the need for travel to district headquarters in Los Angeles.

Today, INS District Director Richard Rogers is expected to meet with residents and city staff. Rogers is optimistic that critics will accept the expansion once he can show the building will be neighborhood-friendly.

“We can better serve the citizens of Orange County,” at the expanded offices, Rogers said, “but we also want to listen to the concerns of the citizens.”

Once the sub-office is complete, INS offices in Westminster and Laguna Niguel would close, moving about 135 employees to join the 65 INS workers currently in Santa Ana.

The building owner--a Delaware-based corporation--must seek permits from the city for the renovations needed to accommodate the expansion.

City Manager David N. Ream said the planning commission and the City Council can consider residents’ concerns in deciding whether to grant the permits.

Rogers, Ream and Mayor Miguel A. Pulido Jr. have already met to discuss their differences--and there are many.

Rogers maintains that Ream and the mayor threatened to withhold permits from the INS because the expansion would occur next to a residential area. Ream and Pulido say that did not occur.

Rogers said he has a hard time understanding opposition to the expansion given that the civic center, by nature, is a place for government offices.

“That’s what is in the area already,” he said. “Isn’t that what the civic center is supposed to provide to its citizens?”

Rogers said residents’ fears are overblown. He stressed that the area for detainees is secure, and said the cells will not be used for overnight detention, just short-term stays lasting a matter of hours.

Some Santa Ana residents, including Councilman Ted R. Moreno, said an expanded INS office could make a good tenant.

“It meets the needs of those who complain about illegal immigrants, and those who go through the legal citizenship process,” Moreno said.

The INS would share the Civic Center Drive building with branches of the Orange County district attorney’s office and the Orange County public defender’s office.

Rush said he intends to fight for a brighter future for the civic center than a Monopoly board of government offices.

“The area will never have any chance of developing in a positive fashion,” said Rush, who envisions an area where a Starbucks coffeehouse would fit right in.

“Yeah,” he said. “That would be nice.”

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Neighborhoods

Washington Square, Santa Ana

Bounded by: 17th Street on the north, Civic Center Drive on the south, Bristol Street on the west, Flower Street on the east

Population: 630 households

Hot topic: Encroachment of nearby government buildings