A Clean Sweep

It is Anaheim’s most notorious barrio--a neighborhood just a block from Disneyland that has remained poor, crime- and blight-ridden despite a decade of costly city efforts to clean it up.

Now officials propose to revitalize the six-square-block neighborhood known as Jeffrey-Lynne from the ground up--a massive project which, if put into effect, could cost as much as $30 million.

The plans are barely on the drawing board. No specific project has been chosen and no money allocated. But there is consensus among city leaders that a major rehabilitation of the neighborhood is due.

“It’s a big challenge and it’s a problem that was not created overnight, and we know that we cannot solve it overnight,” said Lisa Stipkovich, executive director of the city’s Redevelopment Agency. “But now we’re saying it’s really time to start addressing the problems in this area so that the whole city can be raised up, in terms of the housing and quality of life for everyone.”

Since 1987, the city has spent thousands of dollars on police, code enforcement and community services in the 31-acre area dominated by 729 apartment units and named for two intersecting streets at its heart, Jeffrey and Lynne. More than $900,000--mostly in federal grants--has been spent to build, maintain and staff a community center and create a park by closing a portion of Audre Drive.

The efforts have had mixed results. While services offered by the community center have helped to improve life for families and children, crime and gang activity have remained persistent problems.

When Anaheim police moved into a substation in Jeffrey-Lynne and assigned several officers to the neighborhood, reported crimes sank from 1,779 in 1993 to 779 in 1996. But last year, after police moved out of Jeffrey-Lynne and into other troubled neighborhoods, reported crimes shot back up to 1,260.

Police say they had hoped three years of beefed-up policing would pay off by permanently lowering crime. But they’re now convinced crime in the area will not decline until the blight is alleviated.

“It is disappointing to put in extra effort and then see it go right back to where it was, and this is the problem in Jeffrey-Lynne,” said Anaheim Police Sgt. Steve Whalen, who has been in charge of the policing effort in the neighborhood. “That’s one reason why the city, instead of just continuing community policing, is trying this redevelopment project.”

Until now, city officials have never proposed spending public money to fix aging buildings, deteriorated apartments and crumbling sidewalks and streets.

Jeffrey-Lynne, bounded by Cerritos Avenue on the north, Walnut Street on the east, 9th Street on the west and Audre Drive on the south, has 68 property owners.

Last week, the Anaheim Redevelopment Agency began seeking developers interested in teaming with the city on the rehabilitation project. Developers were asked to expand a preliminary plan that calls for replacing crumbling buildings with a new park, rebuilding others where people live as many as 10 to an apartment, widening streets and bettering sidewalks.

City planners hope to pay for the project through city redevelopment dollars, federal grants, private funds and bond revenue.

Last year’s $510-million bond sale to expand the Convention Center and street and sewer improvements for a new Disneyland resort also sets aside $5 million to upgrade neighborhoods near the theme park. None of the money has been spent.

The redevelopment plan has a long way to go before the people of Jeffrey-Lynne see any changes.

First, the city must choose a developer and secure funds to put the plan into action.

The city is modeling its proposal to revamp Jeffrey-Lynne on a redevelopment agency project in another rundown neighborhood last year.

That project turned crime-ridden apartment complexes on North Citron Street into a gated, affordable-housing community of greenbelts, playgrounds and well-maintained apartments. The transformation was financed with about $24 million in federal grants, city funds and private money.

But even before plans for Jeffrey-Lynne are nailed down, some property owners are raising concerns.

“My fear, really, is we don’t want to be pushed out and not receive a fair value for our properties,” said William Meyer, who co-owns 44 apartment units his father bought in 1959, and lives in the neighborhood.

Others are more optimistic about the future.

“I’ve seen changes since I moved in,” said Rosa Salazar, who moved here from Sonora, Mexico, eight years ago. “You still hear gunshots, but I’m not as afraid to have my children play on the street.

“There’s a lot of help and a lot of police presence,” she said. “There’s the little park the kids can play in. There’s the community center. It’s not the barrio it was. I think whatever the city can do here is a good idea.”