Unneighborly Welcome for Boys Home

Cobblestone Road, just off Beach Boulevard in La Habra, is a quiet neighborhood of tract homes, all above the $200,000 mark. Its residents are friendly, the kind who would welcome you as new neighbors with a batch of cookies.

Unless, that is, they feel threatened by you or think your coming in somehow will lower the value of their property. Then their tone can change dramatically.

And right now, a lot of residents from three blocks in any direction of Cobblestone are upset about some new neighbors: A nonprofit agency has just bought a house on Cobblestone to operate a group home for teenage boys.

Six boys who come from abusive family environments soon will live there with round-the-clock supervision. They will go to school like other teens in the neighborhood. But some residents are convinced they’ll be trouble.

It’s a line you’ve heard before: It’s good these boys have a place to live. Just don’t put them in our neighborhood.

Wednesday afternoon, the neighbors met with the operators of the group home, Family Solutions Inc., in an unlikely setting for such an angry confrontation: a conference room at the nearby Green Hills Baptist Church.

The meeting was organized by John Peel, executive director of Family Solutions Inc., which operates a dozen similar homes. Peel had hoped to dispel any fears the neighbors might have. Problem was, they were so angry at him, he didn’t get much chance to do any explaining.

After hearing from some of them first, Peel introduced himself: “Your first take on me is that I’m the bad guy who has come in to ruin your neighborhood.”

Their angry shouts showed he had read them correctly.

To be fair, some of the neighbors were there simply to seek information. One woman even thought the group home was a good idea; she’d had a sister who had benefited from a similar facility. But mostly the meeting became such a shouting match that one of the church pastors threatened to draw it to a close.

Unfortunately, a good many misunderstood the purpose of the meeting. They thought they were there to organize a protest to stop the group home. They were shocked to learn that the home has already been purchased and approved by the state Department of Social Services.

“Are you telling us this is a done deal?” one neighbor shouted. “Because if it is, we’re just wasting our time!”

Their anger grew as they realized they had no say in whether the boys home would be coming to their neighborhood.

“You owed me the courtesy of at least telling me you were coming!” shouted John Harris, who lives immediately next door to the new group home.

Sadly, when people are in an angry mood, a lot of misinformation gets thrown around. One neighbor boasted he had been investigating group homes for the benefit of all. He told of a baby living next to one group home who picked up a pair of drug needles--and another where a teenage girl was raped. It turns out he was talking about drug rehabilitation homes, which are about 180 degrees the other direction from what’s coming to Cobblestone.

Another neighbor had come up with a police chart showing that the group home moving to Cobblestone from another La Habra site had received numerous police calls--20 in 1996 and nine in 1997. But when La Habra Police Chief Steven Staveley was asked to explain those calls, it turned out only one was serious; one boy had stolen a Family Solutions van. None of the calls involved any of the neighbors--unless you count one neighbor complaining that four of the boys were loitering on the sidewalk. Hardly the kind of activity that’s going to sock your property values.

But property values were a major concern for many at Wednesday’s meeting. Harris estimated that his $250,000 home will go down $100,000 in value because of the group home.

I’m always disheartened to see legitimate questions reduced to that level. It reminds me of hearing my high school civics teacher defend his opposition to the 1964 Civil Rights Act by saying it could lower property values. Time has proved how ridiculous such arguments are. And no one at Wednesday’s meeting had any proof that property values had gone down in any other neighborhoods where there are group homes.

At other sites, Peel said, the boys have found it an enriching experience to interact with their neighbors. But that led to even more outbursts from residents.

“Would you want your daughter dating one of these boys?” one neighbor shouted to Peel.

“Why don’t you put one of these homes next to where you live?” another yelled.

Peel finally did get a chance to explain that these juveniles aren’t referred to Family Solutions from the criminal justice system because they’ve done something wrong. They’re referred by the county’s Children’s Services branch. These aren’t boys sent away from home because they’ve been into drugs or stealing. They’re sent to Family Solutions because they have been abused or neglected at their own homes.

Some of these youngsters haven’t had anything but a kick in the teeth their whole lives. They’ve had a bellyful of living with two strikes against them, and having hostile neighbors would be strike three.

After the meeting, I went to see Bill and Joy Myers. They are the couple who sold their home to Family Solutions.

“Some neighbors have been cold to us,” Bill Myers said. “I don’t like being treated like I’m a criminal. I really think these boys will be a good thing for this neighborhood.”

My guess is, the boys will do just fine.

It would be nice to see this hysteria replaced with some real neighborliness. Maybe show up with a used bicycle and a helmet, and say: “Welcome to the neighborhood, boys. We hope you like it here. Cobblestone is a nice place to live.”

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Jerry Hicks’ column appears Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Readers may reach Hicks by calling The Times Orange County Edition at (714) 966-7823, by fax at (714) 966-7711 or by e-mail at jerry.hicks@latimes.com.