A Gift of Hope

Christmas came five days early for Pacoima, and we’re not just talking about the 40 tons of snow that transformed Hubert H. Humphrey Park into a winter wonderland. While Santa handed out toys to children taking part in that Southland phenomenon known as Snow Day, a snowy-haired Mayor Richard Riordan delivered the gift of hope.

Riordan announced Wednesday that a stretch of Osborne Street between the Golden State Freeway and Foothill Boulevard has been added to the city’s Targeted Neighborhood Initiative program. Along with neighborhoods in Van Nuys and Valley Glen, the Osborne Street area will receive $3 million in grants to be spent on improvement projects proposed by residents.

The Targeted Neighborhood Initiative program aims to spruce up low-income communities through homeownership assistance, street improvements, commercial rehabilitation and new public facilities. But it promises even more than a fresh coat of paint. It is an expression of the “broken windows” philosophy that Riordan has long embraced.

Named for a well-known 1982 Atlantic Monthly essay by political scientists James Q. Wilson and George L. Kelling, the theory holds that neighborhood deterioration as seen in broken windows and potholes encourages more serious crime by sending criminals the message that the community does not care. By repairing windows and filling potholes, the community can help prevent crime by sending the opposite message.

Riordan’s initiative and the theory behind it have their skeptics. Projects in some of the 12 neighborhoods targeted when the program was launched in 1997 were slow to get going, prompting the mayor to extend the timeline from three years to four. And some critics point to Fickett Street in Boyle Heights, where freshly painted apartments and new street lights have failed to ease neighborhood fears about crime and gangs.

No neighborhood can be turned around overnight, of course. But some say the broken window theory, if it works at all, applies only to neighborhoods on the brink, not those that deteriorated years ago.

Still, there are signs of success. A Van Nuys neighborhood targeted three years ago, for example, developed a homeless response team that’s become a model for other communities. The program fills a gap in services by providing a “sobering station” so intoxicated people can meet the 48-hour clean-and-sober requirement of many drug and detox programs. And it not only reaches out to homeless people but uses formerly homeless people to do so.

The team depends on the cooperation of residents, business owners, police and social service providers, which is also key to Riordan’s philosophy. The Targeted Neighborhood Initiative steers grants and resources to help residents of troubled neighborhoods help themselves.

Pacoima already has a tradition of helping itself. A neighborhood targeted three years ago has used its grant money to spruce up Van Nuys Boulevard, paving streets and sidewalks, installing new bus shelters and planting trees.

The northeast San Fernando Valley may contain some of the poorest sections of Los Angeles, but it has strengths as well as needs. Parents, many lacking a high school education themselves, are active and involved in their children’s schools. The area has a high percentage of homeowners. And it has a strong sense of pride and community.

That sense of community could be seen last week on Snow Day, the same day Pacoima unwrapped a promise that--with work--will bear fruit long after the snow has melted.

Osborne Street between the Golden State Freeway and Foothill Boulevard will receive $3 million for improvement projects as part of the Targeted Neighborhood Initiative.