$35-Million Neighborhood Renewal Is Behind Schedule

A program to spruce up 12 decaying Los Angeles neighborhoods has hit some snags and will probably take four years to complete instead of the three originally planned, officials said Thursday.

The Targeted Neighborhoods Initiative, proposed by Mayor Richard Riordan in 1997, has begun to bear fruit--fixing homes, streets and sidewalks in downtrodden areas of communities including Pacoima and Boyle Heights, but only after much struggle and delay.

The program has installed 65 street lights, made 62 curb cuts, planted 84 trees, paved 59,800 square feet of sidewalks and made 167 home rehabilitation loans, according to Riordan’s office.

Yet the initiative, which should have been in its last year, has spent less than a third of the $35 million it set aside for sprucing up the selected neighborhoods. That bothers some city leaders.

“I’m troubled by it,” said Councilwoman Laura Chick, whose Canoga Park district is home to one of the 12 projects.

“Instead of looking like a three-year program drawing to completion, it looks like it’s in its first year,” Chick said. “What I’m disappointed in is projects aren’t further along, because these are things the community needs.”

Officials blame the delays on staff problems, bureaucratic red tape and the time-consuming process of organizing each neighborhood to come up with plans.

Sam Luna, former director of the initiative, estimated that only about $10 million has been spent so far.

It will probably take another year--beyond the three first allotted--to complete all work, said Luna, who quit in December to take another city post but continues to serve as an advisor until a successor is chosen.

Riordan now expects completion by the time he leaves office in July 2001, according to his office. Spokeswoman Carolina Guevara said the mayor’s office is preparing a fourth-year budget, which will be sent to the City Council for approval this summer.

“It’s taken a little longer than we thought it would, but we’ve built a strong foundation,” said Guevara.

When Riordan proposed the Targeted Neighborhood Initiative in September 1997, the idea was to give residents in 11 neighborhoods $1 million a year each for priorities such as filling potholes, rehabilitating storefronts and landscaping. The 12th area, downtown Van Nuys, was added a year later.

Luna said much of the first year was spent recruiting leaders in each neighborhood and helping them organize and draft plans. The 12 neighborhood advisory groups have proposed 147 projects.

“This has been a learning experience,” Guevara said. “We are not here to tell them what to do. We wanted them to tell us.”

After each neighborhood developed an action plan, the city bureaucracy took over.

“The second year was doing paperwork to meet city requirements,” including design drafts, environmental studies and contract preparations, Luna said.

In Van Nuys, the only tangible results so far have been a few speed bumps and 50 curb cuts--access ramps that make it easier for people with strollers and in wheelchairs to cross the street.

Construction is scheduled to begin this summer on improvements. Sidewalks will be steam-cleaned and outfitted with benches and other furnishings. Colored pavement will dress up intersections, and storefronts will be made more attractive, said Claire Bartels, an aide to Councilwoman Cindy Miscikowski.

In Canoga Park, about $800,000 of $3 million has been spent, on projects including sidewalk improvements, landscaping and street lighting on Sherman Way and several intersecting streets.

Progress is slower in Pacoima, where activists are awaiting approval for their organizational and spending plans. Only about $200,000 has been spent to date, for sidewalk improvements on Laurel Canyon Boulevard.

In the Fickett Street area of Boyle Heights, the money has paid for new street lights, improvements in apartment buildings and extended and repaired sidewalks throughout the inner-city neighborhood.

Other targeted neighborhoods are in North Hollywood, Highland Park, Echo Park, Washington Boulevard, Central Avenue, Exposition Park West, South Crenshaw and Harbor Gateway.

The program and other city efforts, will be the focus of a citywide meeting Saturday at the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History.