2 Steps Against Poverty

Pacoima and its neighboring communities have long been known as the poorest in the San Fernando Valley. But as stories in last week’s Times made clear, the northeast Valley is also one of the poorest areas in all Los Angeles.

More than 30% of northeast Valley residents live in poverty, compared with 22.1% countywide. The stories in last Sunday, Monday and Tuesday’s Times put names and faces behind the numbers, telling of families who live in cramped garages and camping trailers, who work two or three jobs but still have to choose between seeing a doctor or buying food.

In other words, anyone whose image of the suburbs is limited to rolling lawns and swimming pools isn’t familiar with the changes taking place in older suburbs like the Valley. Yes, a Valley of gated homes and luxury cars exists. But so does a Valley that has more in common with a developing nation than the richest country in the world, including an outbreak of shigella, an intestinal disease linked to poor sanitation and commonly seen only in the Third World.

Getting beyond the stereotypes is hard enough; just ask Los Angeles City Councilman Alex Padilla, who was raised and still lives in Pacoima. Shortly after he was elected last year, the young councilman complained bitterly when fellow council members excluded his northeast Valley district from a federal job-training proposal for Watts and East Los Angeles.

But reaching a consensus on how to help Pacoima and other pockets of poverty in the northeast Valley is harder still. In the best of worlds, a redevelopment plan proposed by the Los Angeles Community Redevelopment Agency would have provided hundreds of low-income housing units and attracted jobs to the impoverished region. But the CRA is beset with problems--and enemies. Opposition to the agency and its proposal proved so vituperative that Padilla, who had originally supported the plan, recommended putting it on hold for at least two years.

With redevelopment postponed, what now? Here are two steps that should elicit no divisiveness--and no excuses. Both involve enforcing regulations already in place.

* Inspect apartment buildings and enforce safety codes. Northeast Valley apartments have the highest rate of building and safety code violations in the city--when they’re inspected, that is. When the city began systematic inspections two years ago, every apartment building was supposed to be inspected once every three years. Now the city says it will take six years to complete the inspections. That is unacceptable when violations such as exposed wiring or immovable security bars on windows are matters of life and death.

* Launch an educational campaign--combined with a simplified application process--to enroll those who qualify for Medi-Cal benefits. Forty-four percent of residents in Pacoima, Sun Valley and Panorama City lack health insurance, compared with 31% countywide. Some qualify for Medi-Cal but don’t know it, don’t understand how to get it or are afraid to apply because of their immigration status.

Targeting substandard housing and enrolling those who qualify into already existing health-care programs are, admittedly, only the first and most basic of steps. But for this reason, City Hall will look even worse if it does not take them.

What may seem like small steps to wealthier districts are critical ones for the northeast Valley. Padilla himself knows it will take time--as long as a generation--to pull his district up to the standards many of us take for granted. He has proven adept at finding dollars for long-neglected street paving and sidewalk repair. A year after the City Council panel refused to include Pacoima in the job-training proposal, Padilla landed his own $9-million federal grant for a Valley Youth Initiative.

He wants to use $1 million in surplus federal grant money to spur economic development, including luring Pacoima’s first sit-down restaurant, and to pay for street lights. (The district has one-third fewer street lights than the other council districts.) The funding would also provide grants to the Pacoima, Sun Valley and Sylmar chambers of commerce to develop a regional economic development strategy.

This, of course, is small potatoes compared to the $490-million CRA proposal. But if anyone has a better idea, we’d like to hear it. A local effort, anchored by the three chambers of commerce, could rally the community behind a redevelopment plan. It could also provide a needed big-picture look at other incentives already underway in the area, such as a recently enacted federal empowerment zone. Judging from other cities’ experiences, the key to success for an empowerment zone--or just about any other effort--is to get all the players, from political leaders to businesses to nonprofits, working together.

The northeast Valley has considerable community involvement. Pacoima, for example, although poor, has a surprisingly high percentage of homeowners. And although the majority of its adults lack a high school education, they are active and involved in their children’s schools. This is the northeast Valley’s strength. It is waiting to be tapped.