Where’s the Crusader?

Norma Villalobos Miranda was the kind of tenant slumlords love. The 38-year-old El Salvador native, also known as Norma Galindo, lived in a tiny room in a weathered Hollywood hotel. A housecleaner until her children were born, she couldn’t afford to complain about conditions. And as with others who live in deep poverty, Miranda went about her hard life largely unnoticed. Or she did until last week, when she dropped her children into the arms of a firefighter, then fell to her death from the fourth floor of the burning Palomar Hotel.

One other person, Juan Pedro Salazar, died, and six were injured, four firefighters among them. The fire is still under investigation. The toll could have been even worse, but because of repeated prodding by the city’s Slum Housing Task Force, owner Juan Jose Ortiz of North Hills had installed some fire safety equipment, including sprinklers and fire doors. Without them, city officials say, as many as 20 of the 50 people in the building that morning might have been killed.

The task force is overseen by the city attorney’s office. Newly elected City Atty. Rocky Delgadillo’s office used the hotel fire as proof that the system works. It was an oddly self-satisfied response to a situation that called instead for a crusader.

Yes, the task force was able to pressure the Palomar’s owners into fixing some violations. But tens of thousands of substandard apartments are still out there, along with recalcitrant landlords who resist inspection and stall improvements. Delgadillo seems compelled to placate the public about a problem that should inspire outrage.

The program is only as good as the number of inspectors it employs, and right now that number is inadequate. The city is unable to meet its goal of inspecting each of the 750,000 apartment units in Los Angeles once very three years. The hiring of new inspectors was hampered until earlier this year by landlords objecting to the $1-a-unit fee that pays for the program. The state Supreme Court in January upheld apartment inspection fees. There is no reason now not to fully staff the program. Delgadillo missed a chance to be its champion, to protect the other voiceless, invisible Norma Mirandas across Los Angeles.