Trailer Park Is Heaped With Violations

Los Angeles police, other city and state officials, and most residents of Valley Village Mobile Home Park in North Hollywood say the same thing: The place is a mess.

Rusted jalopies are scattered about. Tattooed hookers and in-your-face drug dealers regularly are seen there. Occasional sewer backups and mounting litter make for a fetid atmosphere on hot summer days.

“This spot is a straight-out nightmare,” resident Angel George, 38, said on a recent 100-degree day. “It’s one step up from being homeless.”

State and city officials say the 197-space park ranks among the worst mobile home parks in the city because of its high number of health and safety code violations.

In May, in response to a rash of complaints from residents, inspectors with the state’s Housing and Community Development Department found more than 465 violations. More than 300 residents of the mobile home park in the 8200 block of Lankershim Boulevard were cited for leaks, hazardous wiring and excessive rubbish.

While the park owners, Valley Village Ltd., are obligated to maintain the common areas, residents are responsible for their individually rented spaces.

“It’s safe to say it has one of the highest [number of violations] in the Los Angeles area,” said Dan Rivers, field manager of the department that regulates 3,800 mobile home parks throughout the state.

In June, inspectors found little improvement at the park. “The results of the latest inspection showed not too much had been done,” said administrator Adrian Perez.

If another inspection within a month shows too few improvements, the park owners and residents could face civil charges and fines, Perez said.

On-site manager Steve Drewry, who has been on the job for three months, knows the park has problems.

“This place has been run down for a long time, but I think it’s getting better,” he said in a telephone interview.

When asked what, in particular, had improved, Drewry hung up.

Numerous residents, most lower-income and many retired, are unhappy with their surroundings and say management should do more to improve the situation.

“I came here to relax and enjoy life, but since I’ve been here, I’ve had nothing but problems with management,” said retired long-haul trucker Dick Babb, whose trailer is a sort of unofficial headquarters for park complaints.

More than anything, residents are upset by the lack of security and the profusion of narcotics dealing, they said.

“There’s too many drug addicts around here,” said a 10-year-old resident.

Retired photographer George Axt, 81, said, “The worst thing about the park is there is absolutely no security. The kids run wild through the streets. There’s a steady stream of traffic night and day.”

Los Angeles Police Department Capt. Bruce Crosley, who commands the North Hollywood Division, said the park is “a big place with lots of vice,” ranging from prostitution to drug-dealing.

In the LAPD district that includes the park, one rape, eight robberies, 17 assaults and 19 burglaries were reported between Jan. 1 and Aug. 7, and 25 people were arrested for drug-or alcohol-related offenses. Last year, one rape, 10 robberies, 12 assaults and 29 burglaries were reported in the district.

Residents and authorities say the number of arrests for drugs and prostitution is low because police, like everyone else, have to enter through a security fence.

“The gate keeps some people out, but for a black-and-white [patrol car], it kind of announces to everyone that we are coming in,” said Senior Lead Officer Pablo Monterossa.

When crimes occur inside trailers, it’s difficult for officers to enforce the law, unless they have a search warrant. “Once they are inside their trailer, there’s not much we can do,” Monterossa said.

It is not unusual, he said, for a prostitute to pick up a customer on San Fernando Road and bring him back to her trailer.

“But as much as we can, we are trying to tell people, once they bring the crimes outside their trailer, we are going to be there and take action,” he said.

Undercover narcotics officers are in the park nearly every day, but dealers and users know the residents and are leery of new people, Monterossa said.

In January, 56 residents filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court against the park owners, claiming breach of contract, nuisances and negligence. The suit claims that owners forced residents to live in filth and degradation by ignoring the conditions there.

“It’s unbelievable, the type of stuff that goes on over there,” said attorney George Kaelin III, who represents the residents.

In a response filed in court, David Bregman, attorney for the owners, said his clients deny the allegations.

Bregman blamed the residents for many of the park’s woes. “The residents are responsible for their trailers, and that’s where the problems are,” he said.

A trial date may be set at a court hearing on Sept. 10, lawyers said.

Although the majority of violations are written to residents, some blame the shabby trailer conditions on lax screening by management.

“There’s residents here that shouldn’t be here, and they are a big part of the problem,” Axt said. “The owners should be more careful about who they let in.”

Don Castleman, the managing partner of the group that owns the park, did not return calls seeking comment.

Inspectors have granted extensions to residents, many of whom don’t have the resources to fix the problems. But the extensions are drying up and civil court action will be taken, if necessary, inspectors said.

The mobile home park, built in 1952, has long had a reputation as a troubled spot. State Sen. Richard Alarcon (D-Sylmar) said he remembers the trailer park as a place to avoid when he was growing up in Sun Valley.

“When we were young, there were certain places we knew we shouldn’t go and [that] was one of them,” he said. “It’s the most problematic trailer park in my district. It has a history of crime and drug-related problems.”

Alarcon’s deputy, Manny Figueras, has worked with residents to help resolve many of the issues there.

He introduced one resident to a representative of the city attorney’s office to help deal with his concerns.

Despite the problems, many residents who own their trailers say they can’t afford the $4,000 it costs to move them. Others say they can’t afford to pay any more rent, which is about $300 to $650 a month.

“I’m stuck here and trying to get the heck out of here,” Babb said.

Deputy City Atty. Martha Gutierrez said finding a solution to the mobile home park’s problems has proved difficult.

“If these people had anywhere else to go they would, but these people are on the fringe,” she said. “I really feel for them. I am at a loss how to help them.”