Bernardi Cleanup Plan Puts Burden on Property Owners

Los Angeles City Councilman Ernani Bernardi has launched a drive to clean up the biggest trouble spot in his district--Blythe Street in Van Nuys.

The 14600 and 14700 blocks of Blythe, lined with about 50 apartment buildings, have been plagued for more than seven years by high crime rates, especially drug dealing, deteriorating apartment buildings and unsightly street conditions.

Bernardi said he wants to “make the owners of the apartment buildings meet their responsibility to the community” and would bring down “the full authority of the city” on errant landlords.

His plan also calls for a cleanup day on Dec. 9, when residents and property owners will be urged to take out large trash items, such as old appliances, so that the city can have them hauled away. The sidewalks of Blythe Street are usually lined with discarded, potentially hazardous items, such as refrigerators and stoves.

Property Patrols Sought

Bernardi said he will ask the Police Department to seek letters of authorization from Blythe Street landlords to go onto their property to patrol for and arrest people suspected of dealing drugs.

He said he will ask city building and safety inspectors to canvass the area and begin making deteriorating buildings comply with city codes.

“We will stay on top of this and insist that the deterioration stop,” Bernardi said. “We don’t want to go to court but will if that’s what it takes.”

However, when Bernardi called a meeting of landlords two weeks ago to announce his drive, only a handful of property owners showed up, he said.

“I was disappointed,” he said. “This was called for owners, and only three or four showed up.” He said property owners who did not attend “are going to have to toe their own line when we use our legal forces.”

Critical of Bernson Plan

Over the summer, Bernardi criticized Councilman Hal Bernson’s effort to have a rent-control exemption approved by the City Council as part of a plan to improve a blighted Northridge neighborhood.

In August, when the council gave preliminary approval to Bernson’s measure, Bernardi called the plan tantamount to “advocating our own apartheid policy.” The exemption would have made it easier for landlords to evict tenants in the Bryant Street-Vanalden Avenue neighborhood. Bryant-Vanalden, like Blythe Street, is densely populated by predominantly low-income Latinos.

Amid rising protests, however, Bernson withdrew his proposal before it came up for final action. Bernson has since requested and received a special 12-officer task force to patrol the Bryant-Vanalden area.

Bernardi maintained throughout the Bryant-Vanalden controversy that an area could be cleaned up through existing laws. His plan for Blythe Street would require no special legislation.

Bernson had said that he tried to get the Bryant-Vanalden area cleaned up using an approach similar to Bernardi’s, but with little success.

Two weeks ago, the City Council approved two measures aimed at cleaning up Blythe Street:

Parking will be prohibited on both sides of the street beginning next Sunday. This, Bernardi said, was ordered to prevent catering trucks and grocery vendors from parking and to make rampant drive-by drug sales more obvious to police.

An assessment district will be established on Blythe Street to install high-intensity lighting. It is not known how much that will cost each property owner.

Several landlords are skeptical that the cleanup plan will have any long-term effect.

“It’s too late for Blythe Street,” said Ralph Seybold of North Hollywood, who owns a four-unit complex there. “I’m willing to try anything, but I think this cleanup is just a shot in the dark. Only a small percentage of landlords really care what goes on.”

Evictions Proposed

One landlord, who owns 50 units on Blythe and did not want his name used, said he felt that Bernardi’s efforts do not go far enough. He proposed to the councilman that the city allow a six-month exemption to the rent-control law so that landlords could evict “bad tenants” and make redevelopment funds available to improve the buildings.

“That’s out of the question,” Bernardi said. “It is the landlords that are profiting, and they are the ones who are going to pour the money into the facilities.

“What I envision is to clean up the place. I want to change the character of Blythe Street but not get rid of the people. . . . I don’t have any idea how long it will take, but we are willing to devote ourselves to it.”