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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMINUTES - 05131986 - X.15 x. 15 *O: BOARD OF SUPERVISORS FROM; Contra iSupervisor Tom Torlakson COSta Count DATE: May 13 , 1986 Y SUBJECT: EL PUEBLO HOUSING PROJECT SPECIFIC REQUEST(S) OR RECOMMENDATION(S) & BACKGROUND AND JUSTIFICATION RECOMMENDED ACTION: Refer these issues and problems to Perfecto Villarreal and the Housing Authority staff, to; (1) immediately investigate the present conditions at the E1 Pueblo Housing Project and suggest ways to deal with these problems; ( 2) set up meetings with the Mayor of Pittsburg, City Manager and Police Chief with myself as the District Supervisor and any other Board member and Perfecto Villarreal and Housing Authority staff to review the situation and develop an aggressive plan of action to deal with these problems; ( 3 ) convene at the earliest possible date a joint session of the Housing Advisory Commission and the Board of Supervisors (June 3 is a possibility for this as the Board is not meeting on May 27 ) ; ( 4) plan to have a meeting of the Advisory Commission and a tour of the project sometime in the month of June. It is advisable that the Advisory Commissioners tour the project as soon as they can in the near future to see conditions as they are now and further tours should be taken in June. A meeting of residents should then be scheduled in the evening for the greatest possible turnout to involve the participation of the tenants in examining and addressing the problems; ( 5) aggressively pursue with HUD the rehabilitation money necessary to upgrade the physical structure of the units and the entire project; ( 6) report back on what money is available to continue the fencing program that many residents want to protect their vegetable gardens and side yards. BACKGROUND INFORMATION: Last Wednesday, May 7 , 1986 , I toured the E1 Pueblo Housing Project by foot. I was shocked and embarassed at the condition of the project. Litter and trash abounded everywhere--the streets, the gutters, the front lawns, the porches and even the entrance to the project' s office building itself. . Children were seen playing with debris amidst garbage rather than engaged in wholesome organized activities. I took a role of film which depicts some of the nature of the problem but by far not the worse of it. This excessive amount of trash, by the way, is present even though only several days prior a major clean-up project had been conducted. CONTINUED ON ATTACHMENT: -YES SIGNATURE: RECOMMENDATION OF COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR RECOMMENDATION OF BOARD COMMITTEE APPROVE OTHER SIGNATURE(S) ACTION OF BOARD ON — May 13, 1986 APPROVED AS RECOMMENDED X OTHER X With reference to Recommendation No . 3, the Board REQUESTED the Executive Director of the Housing Authority and County Administrator to pursue the feasibility of a joint meeting with the Board of Commissioners of the Housing Authority and the Advisory Housing Commission to discuss a program vto of l with the problems at El Pueblo . ORS X UNANIMOUS (ABSENT III ) I HEREBY CERTIFY THAT THIS IS A TRUE AYES: NOES: AND CORRECT COPY OF AN ACTION TAKEN ABSENT: ABSTAIN: AND ENTERED ON THE MINUTES OF THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS ON THE DATE SHOWN. CC: Housing Authority ATTESTED May 13, 1986 County Administrator rhii B&helur. Cr _ B*a sYpE vam Id CNy AdflttflmUdK M382/7•83 BY DEPUTY .DEPbDRABLE CONDITIONS AT EL PUEBLO HOUSING PROJECT .?.May-13, 1986 Page TWO Certain units were vacant and left in a deplorable condition. One such unit, #298, was open for myself and members of the Diablo MAPA group and the NAACP to walk through it. The place had been thoroughly thrashed. The back patio and front yard also had an abundance of trash. In inquiring with the neighbor, I understand that that unit had been vacant for two months. Children and other outsiders could move through the unit at will--posing a liability risk, in my opinion, to the Housing Authority. We saw other negative conditions including a hole in one front yard that hadn' t been filled for weeks since first reported. A woman reported that the bushes had not been trimmed despite several requests by the resident to have the bushes trimmed as it was totally blocking her window. Another woman complained about cockroaches. The entire environment was extremely discouraging. I was frustrated at the very negative environment that existed. We must do everything possible immediately to turn these conditions around. The piles of litter, the beer bottles and wine bottles, the presence of broken glass nearly everywhere sets a climate of lawlessness starting from the smallest details and leading up to the brazen dealing of drugs and the constant shootings that occur in this project. The conditions in this project are intolerable in my opinion and everything must be done in our power to rectify them as soon as possible. As I indicated in my previous report asking for a security guard for protection and security guard help in cleaning up the negative elements in the project, we must work closely with the City of Pittsburg. We need more help from the City of Pittsburg and its police department in addressing the extremely serious problems of this project. Additionally, we need to look at our own budget at what can be done to address eyesores and safety hazards that I observed, to address the fencing problem that I observed and to cut down the vacancy rate from the average of ten which has existed over the last six months. We should not tolerate units being left vacant for so long. It poses, in my opinion, a liability problem--plus we lose rent. As the units sit idle they become targets for vandalism. All of these can be very costly to the Housing Authority agency. I suggest we look at having a contract agency on board if we do not have staff in-house or developing a special in-house agency "rehab team" that can be moved around to deal with vacancies. They can be immediately sent into the project to get vacancy units rehabed for immediate occupancy. We have a long list of families seeking housing and should not have this high vacancy rate. About a year ago, I initiated the concept of an inspection program. I believe we must instill "pride in the project" with our residents. This is no small task. In addition to the inspection program which I believe should be beefed up and stepped up, I think we should develop a pledge form which all residents (all newcomers in particular, and even retroactively to all current residents) should be asked to sign as a pledge of good citizenship. This pledge form would be in addition to the lease agreement and the rules laid out in the lease agreement. They would agree to other simple things as part of their residency and as part of their accepting assistance from the Housing Authority in their time of need. The pledge could include a commitment to not only keep the premises of their own unit clean but also to pick up litter in their sidewalk, gutter area adjacent to their home; a commitment not to litter and to ask their children not to litter. Furthermore, they should pledge not to be involved in drugs or to have their children involved in drugs. These and a number of other things could be developed as part of the pledge form. More education and prevention workshops need to be held in the clinic on a range of family and social issues which would help the residents, including child care, nutrition, housekeeping, family life, drug and alocohol prevention workshops. The security system if implemented soon will help eliminate the outsiders who are a major cause of the problems in the project but much needs to be done internally as well. I took some photographs but ran out of film before raeching the worst problem areas. The MAPA representatives took a more extensive set of photographs that will be .presented to the board at a later date when MAPA will present a report of their own.