Area tackles blight, crime
Rehabilitation project comes with a $38 million price tag
09:05 AM PDT on Saturday, August 19, 2006
RIALTO - When Jeneva Robinson moved into her apartment in Rialto's Willow-Winchester area three years ago, she started carrying a gun in her bathrobe.
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"There were too many people drawing their guns on me," she said.
At the time, two to three homicides happened yearly in the 160-unit complex, said John Dutrey, Rialto's housing specialist. That's when the council asked staff to put together a project that would improve the area, he said.
After searching for Rialto's most troubled neighborhood, city officials and the nonprofit Southern California Housing Development Corp. began buying condominiums with the goal of rehabilitating the area.
Three years later, the $38 million construction and rehabilitation of low-income housing will start in September.
Getting to that point was the most difficult effort for the nonprofit because there were more than 100 owners who had to be dealt with, said John Seymour, director of acquisitions for the Southern California Housing Development Corp. The project, which will be done in two phases, will be gated, have an onsite manager and a community center. The goal for the Willow-Winchester area is similar to the city's goal for East Jackson Street, which was the site of high-profile March raids that uncovered crime and substandard housing conditions.
"As far as crime, the Willow-Winchester area was No. 1 and East Jackson Street is No. 2," Dutrey said.
Residents of Willow-Winchester's 160 units who were involved in gangs, drugs and vandalism, and refused to pay rent were evicted, Seymour said.
Residents who paid the rent and obeyed the law were moved to the site of the second phase of the project, Dutrey said.
Once the first phase is completed they will be relocated to the rehabilitated area and the second phase will begin, he said.
The first phase completion date is unclear, but the goal is to have the project done by January 2008, Dutrey said.
Rialto's building division is ready to issue work permits for the first half, said Chaz Ferguson, the city's chief building official.
Fifty units will be converted from two-bedroom to three-bedroom units with two baths, to accommodate families, Ferguson said.
Two buildings will be demolished to make room for a community center, an onsite management office, laundry room and a workshop for maintenance staff, he said.
The community center will offer after-school activities to neighborhood children, such as arts and crafts and computer classes through the nonprofit, Dutrey said. English as a second language classes will be offered at no cost to adults, he said.
The addition of a community center is exciting, Robinson said.
"I think that's exactly what is necessary for this place," she said.
Robinson said she has volunteered to teach etiquette classes and run a before-school program at the community center to help children get ready for classes.
"When I was a kid, I couldn't even find a rubber band to put my hair up into a ponytail and I had to go to school with no socks," Robinson said.
"I don't want that to happen to any of these kids ... I will be here to help them get their hair done and get them ready."
Robinson said she also volunteered to teach geriatric aerobics.
The Willow-Winchester area will have grassy areas where children can play, Seymour said.
"When you go into a community where there are after-school programs, management and police involvement with owners, people start to take ownership and feel prideful of where they live," Seymour said.
Reach Massiel Ladrón De Guevara at 909-806-3054 or mdeguevara@PE.com
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