Police call move way to clean up area, cut crime

Property owners welcome a Police Department plan to ban street parking in the LeatriceWakefield area, but residents there say the proposal would leave them no p ace to park. The preliminary proposal by the Anaheim Police Department's community policing team would ban all street parking on Wakefield Avenue, Leatrice Lane, Pearson Avenue, Sprague Lane and Mountain view Avenue. Police say the ban will reduce drug dealing conducted behind the line of cars that shield dealers from passersby, force residents to clean out apartment garages that have become dumping grounds for dilapidated cars, mattresses and trash and trelieve overcrowding in these densly populated apartments. With only one garage per apartment, the number of tenants living in each apartment will be reduced, police say. The champions of the program, Officers Harald Martin and Ed Cook, met with property owners and residents on separate occasions. At a Jan. 17 meeting with apartment owners, 29 owners said they support the ban while six opposed. At a meeting with tenants two days later, 19 said they opposed the ban, while eight supported it. "Where are we going to park our cars?" said resident Maggie Aquilar. "We only get one garage per apartment. They'll give us tickets but we'll protest them," she said. But Martin said the ban is needed because the line of cars hides illegal activity. "Cars cut down on visibility," Martin said. "They can see us but we can't see them. When there are no cars on the streets we have un impeded visibility," he said. Police say overcrowding also contributes to the problem. It's not unusual, they say, to find 10 family members sharing a four bedroom apartment. Aguilar's family is typical. Aguilar shares her apartment with her husband, son, father-in law and sister. The six-member family owns five cars with just one, one-car garage. The rest of the cars are parked on the street, she said. The parking ban would force Aguilar's family to either sell four cars or rent other apartments to acquire more parking spaces. Although 380 parking spaces will be eliminated, police say more than 240 will be created by hauling out junk in garages and paving over grass lots to create additional outdoor parking lots. Police say the ban is needed because they respond to an average 1,079 calls a year in the area com posed of about 100 apartment buildings. That makes it the costliest neigh From October 1993 to October 1994, the department spent $494,163 more than 1 percent of its budget on the area. Police say the mhe crimes involve gang-related activity such as drug-dealing, car theft and graffiti vandalism. While police are confident it will reduce crime, street vendors say the parking ban will also hurt their business. Vendors say the ban would pre vent them from selling goods in the neighborhood a service some residents rel"I don't think it's that helpful," said vendor Jerry Reyes. "Sales go down, clientile gets upset." Reyes is one of six vendors who sell items you'll find in any convenience store such as fruits, vegetables and dried goods. Some property owners have been trying, unsuccessfully, to get the city to ban street vendors throughout the city, saying the vendors and their patrons leave trash in their wake, hide drug deals and harm business at local markets and convenience stores. City offi"responded by limiting the length of time vendors can park in any one area a restriction that vendor opponents say is easily circumvented. Despite the opposition, police say the ban is the best solution. 'This is an approach that manipulates the enviro" Cook said. "We can't just address these problems by throwing money at them" Police say if the parking ban is approved by the Planning Commission and the City Council, it will reduce crime by 30 percent to 50 percent.