Group seeks to enforce law
WEST LOS ANGELES — On the surface, it was a bus tour through pockets of poverty to reassure wealthy donors that their money is being spent wisely in helping others obtain a better quality of life. But beyond the superficial lay a deeper message — one of hope despite the odds — as three determined women shared their stories of struggling to survive on the Westside as housing costs continue to soar.
There was Carla Andrus: a middle-aged, single woman who for the last 22 years has been able to make a life for herself on her modest, 22-foot sail boat tied to a slip in Marina del Rey, a harbor now home to opulent yachts and high-rise condominiums that tower over the tranquil waters.
Then there was Erica Pesqueira: a 25-year-old single mother of three, who left a life of drug addiction and gang affiliation to become a community leader at the Mar Vista Gardens, a public housing complex.
The rent is cheap — a little over $400 a month for a three-bedroom apartment. But Pesqueira wants more for her children. She wants to move them out of the projects and away from temptation and danger, but she is frustrated by the few options available that she can afford.
And last but not least, there was school teacher Laddie Williams: a resident of Venice for her entire life who is concerned about her neighborhood of Oakwood. The area is becoming gen-trified as wealthier couples move in and minority families are forced out due to skyrocketing housing costs. The result is the loss of a neighborhood and its culture, Williams said.
All three women share a common thread. Each is a member of a Santa Monica-based community group called People Organized for Westside Renewal, or POWER, which is working with low-to moderate-income residents of west Los Angeles County in the fight to build more affordable housing.
“There is this resistance and ignorance of the need for more affordable housing in West Los Angeles,” said Chris Gabriele, executive director of POWER, which has an annual budget of roughly $200,000. “While the area is home to great wealth, there are still those places where poverty does exist and there is a need. We are here to help those people organize, so that through their threat of will and knowledge of the issues, they can enact change.”
Over the weekend, members of POWER joined with Santa Monica’s Liberty Hill Foundation to take donors on a bus tour to meet members of POWER so they could see how their money is being put to good use.
Liberty Hill, which was the first organization to fund POWER when it was founded in 1999, hosts several tours a year, each looking at a different issue influencing society.
The first stop on last Saturday’s tour was in Marina del Rey, where Andrus gave donors a tour of her boat, which has just enough room for her to crawl into her sleeping bag and watch television, or cook dinner on her mini hot plate.
“I know it’s not much, but every time I look out over the water, I know how wealthy I really am,” Andrus said.
Her boat provides a stark contrast to the lavish batches parked a few slips over. Andrus said she joined POWER because more and more of her old neighbors are being replaced by wealthy yacht owners, and the county isn’t helping.
“Every year they raise the rents, particularly in the last few months as they try to upgrade and repair the docks to accommodate bigger and more expensive boats. The fees have gone up so much that people can’t afford to stay here,” she said. “Many end up homeless because they have nowhere else to go.”
When Andrus noticed a new apartment building being constructed near her boat, she went to ask about apartments for rent for low-income tenants, knowing that developers, under the Mellow Act, must set aside 10 percent of their units for low-income renters if the building is constructed within one-mile of the coastal zone.
POWER checked into the building and learned that the developer was trying to slither out from under the requirements of the law, something that occurs often, Gabriele said. POWER members threatened to take action, and after meeting with several members of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, were able to force the developer to offer the units.
Gabriele said that since May of last year, POWER has been able to win more than $30 million in new affordable housing construction in the coastal areas of Venice and Marina del Rey.
In addition, at Mar Vista Gardens, members of POWER were able to install a stop sign at a dangerous intersection where kids were forced to run across the street for fear of being run over.
It was campaigns like that which led Pesqueira away from a life of gangs and drugs. She is now a community organizer with dreams of taking her children out of the projects and into a home of their own.
“POWER really helped me take responsibility for my life and the lives of my kids,” she said as she led the tour group around the collection of broken-down apartment houses, some with their windows boarded up.
“I have been living here since I was 7, and after a while you get really tired of living here,” Pesqueira said. “There’s no opportunities, kids just getting into trouble. That’s how I got into gangs and had my first kid when I was 15. I don’t want the same thing for my kids, but it’s hard to get out.”
In Oakwood, a working-class enclave area of Venice, people are finding it harder to stay than to leave as homes are being sold for record prices. Apartments that once went for $400 or $500 a month are now renting for as much as $1,100.
“It’s changing the dynamic of the neighborhood,” Williams, a life-long resident of Oakwood, told Liberty Hill board members. “When I was growing up there were kids playing along the block, we had working families, artists, musicians. It was truly a community. And now we have that — high retaining walls to keep everyone out. Now there’s talk of tearing down more affordable housing (Lincoln Place Apartments) and replacing it with a Wal-Mart.”
Williams said with the help of POWER she and other residents have forced developers to abide by the law and include affordable units that have the same amenities as regularly priced apartments and condominiums. Williams said POWER is working on a deal to allow these renters to purchase their units at low cost and with low-interest loans.
“With POWER, we have been given the opportunity to meet decision makers face to face and fight for what we believe is right,” Williams said. “POWER gives us hope and has made me a stronger leader. So the next time a developer comes in here, they better be ready.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on April 10, 2006. Read the original PDF.