Newhall Barrio Residents Say ‘Enough Already’ : Neighbors Organize to Fight Graffiti, Alleviate Health and Housing Problems

The graffiti problem, said Rogaciano Maldonado, isn’t much worse than it was two or three years ago, but it’s not getting any better either. And, as they have for years, junked cars and broken beer bottles litter alleys and streets near his home.

What has changed, Maldonado said, is the attitude of residents in a tiny, predominantly Latino part of Newhall known to the locals as Tijuanitas--Little Tijuana. The residents want their neighborhood cleaned up, Maldonado said, and have formed a new but determined group that hopes to draw attention to the neighborhood’s problems.

Maldonado, one of the organizers of the still unnamed group, summed up the organization’s feelings in two words-- ya basta --enough already.

With help from the nearby Santa Clarita Valley Service Center, the group has met with Los Angeles County officials to learn how to file complaints about health and fire hazards. On Wednesday night, the group will meet with sheriff’s deputies to discuss what residents charge is inadequate and unreliable police protection.

The group’s emergence has surprised staffers at the nearby service center, which is operated by the county Department of Community and Senior Citizens Services. About 12 people attended the group’s first two meetings. That number doubled at another meeting last week.

New Attitude

“We see a change of attitude, a commitment, a desire to do something,” said Geraldo J. Rodriguez, a social worker at the center.

“The people are doing it themselves,” said Alfredo Vasquez, another social worker. “They came to us and said, ‘We’re tired of this. What can we do?’ ”

To understand why the group’s creation has taken officials by surprise, a little history is needed.

Tijuanitas is a relatively new name for the triangular area bordered by San Fernando Road, Market Street and Race Street. The barrio lies east of San Fernando Road and a set of railroad tracks and is almost invisible to motorists driving past a string of shops along San Fernando Road.

For years, poor white families lived in the neighborhood, but Latino families moved in about 15 years ago, Vasquez said. Many of the newcomers labored in nearby onion fields. As developments ate up farmland, many people switched to construction jobs.

Today, the community is about 70% Latino, but there are still white and black families who have lived there for years, Vasquez said. The neighborhood is not well off, but it is not a slum. It is a mix, where roach-infested apartments sit opposite homes with well-tended lawns and flower beds.

Some residents are illegal aliens and fearful of reporting crime or health problems, Vasquez said. The problems, while not pardonable, are at least understandable when one considers the living conditions of some residents, Rodriguez said.

Run-Down Apartments

Most of the problems are associated with rowdy young men from Mexico and other Latin American countries living in crowded and run-down apartments, residents say. There are no Latino bars nearby so the men buy six-packs at a local liquor store and loiter outside their apartments drinking.

Residents complained that the men harass women and children. Vasquez said some of the men are either too lazy or too drunk to go inside to use a bathroom, and many residents complained about loiterers exposing themselves in public.

“If they have to urinate, they’ll do it right there in front of God and country,” resident Debbie Gutierrez said.

Residents say the graffiti is inspired not by gangs, but by loneliness and boredom. One apartment wall has a drawing of the eagle seen on the Mexican flag--complete with writhing snake and cactus--and the names of cities and states from throughout Mexico.

Vasquez said that many residents do not complain to authorities about the problems because they fear reprisals. Other residents said in interviews that complaining to landlords or county officials never did any good.

One man, who asked that his name not be used, showed off the bathroom sink in his dilapidated apartment. The sink has been stopped up for a year.

Like many barrio residents, he said, he was assured by his landlord that “someone would come” to fix the sink. No one ever did.

Maldonado, a brewery worker whose house sets opposite a run-down apartment, said that absentee landlords are to blame for the ramshackle condition of the apartments. Many apartment residents in the barrio said they pay rent by mail or at an office and that they do not have a resident manager to handle problems and emergencies.

Casa Bonita

A notable exception is Casa Bonita, a beautiful 39-unit apartment complex built a year ago. Free of graffiti, the complex looks as if it belongs in Valencia or Canyon Country, not Tijuanitas.

Still, keeping Casa Bonita clean is not easy, said manager Terry Williams. “I’m almost to the point of breaking out my shotgun,” he said.

Such drastic measures won’t be necessary if Roy Pitts and other group members have their way.

Pitts, owner of Casa Bonita, said: “The objective of the group is to meet with and get the support of each of the various agencies that we must depend on, such as the Health Department, Fire Department, sheriff and animal control.”

Maldonado said residents also realize that they need to unite if they expect results. “A single voice does not count,” he said.

It’s a simple political lesson. But in a community that has been silenced for years by fear and a feeling of powerlessness, it’s a big lesson to learn, Rodriguez said.