Criminal eviction law gets city OK

Lolita Harper

COSTA MESA -- Councilman Chris Steel succeeded Monday in gathering

overwhelming support from his colleagues for a law that requires

landlords to evict tenants who have been convicted of any gang- or

drug-related crime on their property.

The “gang ordinance,” as Steel calls it, has been one of the

councilman’s goals for more than a year. Steel asked his colleagues to

pass the ordinance to help the Police Department and the electorate to

fight crime.

“I believe it may work,” Steel said. “It may not work, but why not

give it a try?”

The council gave tentative approval to the ordinance by a 4-1 vote.

Councilwoman Libby Cowan dissented.

The official vote on the new law is expected to take place March 18.

If adopted, it is expected to go into effect 30 days after that vote.

Steel promoted a similar law in May but failed to gain majority

approval because it required eviction for arrests, but not necessarily

convictions. The earlier proposal -- modeled after an ordinance in Buena

Park -- also included gang-related crimes, which sparked concern among

some council members.

In a report, Costa Mesa Police Lt. Tom Curtis stated the new law was

designed to prevent and combat crime and “hold landlords more accountable

for the actions of their tenants.” Curtis revised the previous ordinance

to require a conviction and dropped any reference to gang-related crimes.

A handful of residents complained about alleged gang activity in their

neighborhoods and encouraged the council to include convicted gang

members.

“You are ignoring the fact that there are gangs here,” resident Janice

Davidson said.

Curtis said Buena Park has enforced its criminal eviction program 150

times. Only one involved a gang-related crime, he said.

Eviction may be less likely for gang-related crimes because many of

the offenses -- which include drive-bys, burglaries and carjackings -- do

not occur where gang members live.

“Gang members usually don’t do drive-by shootings at their own home,”

Curtis said.

Drugs, on the other hand, are frequently sold out of the home, he

said. Curtis said 63 cases of drug sales, possession, manufacturing and

cultivation were reported in 2000. Of those, 21 offenders could be

evicted if the new law required an arrest only, Curtis said. That number

is cut in half if a conviction is required -- from 21 to 10.

Councilman Gary Monahan pushed to require only an arrest instead of a

conviction, saying it would be a stronger tool for police.

Mayor Linda Dixon, who has consistently opposed an arrest-based

eviction ordinance, refused to advocate eviction unless there is a

conviction.

“What this says to me is that instead of people being innocent until

proven guilty, these people will be guilty until proven innocent,” Dixon

said in May.

David Stiller, an audience member at the council meeting, took it a

step further, asking what would happen in the event of an appeal. He said

it was inappropriate to penalize alleged criminals outside the judicial

process.

“You have to have a case heard to an end,” Stiller said. “You can’t

penalize before then.”

* Lolita Harper covers Costa Mesa. She may be reached at (949)

574-4275 or by e-mail at o7 lolita.harper@latimes.comf7 .