Huntington Beach Prepared for Showdown Today on Slum Repairs

Huntington Beach officials, frustrated by past refusals of Commodore Circle landlords to clean up more than 700 housing and health code violations, are preparing today for a showdown with the owners of the one-block slum.

City officials gave the group a March 10 deadline to eradicate mice and roaches and fix plumbing, rotted ceilings and a host of other hazardous conditions in their 20 two-story buildings.

Huntington Beach City Atty. Gail Hutton said Friday that if any of the street’s 10 owners are still out of compliance today, the city could file criminal charges against them in Municipal Court. A violation of the housing code is a misdemeanor, punishable by six months in jail, a $500 fine or both.

City Discouraged

“Frankly, the city is discouraged with the lack of attention to our concerns by the Commodore Circle owners,” Hutton said.

Huntington Beach housing officials initially ordered the repairs on Oct. 18, informing the landlords that they had 30 days to begin work or face criminal prosecution. Until two weeks ago, however, when the city mailed out “a final notice” to clean up the squalid living conditions, housing inspectors reported little, if any, progress on the run-down street.

For almost five months, city staff members and a majority of the owners have been trying to work out a comprehensive cleanup plan for Commodore Circle. In December, the landlords submitted a proposal to rehabilitate and maintain the 20 apartment buildings in exchange for $450,000 in federal funds that the city had earmarked for the street, as well as $200,000 in city funds.

Back to Square 1

Disturbed that there was no financial participation by the owners, Huntington Beach officials rejected the plan, and the city was back to Square 1, trying to enforce its Oct. 18 order. A final notice of violation and order to comply was mailed out Feb. 18 giving the owners until today.

“It’s kind of embarrassing,” said Pat Spencer, program manager for the city’s housing and redevelopment office. “This started back in October. We’d look like fools if we gave them another extension.”

Added city Director of Development James Palin: “We are ready to go the full nine yards this time. I know we are.”

Problems on Commodore Circle or with its landlords are not new.

Since 1981, the city and county have been trying, without success, to clean up the one-block cul-de-sac, which is sandwiched between two modern condominium developments and across from Five Points Shopping Center.

The dilapidated street and apartments have angered neighbors concerned about depreciating property values, and have become an embarrassment to a city that is better known for its beaches and suburban homes.

Afraid to Complain

Moreover, many of the Latino and Vietnamese families who live on Commodore Circle are unhappy but afraid to complain about the slumlike apartments, for which they are paying as much as $600 a month rent.

“When we have complained, they’d fix things late, sometimes not, sometimes yes,” said Tane Ordaz, who pays $495 a month for the one-bedroom apartment he shares with his wife and four children.

On one occasion, however, the city took stern action against one Commodore Circle landlord. In October, 1984, officials charged the owner of six of the most squalid buildings with 26 counts of various housing code violations.

Dilip Parikh of Huntington Beach pleaded no contest to half of the counts, was fined $1,105 and placed on probation for one year. Parikh, ironically, was a member of Huntington Beach’s Citizens Advisory Board for Housing and Community Development--whose appointees are to “have an interest in advising the city on the physical and the social development of city neighborhoods.”

Bruce Bender, a spokesman for the four owners who have since purchased Parikh’s buildings, said last week that it is in his clients’ “civic and pocketbook interest” to fix up the buildings. Bender said he is still hopeful that Commodore Circle’s landlords and the City Council will reach an agreement on the use of the $450,000 in federal funds.

“We have been trying to work with these people voluntarily,” Huntington Beach Mayor Bob Mandic said. “There are a lot of things a landlord can do to stall the city actions, and that’s what they’ve been doing. I guess we have to keep putting more and more pressure on.”

Since the Feb. 18 notice to comply and a city threat to file notices of substandard buildings with the county, however, there has been a flurry of activity on the street. Contractors have been tearing down loose balconies, replacing toilets, painting, and exterminating roaches.

“We’re under the gun and we’re doing the best we can,” said contractor Joe Rund, who was busy Sunday patching walls and painting apartments for two of the landlords, real estate lawyer Charles Hart and bank president Robert Ferrante.

“We’ll probably be here til midnight.”