RIOT RECOVERY : Valley Seeks Its Fair Share of Funds for Rebuilding

A movement to keep the San Fernando Valley from being overlooked in the wake of the spring riots has been slow to gather strength, but community leaders hope to flex much greater muscle in 1993.

The new year promises to bring state tax credits to “riot-distressed” areas of the Valley and greater recognition of the region’s problems by Rebuild L.A., the organization set up by Mayor Tom Bradley to help speed Los Angeles’ recovery, community leaders say.

“I think we’re finally getting the attention of those who could bring resources to the Valley,” said Irene Tovar, a Mission Hills resident and the only one of 80 members on the Rebuild L.A. board representing the Valley. “We still have a long way to go, but it’s a beginning.”

The fight to win recognition of the need to address poverty and other social problems in the Valley has not been easy.

Fearing that the Valley would be ignored in the post-riot rebuilding, about 60 local organizations banded together in May to form the San Fernando Valley Unity Coalition. Members include the heads of social and health agencies including El Proyecto del Barrio, the Boys & Girls Club of the San Fernando Valley, the local chapter of the American Red Cross and the Northeast Valley Health Corp.

The coalition recognizes that most of the riot damage occurred in South Los Angeles. Only about 63 buildings were set on fire or vandalized here, compared to hundreds elsewhere.

But the Valley deserves attention because, contrary to its image as a homogenous suburban enclave, it has problems similar to the poverty and disaffection that contributed to the rioting, members of the coalition say.

“People should remember that the Rodney King beating was right here in the northeast San Fernando Valley,” said LeRoy Chase, a candidate for Los Angeles City Council and executive director of the Boys & Girls Club of the San Fernando Valley.

There are some signs that the group’s message is finally being heard.

After the coalition complained that Tovar was the lone Valley representative on Rebuild L.A.’s 80-member board, the organization appointed Maury Rosas, a staff member on loan from Pacific Bell, as the Valley liaison.

The coalition also has succeeded in scheduling a meeting in January with Rebuild L.A. leader Peter Ueberroth, Tovar said. Community leaders will press the Valley’s cause and lobby for more resources during the meeting, she said.

So far, all that the Valley has gotten through the organization has been a nine-passenger van on loan from General Motors to the Boys & Girls Club of the San Fernando Valley.

But Tovar said the Valley will be getting other help from Rebuild L.A. that she will announce early next year.

The Valley also has not fared particularly well in the scramble for government funding in the wake of the riots, but it has not been left out altogether.

Although a $19-million federal program known as Community Project for Restoration targets only South-Central and Pico-Union, the Los Angeles City Council in November designated other parts of the city, including North Hollywood, Van Nuys, Panorama City and Pacoima, as “riot-distressed zones.” The designation makes businesses in those areas eligible for state tax credits for a wide range of 1992 payroll and equipment expenses and gives banks financial incentives for making loans there.

The Valley stands to benefit from only a fraction of the $2.75 million the U.S. Department of Agriculture appropriated for a Los Angeles Urban Greening project after the riots. Most of the money will be spent by private, nonprofit organizations to train residents and beautify the more severely damaged areas of the city.

One exception is a Van Nuys-based group, the Independent Living Center of Southern California Inc., which received $15,000 for an outreach program in which poor, disabled adults will pass out potted plants to about 25 merchants on Van Nuys Boulevard.

Executive Director Norma Vescovo said the program will help build her clients’ sense of self-esteem, reduce prejudice against the disabled and improve relations between the community and the merchants.

Another group, the Simi Valley-based Freedom Tree Organization, wants to use some of the $100,000 it received from the Agriculture Department to plant a grove somewhere in the San Fernando Valley, said founder Mary C. McCurdy. So far, the group has been active in the downtown Los Angeles area, but would welcome proposals from Valley groups, she said.

The Valley also received extra money from the state and federal government for job training in the wake of the riots, said Susan Flores, a spokeswoman for the Youth Employment Services division of the Los Angeles Community Development Department.

Flores said she could not say how much additional money came to the Valley for that purpose. But she said the amount allowed 2,144 Valley teen-agers to be employed this past summer, up from 1,300 the summer before.

Sixty of the 441 people given temporary jobs with the city or nonprofit agencies through another special post-riot work program were Valley residents, Flores said. A separate grant to train 200 health professionals aided 17 people in the Valley, she said.

But the Valley coalition and other groups, such as the Valley Industry and Commerce Assn., are not relying on the government or even Rebuild L.A. to solve the Valley’s problems.

To help develop jobs in the northeast Valley, VICA plans to meet in Pacoima on Jan. 8 with community leaders “to see how we can be of assistance,” spokeswoman Penny Flinn said. The group represents more than 300 businesses.

“We’ve identified a great need for movie theaters and recreation facilities out there,” Flinn said.

Insignificant as it may seem, the luncheon is significant because “for the first time, you have people trying to correct problems in the northeast Valley,” said Richard Alarcon, the mayor’s representative to the Valley.

“Although they’re just talking now, I believe there will be more substance to it with time, and not necessarily a long time.”