Waging a misguided war on blight in L.A.

Some residents are told to paint fences or pay $660

It’s the little things that beat you up in the end, the daily irritations and indignities.

Mail from City Hall, for instance. You know, even as you draw blood with a paper cut while opening the envelope, that it can’t be good news.

In Atwater Village, people have been receiving “courtesy notices” from something called the ProActive Code Enforcement division of the Department of Building & Safety.

The word “courtesy” is the first clue that your holiday spirit is about to be crushed, and “pro-active code enforcement” removes all doubt.

A colleague of mine got this notice, written in all capital letters, about the gate to her backyard:

“Please paint exposed/bare wood gate as necessary and maintain in good repair. When complete, call for re-inspection ... to avoid a possible non-compliance fee of $660.”

She couldn’t believe it. The redwood gate, once stained, has what might be called a “distressed” appearance. People pay good money to create such a look.

“It’s kind of shocking,” said David Silver, a neighbor who got the same “courtesy” note about his redwood gate. He had actually stained and sealed his, but to a city inspector, it was another example of “visual blight.”

Silver called the inspector and asked: “Are you sure you’ve got the right house?”

Silver said he explained that he’d treated the gate, and the inspector said OK, then don’t worry about the warning.

This was a hot topic on Atwater Nextdoor, the social networking site.

“I received one of these as well for my wrought iron gate,” one resident said.

“What is going on here?” another neighbor asked.

Dana Schwartz has a redwood gate too. I went to see it, and I can tell you it’s in great condition.

But she too got the warning to paint it or pay $660.

“I haven’t done anything yet,” said Schwartz, who doesn’t intend to comply because she thinks the gate looks fine as is.

She wondered if the notice was some kind of scam. Others wondered if it were a plot to further gentrify the neighborhood, or if a handyman was trying to line up

some work. The answer is no. This is for real. Your tax dollars at work. I called the inspector whose name was on one of the courtesy notices and pointed out that people use redwood because you don’t have to paint it. Redwood lasts a long time, has beautiful coloring and grain lines, and maintains its character as it ages.

“There’s a city ordinance that says you can’t have unpainted wood,” the inspector told me.

If that’s true, I think it could spoil Mayor Eric Garcetti’s dream of becoming president of the United States. People are always screaming that they want government off their backs, so who would vote for a man who runs a city that forces you to paint your wood?

I felt like I was already halfway down the rabbit hole, so I called the inspector’s boss, who referred me to Lucas Zamperini at Building and Safety. He sent me L.A. Municipal Code Section 91.8104 and highlighted the section on wood:

“All fences shall be maintained in good repair and shall be kept straight, uniform and structurally sound. Wooden fences shall be either painted or stained or otherwise treated or sealed in an approved manner to prevent their becoming a nuisance from weathering or deterioration.” But it’s redwood, I said. Zamperini said he doesn’t make the rules.

This is a city, I noted, with thousands of potholes and hundreds of miles of broken sidewalks uprooted by untrimmed trees, among other problems. If you sent members of the Pro-Active Code Enforcement team out to have a look, their heads would explode.

City Controller Ron Galperin just put out a report card on 40 of the city’s 444 parks. Grades were high for recreation areas, but restrooms got an overall C, with 16 getting Ds or Fs. At one park, the blight included litter and graffiti, worn-out bleachers and dilapidated soccer goals.

What’s the fine for all that?

Blight is certainly a problem on commercial and residential properties, and it can be irritating for neighbors. (A blunt city report published in 2014 found that L.A.’s streets, alleys and empty lots are so trashfilled it threatens the city’s image and makes some areas appear “unsafe and ungoverned.”)

But when it comes to private property, let’s go after the over-heaped dumpsters and frontyard car-repair operations.

That seems more important than the little stuff.

Zamperini said the crew in Atwater may need a little coaching to do just that.

“This is ludicrous,” said Councilman Mitch O’Farrell, who represents Atwater. He thought the program was supposed to assist people who can’t afford maintenance improvements rather than crack down on them.

Zamperini sent me a flier that offers maintenance assistance to those who are seniors, disabled or lowincome, but O’Farrell said he was unaware of such a flier, and residents hadn’t seen one either.

Zamperini said the residential Pro-Active Code Enforcement unit has been operating for 17 or 18 years and is funded through the federal Community Development Block Grant program administered by the Housing and Urban Development Department.

OK, and how big is the grant? Right now it’s more than $2.2 million, he said. That pays for 11 inspectors and two senior inspectors.

So in a city with a critical shortage of affordable housing and thousands of people barely hanging on, we’re spending $2 million in federal housing money on courtesy notices in a blight abatement program?

If unpainted wood is a crime, why not go to Hancock Park or Pacific Palisades and drop some “courtesy notices” in mailboxes?

Because, Zamperini said, the program targets only low-income areas.

Which raises another question. Some Atwater residents are on the lower end, but I wouldn’t call the hip and happening neighborhood low-income. And besides, to the extent that blight exists in bonafide low-income neighborhoods, it’s often because people can’t afford upkeep. So the solution is to threaten them with penalties of $660?

That doesn’t happen often, Zamperini said. Last year, 34,000 properties were surveyed, 3,401 “courtesy notices” were sent, and only about $6,600 in fees were paid, largely because most people made the ordered improvements.

If you get a courtesy notice for something trivial, do not give in, do not back off, and do not paint.

It’s time to rise up, calm down, and celebrate the fact that the Pro-Active Code Enforcement team will be off duty for the next four days.

Happy Thanksgiving.

If you get a courtesy notice for something trivial, do not give in, do not back off, and do not paint. It’s time to rise up, calm down.

Kent Nishimura Los Angeles Times CADEN SCHWARTZ puts away a garden hose at his Atwater Village home. His mother received a warning from the city to paint the redwood gate at right or pay $660. She thinks the gate looks fine as is.

Kent Nishimura Los Angeles Times MILO SCHWARTZ peers over the redwood gate at his family’s home in Atwater Village. Dana Schwartz wondered if the notice to paint it was some kind of scam.