Photos by Elliot "Cameraman" Gold
Tuesday night's meeting of the Altadena Coalition of Neighborhood Associations (ACONA) took on a range of topics, centering around group homes, sheriff dispatch response, and animal control. About 40 people attended.
Group homes: Tanganica Turner of Assemblyman Anthony Portantino's office said that nobody knows the full number of group homes in Altadena. She said there were between 20 and 30 were licensed by the state, but there are others licensed by the county and health department, and still others run by independent businesses, private investors, or nonprofits. Group homes are also not the same as licensed care institutions, which is another number that can't be pinned down.
"There is a vacuum regarding information ... the data has not been put together," Turner said.
The opinions expressed among the audience was that there was an unusually high number of group homes in Altadena compared to other areas of the county. Complaints included large numbers of people in the homes and people coming in and out, constant smoking outdoors at a volume that was affecting neighboring residences.
Arlene D. Anderson, an attorney who lives and practices in Altadena, said that she at one point had a group home with all the attendant problems on either side of her property. "If you want change, you have to bug the living daylights out of Sacramento," Anderson said. Under state law, group homes are considered single family residences, Anderson said, and have to be treated the same as a home with "mom and dad, two kids, and a dog."
Anderson said that there were political interests that were working to see that group homes were largely unregulated. Under Prop. 36, the state found that it was cheaper to ship a drug offender to a group home than to send them to jail for a crime.
Anderson said that she had appealed her property tax levy to the county, which eventually dropped her property value by 10%, because the neighboring group home was considered a "nuisance,"
Altadena Sheriff Lt. Roosevelt Johnson said that if there were "quality of life" issues with a group home, to go ahead and call the sheriff's department. All calls are tracked, Johnson said, and those records are available to the public. If you're building a case against a particular group home, it's useful to have a list of the number of calls for service to a particular home.
Sheriff dispatch woes: Lt. Johnson, who is second in command at Altadena station, addressed concerns that the sheriff's station has been encouraging people to call to report anything suspicious, but then callers are disregarded or dismissed.
Johnson said that all answering services had been moved to the Crescenta Valley sheriff's station while construction is ongoing at the Altadena station, so all calls are taken there and dispatched from Crescenta valley
Outside of the construction problems, Altadena is also the only station in the county that does not have a dedicated watch commander, Johnson said -- shift commanders work out of the Crescenta Valley station. Even after the Altadena station is finished, there will not be a watch commander on duty here, Johnson said.
One reason behind that is because watch commanders are also in charge of the station's jail, and Altadena doesn't have a jail -- arrestees are booked in Crescenta Valley.
This is not without problems: major incidents sometimes occur in both stations' service area simultaneously, Johnson said. If two significant incidents are going on at the same time -- and with frequent hiker rescues, that's likely to happen -- the watch commander would have to call Johnson or the other lieutenant, Joseph Dempsey, to supervise Altadena. If neither lieutenant was onsite, Johnson, said, it would take 45 minutes to an hour to get a commander to Altadena.
Johnson said he will be submitting a proposal to create an Altadena watch commander position.
As far as contact with the public, Johnson said that all calls are recorded and each sergeant is required to audit two calls per shift. Johnson said that out of the complaints received, personnel have been reprimanded for not speaking appropriately, not taking calls seriously, or not dispatching cars when it's appropriate.
Johnson said that, when you ask for a car to respond, you'll get a car. Capt. Steven McLean and his lieutenants have also made it a priority to go to each shift briefing and emphasize that when somebody calls the station they should be "treated like your own family members."
Animal Control: Zeke Morales, the animal control sergeant assigned to Altadena, said that most complaints about animals were about barking and noise: "we rarely pick up animals here." There is a formal procedure to report on barking dogs: put it in writing or fill a complaint form on the county website (NOTE: we couldn't find it) and send it to animal control.
Morales said that county animal control only handles domestic animals, such as pets and horses -- wild animals are outside of its jurisdiction.
Some residents complained about horses walking on sidewalks, or the numbers of horses some people keep. Morales said that horsekeeping was also an issue that could be taken up with zoning.
The date of the next ACONA meeting will be determined soon.
