A small girl stands outside of her apartment where graffiti flourishes on the walls on East Locust Street in Lodi on Monday afternoon. (Angelina Gervasi/News-Sentinel)

Locust Street residents seek solutions

Neighbors to discuss problem apartments in Lodi

Crime and gang activity subsided on East Locust Street after a weekend of heavier than usual police patrols, Lodi police said.

No calls of gang fights or gunshots came to Lodi police, which stepped up their presence on that street after a group of residents in the 400 block of East Locust Street last week began rallying to rid their neighborhood of gangs.

While added patrols help, they only go so far, Lodi police Capt. David Main said.

"We recognize that putting extra patrols out there is only a Band Aid on the problem," Main said. "That particular street has been an absolute drain on police resources and something has got to change."

Recurring problems of gang violence, graffiti and other vandalism are linked to alleged gang members living in six apartment complexes on the street, according to Locust Street resident David Nielsen.

Tonight, Nielsen and 10 neighbors will meet to discuss what they would like to see happen at the apartment complexes they say are at the root of the problem. Then they will discuss how to achieve their goals.

"One way or the other, I think the community is really going to benefit," Nielsen said.

So far the group has written to apartment owners to tell them that some of their tenants are responsible for the problems that make some residents afraid to leave their homes at night.

And a representative for Stockton-based PMA Realtors, which manages an apartment complex at 425 E. Locust St. for its owner in Stockton, said the company would take action, but needs proof that their tenants are responsible for neighbors' concerns.

"We need to have a basis to proceed with legal action. At this point, we don't have anything," said a man named Chris who declined to give a last name. "If we have some proof that there is some type of illegal activity going on, we will act immediately."

There is plenty of evidence showing that some residents in those six buildings are involved with crime in the neighborhood, Main said.

Some tenants are documented gang members and they and their associates have been directly involved with crimes on some of the six properties, Main said. Two of the complexes, Main added, alone account for 74 calls to police for fights, gang activity and other crimes.

"We do have documented gang members that live at complexes in that area," Main said.

One method the East Locust Street group is eyeing to solve their problem is to have the properties declared a public nuisance. The state penal code defined a public nuisance as anything that injures health, is indecent to the sense unlawfully impedes free use of streets or obstructs the free use of property so as to interfere with the enjoyment of life or property.

Calls to other apartment owners were not immediately returned. Tax records show owners of the six complexes live in Stockton, Loomis, Fremont and Alamo. One is owned by a company with a post office box in Modesto.

Proving that a property is a nuisance has worked to lessen crime in Lodi in the past.

A group of some 30 residents sued the owner of an apartment rife with gangs, drugs and prostitution about 10 years ago and won.

Neighbors took pictures of license plates involved in drug deals and used them as documentation in court, said Virginia Snyder, a founding member of the Lodi Improvement Committee, which undertook the campaign against problem properties.

"It does work and I think the beautiful part of it is that neighbors take back their neighborhood," she said.

Councilwoman JoAnne Mounce, who lives close to the 400 block of East Locust Street, commended the group's effort.

"The biggest, baddest gang there is a group of concerned citizens," she said.

Prior to joining the council, Mounce was among the neighbors who sued a Tokay Street apartment owner in the mid-1990s. It took a year-and-a-half to build their case, she said, and the building was razed after the group won.

At that time, neighbors had the assistance of then-Lodi City Attorney Bob McNatt, who is now a judge. Nielsen and the others will meet with representatives from the City Attorney's Office to discuss steps that can be taken.

"We have all the tools in place to make this happen," Mounce said. "City hall just needs to be committed to make this happen."

Contact reporter Jake Armstrong at jakea@lodinews.com.

First published: Tuesday, June 13, 2006