Eyeing an Eyesore

Frank Feldhaus has lived in west Anaheim since 1970, and he is not happy with the changes he has seen in recent years.

He and his neighbors say the area’s shopping centers, built in the booming 1960s, now stand half vacant; bars and liquor stores have replaced other small businesses; and apartment buildings are overcrowded.

Worst of all, they have to put up with a 25-acre former landfill on Lincoln Avenue that they have dubbed Stinkin’ Lincoln. Besides being an eyesore, they say, the site leaks methane gas.

“Residents of west Anaheim consider themselves the forgotten people,” said Feldhaus, a former Anaheim council member.

His wife, Sally, agreed: “That end of town has been neglected, and a lot of deterioration has been allowed to happen.”

Another longtime resident, Muriel Lowenberg, used a single word to describe the neighborhood now: “Terrible.”

That may change soon. Prodded by community leaders, the city is studying how to turn around this neighborhood of 90,000 people, many of whom have been here since the 1950s.

Esther Wallace, a 35-year resident and chairwoman of the west Anaheim Neighborhood Development Council, is one of those leading the campaign.

“Our intent,” she said, “is to make it a nicer place to live. . . . We want developers to come and invest their money and create the nice things you see in other cities.”

Residents are specific: They want more single-family housing and office buildings; family restaurants; enhanced landscaping in public areas; a senior citizens center; and police substation; and upgrades of commercial properties.

“What people want is to be able to walk on the street and feel they are safe, to have places for their children to do things, and to do our grocery shopping and banking in west Anaheim,” said Phyllis Greenberg, chairwoman of West Anaheim Better Businesses and Concerned Citizens.

Besides the landfill, a major concern is the neighborhood’s 30 motels, built decades ago to accommodate motorists traveling on Beach Boulevard to nearby tourist attractions such as Disneyland and Knott’s Berry Farm. Many of them have become long-term residences that residents say violate city codes, draw illegal activity and are in dire need of repairs.

The city has commissioned a detailed study of a 600-acre section of the community. The survey, to be completed in late July, is intended to show whether redevelopment would be feasible. If it is, officials would begin drawing up a redevelopment plan.

Greenberg’s group asked city officials in 1995 to consider using redevelopment as a tool to rehabilitate the areas near Beach Boulevard and western Lincoln Avenue.

“When an area deteriorates, all the services around it deteriorate,” Greenberg said. Her group has teamed with police and code enforcement to uncover code violations and rid the area of criminal activity such as drug dealing and prostitution.

City officials are supportive.

“I have been encouraging neighborhood leaders in west Anaheim to become more active, and they have responded very well,” Mayor Tom Daly said Wednesday. “They are suggesting improvements and changes that are overdue.”

Wallace said city officials, though, cannot shoulder the entire burden of making those changes.

“It’s really the people who have to take back their neighborhoods,” she said. “The city can’t do it all. We have to help ourselves.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Neighborhoods

West Anaheim

Bounded by: La Palma Avenue on the north, Katella Avenue on the south, Knott Avenue on the west, Euclid Street on the east.

Population: About 90,000

Hot topic: Redeveloping blighted areas.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Destined for a Fix?

Prodded by activists, Anaheim city officials have agreed to study how a neighborhood on the city’s west side might be redeveloped. A survey of the 600-acre area should be completed in late July.