Before and after: What a change for Van Nuys neighbors, fed up with blight

The vacant building and lot drew drug users, homeless tents and garbage piles. For years, residents tried to be heard.

A five-story vacant building in Van Nuys that had long been covered with graffiti was finally cleaned up this week when a cleanup crew painted over the defaced building.

Local residents say they’re pleased to see the building get a fresh coat of paint to cover up a multi-story eyesore on the corner of Sepulveda Boulevard and Gault Street, a block south of Sherman Way. Now, they’re hoping to stop the graffiti – and a homeless encampment in the vacant lot adjacent to the building – from returning.

“If you saw the building, you wouldn’t even recognize it from a week ago. It’s amazing what a little work will do,” Michael Browning, president of the Valley “Pres”  Neighborhood Association and Watch, said after the defaced building had been painted over.

“I’ve gotten so many text messages from neighbors, meaning that they have noticed. It was an immediate change,” he said.

Last month, the new owner of the vacant lot at 7111 Sepulveda Blvd. next to the abandoned building at 7101 Sepulveda Blvd. worked with the city to clear the trash-strewn homeless encampment. Employees and owners of neighboring businesses have described instances where people living in the encampment – many of whom appeared high on drugs – would harass them or their customers, vandalize their restrooms or storefronts, and cause fires or create other public health or safety issues.

The new property owner erected a fence and set up surveillance cameras to keep trespassers out after the encampment was cleared on May 23.

Nearly three weeks later on Tuesday, June 11, workers painted over the graffiti on the abandoned building next door, which belongs to a different property owner.

Residents had sought help from L.A. city officials for years but got nowhere. But they recently renewed their demands that something be done about the problematic abandoned building after seeing how swiftly L.A. city officials sprung into action when an abandoned luxury high-rise development in downtown L.A. was tagged by graffiti artists, generating international headlines.

Browning said neighbors are “encouraged” by the recent signs of progress after years of walking or driving past the blighted street corner along Sepulveda Boulevard. He credited in part the efforts of L.A. City Councilmember Imelda Padilla, who took office nearly a year ago and represents that area. Padilla replaced former Councilmember Nury Martinez, who resigned for her role in a racist backroom conversation that went public.

According to Padilla’s office, the building’s owner worked with the city’s Office of Community Beautification and contractors to get the site cleaned up.

“Councilmember Padilla will continue to ensure there is accountability on the part of property owners for the maintenance of their private property so that taxpayers aren’t on the hook,” Lauren Perez-Rangel, spokesperson for Padilla, said in an email.

She said Padilla’s office “is on top of making sure they maintain security of their properties.”

Despite the recent developments to clean up the blight on this particular street corner, other longtime residents say deep-seated issues related to vandalism and homelessness remain a problem in Van Nuys.

Neighborhood watch leader Carol-Ann Hannah has lived in Van Nuys since 1985 and regularly walks the neighborhood with the vacant building and lot. She said she’s noticed new tents popping up in other parts of Van Nuys since this encampment was cleared and suspects some of those tents belong to people who lived in the encampment at 7111 Sepulveda Blvd.

Homeless encampments have become increasingly commonplace, she said.

“I had somebody driving me home the other night. We had to drive by another encampment. It’s embarrassing to say I live right down the street from that. … There’s a slew of other encampments. It’s not being taken care of,” Hannah said.

LAPD Officer George Lara, the senior lead officer for the area, said it’s difficult to link any of the new tents that residents say have popped up over the last couple of weeks to the folks who moved out of the cleared Sepulveda encampment.

Of the 17 people living in the encampment when it was dismantled, five accepted the city’s offer to place them in housing for the homeless, Lara said. (City officials previously said two people agreed to be placed in housing, but Lara said the number was higher.) The officer said he did not know what happened to the 12 people who declined housing.

“As far as where they went, I really don’t know for sure,” Lara said. “I know some of them … but I haven’t seen any of those people out in the neighborhood.”

The officer said new tents appear throughout Los Angeles every week. If an encampment in a neighboring community is cleared, people living there may go over to Van Nuys or vice versa.

Both Lara and Browning recommend that if anyone wants to report an encampment or graffiti, they should go through the city of L.A.’s 311 system for service requests.

Browning said the encampment at 7111 Sepulveda Blvd. had to be dismantled for safety reasons and residents understood that once it was cleared the people living there might set up their tents elsewhere in the neighborhood. He noted that residents have been through this scenario before and now they know to report new encampments – or graffiti – using the city’s 311 system.

He recommended that residents reach out to Councilmember Padilla’s office to make sure they’re aware of any new reports.

Browning acknowledged that it took years to get the graffiti removed from the defaced multi-story building, and when encampments were cleared from the vacant lot next door to the building a new one would reappear days or weeks later.

But he said neighbors are more encouraged by the latest improvements.

“It sounds like we have much more cooperation from at least one of the property owners, and the councilwoman is on top of it and communicating with the owner,” Browning said. “We are much more hopeful that this time around, it won’t fall back into disrepair.”