New program will spruce up city
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Bryce Alderton
City officials have just added a new weapon to their arsenal in the
fight to keep Surf City beautiful.
The Neighborhood Preservation Program is designed to get into the
rundown areas and clean them up from the inside out.
The program, created by Bill Zylla, is based on the idea that if city
officials, residents and property owners join forces they, as a team, can
prevent homes from becoming eyesores.
The city already has a Public Nuisance Task Force made up of city
planners, members of the police and fire departments and public works
officials. That task force is charged with identifying individual homes
that lack maintenance and could adversely affect the health and safety of
a surrounding area, said Mayor Pro Tem Ralph Bauer. The task force doles
out citations to such property owners.
Zylla’s neighborhood preservation program, approved by City Council in
2000 with Zylla as its manger, will give the task force a hand in keeping
the city neat and clean.
As part of the program, Zylla is forming a new task force made up of
police officers and other city officials who will be charged with
initiating meetings with residents and property owners, and sending
letters to residents identifying common concerns among neighborhoods.
The new task force will also inform property owners of grants that
could be available if they are unable to foot the bill for repairs to the
property, Zylla said.
“The idea of [the preservation program] has been around for four or
five years but it was never this formal,” Bauer said. “Now we’ve hired
somebody to develop resources to upgrade a neighborhood.”
Zylla is studying the age of the city’s neighborhoods and how many
citations are issued in each area.
Once this study is complete and the connections formed, the task force
will begin establishing neighborhood groups to list their own goals,
objectives and priorities.
The task force will review a group’s priorities and help set up
neighborhood events like barbecues and block parties to further community
pride.
“We’re not in there saying, ‘Your neighborhood was chosen as the worst
area in Huntington Beach,”’ Zylla said. “We want them to come to us and
say, ‘What can we do to make it better?’ We’re not changing the character
of the neighborhood, but rather improving the quality of life.”
Property owners recently painted garages and removed graffiti from
walls surrounding 116 multifamily residences near Warner and Newland
avenues.
* BRYCE ALDERTON is the news assistant. He can be reached at (714)
965-7173 or by e-mail at [email protected]
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