Friday, October 9, 1998
Sobriety in old fraternity house
REHABILITATION: Site of apartment complex raises safety
concerns
By Ann Hawkey
Daily Bruin Contributor
Since a former Landfair Avenue fraternity house became a home
for recovering drug and alcohol abusers, neighbors have increased
complaints and worries about the area’s safety.
When Sigma Alpha Mu fraternity left the UCLA campus 13 months
ago, Westwood Sober Living Apartments moved in, providing
recovering addicts with independent housing units.
The 16-unit apartment complex at 522 Landfair Ave. now offers
in-house, 12-step meetings and job preparation assistance to its
tenants, in lieu of the rush parties and stressed students once
filling the halls.
"This is not a treatment center. It is an independent,
sober-living facility," said Denise Hinton, administrator for the
complex. "The first requirement is that you have to be willing and
have a desire to stay sober."
The house does not provide counseling or medical services, and
tenants are referred to the complex through other programs and help
lines after completing a detox and rehabilitation program.
Residents must comply with some fundamental house rules to avoid
eviction, according to Hinton.
"The cardinal rules are to remain alcohol- and drug-free; no
violence or threat of violence; no sexual activity and pay the rent
on time," she said.
Despite these basic regulations, some neighbors remain wary of
the house.
"We have heard from constituents in the area who have complained
that residents there urinate in public, drink in public and beg in
Westwood," said Daniel Hinerfeld, deputy to Los Angeles City
Councilman Mike Feuer.
Some tenants of Westwood Sober Living Apartments have been
diagnosed with mental illness and take medication regularly, Hinton
said.
"If they don’t take their medication, that’s where you run into
some problems with people roaming the streets, but they’re
basically harmless," Hinton said.
Although police regularly check on the house, no arrests have
been made there, Hinton said.
The only recorded visit that university police officers have
made to the house since it was taken over by Westwood Sober Living
Apartments was to serve a warrant earlier this year, said UCPD
Director of Community Services Nancy Greenstein. The specifics of
the warrant were unavailable.
Despite the low occurrence of formal police complaints, Hinton
said she feels the house receives an undue amount of attention from
the police.
"If anything happens in the area with someone trying to break in
someplace or a girl being molested, which happens on college
campuses, (the police) come here first, which I consider
prejudiced," she said.
"We’re just trying to live a quiet life," she said.
For some neighboring residents, the tenants at Westwood Sober
Living Apartments have been a disturbance.
"We’ve only lived here a few weeks, and already we’ve seen two
men get in a shouting argument," said Maniya Gatmaitan, a
second-year psychology student who lives next door.
"One was accusing the other of stealing something. People from
the house were in a circle watching, and even people across the way
were watching," she said.
Hinton and her husband, Willie, also run two other similar
complexes, both in West Los Angeles, but said they do not plan on
moving from the Westwood site.
Hinton’s enthusiasm for the location is not echoed by the
neighbors, however.
"This is a good cause, but to place the house in the middle of a
college atmosphere is inappropriate," Gatmaitan said.
"I don’t think it would be productive for them because of all
the parties we have and how loud we are," she said. "And then
there’s the worry of (women) like me walking home at night and
walking past a halfway house."JAMIE SCANLON-JACOBS/Daily Bruin
The former Sigma Alpha Mu house has been privately purchased and
converted into a halfway house for recovering drug and alcohol
addicts.
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