Needle exchange spurring crime, neighbors complain

A view of the 6700 block of Santa Monica Boulevard just east of Highland Avenue. The Santa Monica-Highland intersection is known for prostitution and drug use. Some residents say a needle exchange has worsened the problems.Photo by Gary McCarthy

By Kevin Butler

The Los Angeles City Attorney's Office is investigating a city-funded needle exchange program operating near the intersection of Santa Monica Boulevard and Highland Avenue, as neighbors complain the program has exacerbated already existing drug use and prostitution in the area.

Clean Needles Now, which hands out needles at 6769 Lexington Ave., is drawing scrutiny for possibly operating illegally within 600 feet of a school -- the Hollywood Little Red Schoolhouse at 1248 N. Highland Ave.

"We've received complaints from the neighbors about the needle exchange operating at that location and the clients who would be congregating at certain times," says Deputy City Attorney Bill Kysella, the Hollywood neighborhood prosecutor. "This is obviously a serious concern.... The problem in this case is the proximity of the needle exchange to the school."

Kysella describes the city's investigation as "ongoing" and says his office is working with all parties to negotiate a relocation.

Neighbors report a dramatic upsurge in drug use, prostitution and drug-related crimes such as shoplifting over the last six months, which they attribute in part to the needle exchange program.

Jonathan Myers, an employee at Aron's Records, says that since the site opened the 1150 N. Highland Ave. store has seen a dramatic increase of drug addicts milling about, stealing merchandise and shooting heroin around the property.

"I think we have a lot more people coming in and trying to sell us stolen merchandise," he says. "And then 10 minutes later, I see them in line on the needle exchange."

Myers recalls one of the many instances when he caught a drug-using shoplifter and called the police. The perpetrator said he wanted to go to the bathroom before the police came. When officers arrived, they found the man on the toilet with a needle in his arm.

"They pulled the needle out of his arm and cuffed him," Myers says. "He was just high as hell and didn't care. And that seems to be pretty common lately.

"What's happening I think is that they are giving them clean needles, and they just go back to what they were doing," adds Myers, who says he finds needles and used condoms on the steps behind the store each day.

Jacques Massacsi, who owns the apartment building at 6768 Lexington Ave., says he is finding "endless" needles all around his building since the site opened, including two bags of 20 needles hidden away.

"It's really sad, because everything was getting better," he says, "but now it appears that everything is getting worse again."

Massacsi and others say they are upset that they were not informed beforehand about the program's opening.

Problems have so far been kept off the Hollywood Little Red Schoolhouse's property, co-owner Ferris Wehbe says. But he shares the feeling that the neighborhood has worsened over the last few months.

Recently, Wehbe says he was walking in the area when a man approached him on a bike offering to sell him drugs. When he refused, Wehbe says the man admitted he was on probation and then offered to sell him his stolen bike.

Wehbe thinks the needle exchange program should not have been opened in a high-crime area that was steadily improving until very recently.

"You don't put it in an area that is known over the years for drug dealing, prostitution, and [which is] in a delicate stage," he says.

Clean Needles Now runs four needle exchange sites in Los Angeles, including the one on Lexington Avenue, which is open Thursdays 6:30-10 p.m. and Sundays 2-6 p.m. The program, founded in 1991 and under city contract since 1994, distributes 800,000 needles per year to Los Angeles residents.

Clean Needles Now is a consortium of nonprofit entities, including Common Ground and Homeless Health Care. Childrens Hospital Los Angeles is doing research for the program, according to the Los Angeles Department on Disability's Office.

The site moved from Cahuenga Boulevard between Sunset and Hollywood boulevards to the Lexington site a year and a half ago and is getting free use of the building from Friends Research Institute, which rents the space and runs a drug research program, Clean Needles Now's director Terry Hair says.

Hair says the site is not within 600 feet of a school and that she makes sure to shield children and businesses from any effect of the program by operating at odd hours.

"That's on purpose, so that we don't interfere with normal business activities," she says. "And we are not operating when one would expect children in the area, even if we are located next to a school, which we are not."

The Santa Monica-Highland intersection was already notorious for drugs and prostitution before the program arrived, Hair says, adding that a recent crackdown by area business improvement districts may have pushed more drug users and prostitutes into the area.

"I think everybody knows what Santa Monica Boulevard always has been," she says. "Like I said, we're there eight hours a week. We follow the drug users."

Hair's staff is careful to police the area at closing time and ask loiterers to leave, inspect for used needles and keep on the lookout for drug deals, she says. The program reduces the amount of needles on people's property by allowing drug users to turn in the dirty needles they would have otherwise dropped on the ground, she says.

Clean Needles Now's contract with the city was first established in 1994 and was renewed for a one-year period ending March 30 of next year. The Los Angeles City Council on March 13 of this year gave the program $190,800 for the contract and approved an additional $80,000 on July 3, according to Jerry Davila, assistant to the AIDS Coordinator's Office in the Department of Disability, which coordinates the program.

Davila says he received a municipal ordinance from the City Attorney's Office that "may apply" to Clean Needles Now's Lexington Avenue site, but that his office is not aware of any complaints about the program.

"If there is a problem, we will make the contractor aware of it and try to get together with all the necessary parties to come to a solution," Davila says. "But right now, I would defer to the [City Attorney's Office] to complete its investigation and research, and we will go from there."

Fifth District Councilman Jack Weiss, who chairs the Arts, Health and Humanities Committee, supports needle exchange programs to fight the spread of HIV, but is "concerned about the issues that affect the quality of life in Los Angeles," spokeswoman Lisa Hansen says.

At neighborhood meetings with the LAPD Hollywood Division's Community Police Advisory Board, "Clean Needles Now has not been mentioned as a specific cause of problems," she adds.

But "if there are particular locations that are problematic, Jack Weiss' office and [Councilman] Tom LaBonge's office can work with the community and the organizations to reach solutions," Hansen says.

LaBonge, whose 4th District includes the Lexington site, says he will forge a solution.

"I'll be organizing a meeting with the commander of the Hollywood Division to discuss solutions to help everybody," LaBonge says. "The program is an important program. And the neighborhood is extremely important.... Maybe there needs to be better management of the problems that tail-end with such a program."

Residents cite not only Clean Needles Now for worsening the area's crime problem, but also the city's lack of police officers.

"We have good commanding officers," Wehbe says. "The problem is that we don't have enough of them."

Others say the courts tend to view prostitution as a victimless crime and let offenders back on the streets.

"The courts, especially the Hollywood courts, should know that this is not a victimless crime," says Massacsi, the apartment owner. "The victims are me, my tenants and the neighborhood."

Capt. Michael Downing, commanding officer of the Hollywood Division, says Clean Needles Now did not consult him before picking the program's location.

Downing says he understood that the program was intended to be mobile, with trucks serving different areas each month or week.

"I think the mobile part of the exchange has stopped," he says. "And it's really a terrible place for a needle exchange. It's in a residential neighborhood near a school."

Clean Needles Now says Downing was informed of the program's location and was never told it would be mobile.

The Hollywood Division now has the help of a recently returned narcotics unit to help fight the problem and is expanding recruitment and community outreach, Downing says.

The police may not have to worry about Clean Needles Now's Lexington site much longer. Friends Research Institute, which houses the needle exchange, has a lease expiring Dec. 31 and has lost its federal funding.

Representatives from Albert Sweet Development, which owns the building, say they were unaware their property is being used for a needle exchange program.

If Friends is using the property for an unlawful purpose, its lease will be terminated, marketing director Eli Nunley says.

"We would never have approved any kind of use like that in one of our commercial buildings," he says.

A representative from Friends declined to comment for this story.

Hair says her organization has not decided where to relocate after the lease expires.

Myers says he gets nervous when opening and closing the record store. When he walks to work, he says he carefully avoids stepping on broken syringes, crack pipes and used condoms.

Although he supports needle exchange programs, he's unsure whether the one run by Clean Needles Now works or belongs in the neighborhood.

"I don't think it's meeting its aim, unfortunately, though I wouldn't recommend eliminating it completely, either," he says. "It's a Catch-22."

Kevin Butler can be reached at (323) 556-5720, ext. 153, or by e-mail at kbutler@laindependent.com

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