ANNOYING NEIGHBOR'S NEMESIS LOCAL PROSECUTORS RELIEVE MYRIAD PROBLEMS.

Byline: Dana Bartholomew Staff Writer

NORTHRIDGE - They'd called the police. Spoken to detectives. Even appealed to state higher-ups about their hellish next-door neighbor who for one year vandalized their cars and screamed threats and obscenities.

But the harassment - and the buck - finally stopped when Lisa Hann and Clarisse Sirianni contacted neighborhood prosecutor Mike Pizzuti.

``It was a nightmare,'' said Hann, 37, of Northridge. ``Had it not been for Mike Pizzuti, getting this guy into court and notifying (his) landlord, I don't know what I would have done.''

City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo and City Councilwoman Wendy Greuel today will celebrate the neighborhood prosecution program, founded a year ago this month, with a Sun Valley news conference about a crackdown on street racing.

Before the program, many misdemeanor cases had slipped off the track through police and nuisance-abatement agencies, as well as the courts.

Then Delgadillo sent a prosecutor to each of 18 Los Angeles police stations to work with officers, business people and community residents who could finger quality-of-life crimes that traditionally had not been prosecuted.

``We're very excited,'' said Delgadillo, who made a campaign promise to take on local nuisances.

``We tapped into an incredibly powerful resource - the people in our neighborhoods who know how to solve problems. What they need is reasonable access to prosecutors who have the ability to get things done.''

Delgadillo said his $4 million program is so successful that he aims to double the number of prosecutors in each police division.

In the past year, the San Fernando Valley's five neighborhood prosecutors have targeted street racing, graffiti, illicit vending, dumping and auto repairs, transients, trespassing, prostitution, vandalism, identity theft, building and zoning violations, drugs and gangs.

According to Delgadillo, prosecutors attended 3,486 community meetings, identified 854 neighborhood problems and resolved 40 percent of them. The remaining problems are active cases or being closely monitored.

Prosecutors also filed 484 criminal cases - 38 in the Valley - with a 94 percent conviction rate.

``For me, the neighborhood prosecutor program has been a wonderful partnership in eradicating street racing in my district and creating safer streets and eliminating needless deaths,'' said Greuel.

Some critics, however, say neighborhood prosecutors can be fickle in their abatements. Peggy Burgess, 52, of North Hills said a neighborhood prosecutor ceased to investigate a problem neighbor and tenant and canceled a nuisance-abatement order when the property owner died.

``He pulled out completely,'' she said, ``and the problem still existed.''

But Hann and Sirianni had greater success. Pizzuti filed charges against their neighbor for violating a civil restraining order with such harassment as spraying water through their kitchen window. Afterward, a judge ordered him to pay restitution and move from the neighborhood.

``He came in front of my house yelling and screaming ... and he also terrorized the woman next door,'' Hann said. ``Michael Pizzuti ended up being a lifesaver.''

NEIGHBORHOOD PROSECUTOR ACCOMPLISHMENTS 2002

--Criminal cases filed: 484

--Conviction rate: 94 percent

--Neighborhood problems identified: 854

--Percentage of problems resolved: 40 percent

--Number of nuisance properties identified: 300

--Number of community meetings attended: 3,486

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NEIGHBORHOOD PROSECUTOR ACCOMPLISHMENTS 2002 (see text)