CENTER TO HELP CUT CRIME; DEPUTIES TO BECOME POSITIVE PRESENCE.

Byline: Cecilia Chan Daily News Staff Writer

The Conejo Creek neighborhood may finally have a chance to turn around its reputation as a community with a higher-than-normal demand for police services.

The Thousand Oaks Police Department is asking the City Council tonight to approve plans for a Neighborhood Resource Center and $4,200 to pay for its maintenance and utilities on a temporary basis. The center would offer police, social, educational and recreational services for residents at the 540-unit condominium complex near Ventu Park Road and Hillcrest Drive.

``We can staff the neighborhood office to help the community deal with some of the issues occurring in there,'' said Senior Deputy Ed Tumbleson, who came up with the idea and coordinated the center. The city contracts with the Ventura County Sheriff's Department for police services. ``We have over 800 calls for service in a year. . . . This (neighborhood) is the highest call generator in our community. There is nothing like it in Thousand Oaks.''

The center, slated to open June 19, would be an interim one, open until a permanent structure is built next year.

Residents would be trained through the Neighborhood Watch programs to work with one another and with the police to prevent crime. Police officers on the beat would use the center as a drop-in office while in the field. And children would be offered summer activities at the center.

``For teens and children . . . there are positive activities all summer instead of them hanging out on the street,'' Tumbleson said.

Tumbleson would staff the facility full time for the first six months, then the Conejo Creek Condominiums Homeowners Association would provide volunteers or a paid manager from Nov. 25 to Feb. 25.

Various community groups, such as the YMCA, the school district and park district, have offered free services, including arts and crafts, aquatics, and English as a second language classes.

The city library also is offering computer programs and bilingual story-time programs, and the Police Department already has solicited donated office furniture and equipment.

Already, the city has budgeted $85,000 in housing funds for the center, spending $64,000 of it in October for a small, two-bedroom condominium on 1623 Calle Turquesa, said Caroline Milton, city management analyst. The remaining funds would be used for upgrades and making the building handicapped accessible, she said.

Under the agreement between the city and the homeowners association, the interim center would shut down Feb. 25, but not before a permanent structure is built. The city will donate $70,000, and the homeowners association will kick in about as much to build the permanent center and staff it, Milton said. The city would recoup its money when the Calle Turquesa property is sold.

For the past five years, the city has been working to improve the area, which has had more annual calls for police service, mostly for domestic disputes and disturbances, than any other part of the city.

Officials are hopeful the center will help to improve community trust with law enforcement.

``We've tried other things in the past and have failed in there,'' Tumbleson said.

``This is the big try, the big push,'' he said. ``I don't think anything else will work.''

``We are trying to create, at most, trust between the community and police.''

Residents are fully behind the center, said Kevin Vincent, homeowners association president.

``It's a neat opportunity for the community to work together to make it a better place to live,'' said Vincent, who rents out a condominium in the neighborhood. ``I think it's extremely important.

``I think it's going to be a huge success.''

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Photo

PHOTO Landscaper Ramon Sanchez trims the grass in front of a condominium to be used as a community resource center.

Charlotte Schmid-Maybach/Daily News