CLEANING UP; CITY'S DEMOLITION TEARING DOWN CRIME.

Byline: Jim Skeen Staff Writer

With city officials looking on, a demolition crew tore down a fourplex Monday along Raysack Avenue part of a plan to clear away a crime-ridden neighborhood and make it suitable for new homes.

The demolition leaves just two apartment buildings out of an original 20 standing in the neighborhood between Avenue I and Avenue H-14, known for years as one of the city's hot spots for drugs and violent crime. The demolition is part of a plan to clear out the area so it and the adjacent Antelope Valley Fairgrounds can be used for a housing development in a parklike setting.

``It was a home to violence, home to all kinds of drug activity,'' Mayor Frank Roberts said of the area. ``This will make Lancaster a better city.''

Lancaster officials began the Raysack effort in March 1996 with $1.5 million. The project was a follow-on to Lancaster's Operation High Desert Storm program launched in 1992 that targeted rundown, high-crime buildings for demolition.

The effort is now part of Lookin' Good Lancaster, a citywide beautification effort started this fall.

It will take a couple of years to acquire and demolish the other two buildings on the avenue, city officials said. At about the same time, the Antelope Valley Fair board will be just about ready to relocate its events to a new fairgrounds being built near the Antelope Valley Freeway and Avenue G, said City Manager Jim Gilley.

In the meantime, city officials said they are already seeing benefits from the program. In 1995, before the operation started, there were 71 serious crimes reported in the neighborhood. As of Dec. 1, there were 24 serious crimes in the area this year.

One of the city officials on hand was Councilman Jim Jeffra, a former sheriff's deputy.

``We've kicked in just about every door on this street. The first day I went on patrol I was told about Raysack,'' Jeffra said. ``This is a step in the right direction.''

In 1996, city officials teamed with the Los Angeles County Fire Department to allow firefighters to train using some of the buildings earmarked for demolition. Firefighters battled controlled blazes in the buildings to practice their skills.

No figures were immediately available on how much has been spent acquiring and demolishing the buildings, but Gilley estimates the city has spent about $2 million on the effort.

The original Operation High Desert Storm, launched in 1992, involved spending $6.27 million acquiring buildings on 80 acres north of Avenue I, west of Sierra Highway and south of Avenue H-8.

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PHOTO (color) Lancaster city inspector Don Segura, front, wades through the rubble while construction crews demolish a two-story apartment complex along Raysack Avenue on Monday. The project is part of the city's effort to get rid of crime in the neighborhood and pave the way for the building of new homes.

Shaun Dyer/Special to the Daily News