CLEANUP PROGRAM CURTAILED : OPERATION SPARKLE WON'T FADE IN VALLEY.

Byline: Jaxon Van Derbeken Daily News Staff Writer

While Operation Sparkle has lost some of its luster in other parts of the city, the neighborhood cleanup effort in the San Fernando Valley will not be tarnished.

After two years of the mandated, citywide cleanup of graffiti and garbage, the LAPD - unable to make up for what top brass say amounted to lackluster city support - has decided to make the program voluntary for local police stations.

``We did not get the funding last year that had been promised,'' said Assistant Chief Bayan Lewis. ``Everybody begged, borrowed and stole to make it work. I'm not sure we should be in the business of going out (and) soliciting the funds.''

While Operation Sparkle will no longer be an officially sanctioned citywide event, officials say the LAPD's Valley and South bureaus will still sponsor large-scale cleanups this October.

Police officers involved in the effort say the changes will result in a more concentrated effort in the Valley and in South Los Angeles than when the program covered the entire city.

``The problem we had was that it started in the Valley in 1991 . . . and we recruited a certain amount of sponsors,'' said Detective Woodrow Parks of the Valley Bureau.

``All of a sudden when this is a citywide event, the sponsors continued to give donations; however, we didn't get the full benefit of their donation, it had to be divided four ways,'' Parks said.

The Operation Sparkle program combines the contributions of local businesses with equipment from the city and community volunteers for a massive neighborhood cleanup program. Sponsored by the LAPD, it started in the Valley in 1991 and expanded over the last two years to encompass the entire city during four weekends in October.

Last year, according to program officials, the city amassed 19,628 volunteers, hauled in 525 tons of refuse and applied 3,390 gallons of paint in the monthlong effort. Grants came in cash and contributions of goods and services.

For example, Chrysler Corp. gave $30,000, Waste Management Inc. gave $20,000, and Southland Corp., the parent company of 7-Eleven, gave $10,000.

Other contributors included Smart and Final, Budweiser, and Texaco. Farmer John donated 10,000 hot dogs, and Dutch Boy donated 500 gallons of paint.

Despite last year's impressive numbers, Lewis said he felt he had no choice but to abandon the citywide effort this year when some companies dropped their support. The decision was made official in an April 24 memorandum.

Lewis said the scaled-back plan is in keeping with community policing and its emphasis on local decision-making. But, he said, abandoning the citywide program is unfortunate.

``I feel bad about it - it was great for the city, good for the city's image, and I encouraged people to do it,'' Lewis said. ``But without funding, it's difficult to make it happen. We have had great effort on the part of all the citizens involved - it showed that we were committed to make the city look better and feel better.''

He noted that 20,000 volunteers participated in Operation Sparkle last year.

Lewis said part of the problem was that the sanitation department did not provide overtime to pick up the tons of debris collected by volunteers.

``That was bad for the image, to collect all this stuff and let it sit around a week or two - by God, what did that prove?'' Lewis said.

Steve Sugerman, Mayor Richard Riordan's assistant chief of staff, said that the city has provided $4 million for debris removal and other cleanup projects. However, it's up to the department heads exactly how that money is spent.

Parks, the detective who served as the Valley's coordinator for Operation Sparkle, said the program will continue as it has locally since 1991.

He said that last year the Valley led the city in totals. ``We did great - we had 6,971 volunteers. That was a record for the city. We used 15,019 gallons of paint, cleaned up 705 locations and picked up 350 tons of trash.''

But so far, the city has not been able to replicate that success citywide, he said.

``It started off like a nice neighborhood event. It was just supposed to be people who come out in their community, clean it up. Nice and clean, orderly - a feel-good event. We have a nice picnic,'' Parks said.

``Typically, when you make something big, all of a sudden it becomes a bureaucratic nightmare,'' Parks said. He said that Valley contributors were frustrated that the money was diluted in the citywide campaign.

``Then we had to buy 20-some thousand T-shirts - we had a $55,000 T-shirt budget,'' Parks said. ``It became people's worst nightmare, trying to organize this thing. People or entities were complaining they didn't get their fair share. Instead of the money going for picnics and paint, it went for T-shirts. It just got out of hand.''