Aged Housing

A city zoning administrator said he is "not inclined" to grant a variance to a property owner who wants to build a 52-unit low-income senior housing project. The project, proposed in a neighborhood of single-family homes, does not qualify for the zoning variance because property owner Carlos Sanchez has not proven he would suffer a financial hardship if the request were denied, said Horace E. Tramel Jr., associate zoning administrator.

"THE River Wife," a novel by Jonis Agee ("Sweet Eyes" and "Strange Angels"), is set on the shores of the Mississippi and ranges from the early 1800s into the years of the Great Depression. Filled with high Southern gothic flavor, the narrative is epic in scope, covering a series of generations and bursting with entwined layers of plot tension, sex, violence and intrigue.

Some relief may be in sight for Monterey Park senior citizens who have to wait as long as eight years for subsidized housing. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has announced funding for the development of a $5-million, 67-apartment complex for senior citizens on a vacant city lot at Ramona and Newmark avenues. Construction of the project, a partnership between the Monterey Park Redevelopment Agency and the nonprofit TELACU Development Corp.

Farmers Insurance Group of Cos. has applied for a premium increase of 6.9% for homeowner insurance--its fifth rate hike request in California in two years and one that has sparked outrage from consumer advocates. If granted, the increase would mean customers of the state's second-largest insurer would pay on average 37% more for homeowner insurance than they did in January 2000.

After sit-ins and pickets, seniors at the Huntington Landmark Adult Community won a major court victory Friday in their battle to prevent termite fumigation of their homes. Superior Court Judge Michael H. Brenner ruled that the exterminator used by the community's homeowners' association must switch to heat treatment to kill the termites at the home of Fima Vanoff, 85. The company, Fume Works, had planned to tent the building and use sulfuryl fluoride gas, known by the trade name Vikane.

George Hedden, a 100-year-old widower, was having trouble staying on top of the household chores at his two-bedroom Pasadena home. But when relatives suggested that he move into a retirement home, the energetic, retired railroad worker refused. "I took him around to some, but unfortunately it was right after lunch and (the residents) were all falling asleep," his daughter-in-law, Kay Hedden, said. "He said they made him feel old."

A county agency Wednesday advanced a plan by the group that stages the Grammy Awards to build a senior housing project for music-industry retirees in North Hollywood. Encore Hall, proposed for a site across from the subway station on Lankershim Boulevard, would have six stories of apartment units, with the ground floor reserved mostly for retail shops.

Developers are proposing that the Costa Mesa Motor Inn be converted to housing for the working poor or senior citizens. The motel's owner, the federal Resolution Trust Corp., will consider a recommendation from the City Council in deciding to whom the land should be sold, City Manager Allan L. Roeder said. Developers Merrill Butler III and John Whelan of Whelan Development Co. presented their plans to convert the building at a City Council study session Monday.

Edwin Duerbeck, 85, put on a jaunty beige cap, tucked a newspaper and the latest issue of National Geographic under an arm and left his apartment on one of the trips he makes daily across the parking lot at Freedom Village, a retirement community for the elderly. That short trek takes him to the bedside of his 84-year-old wife, Louise, who suffered a stroke last October and now lives in the community's health center, where she can get help with bathing and other personal needs.

When Frank and Ruth Blau moved to Leisure World in 1968, they found a retirement nirvana. The couple counted themselves among the community's active social set. Ruth played golf with "the girls." Ballroom dancing filled three nights each week. But over the years, life has changed. The Blaus still live in Leisure World, but they no longer dance at any of its six recreation centers. They don't make use of its five swimming pools or three lush golf courses.

A 76-unit senior apartment complex that was expected to open in Ventura in March was destroyed by a fast-moving fire early Friday. Investigators from the Ventura city and county fire departments said the cause of the fire was under investigation, but that it may have been arson. "We're considering it suspicious because the building was under construction," said Brian Clark, a deputy fire marshal for the Ventura Fire Department.

For the third time in little more than a month, gunfire erupted Wednesday in an unlikely setting of suburban San Diego County: this time, in a church-run apartment complex for the elderly. Police said a six-year resident who was about to be evicted shot and killed three people, exchanged shots with police and then committed suicide. Police found the gunman's body on an upper floor of the high-rise after a search that took several hours.

The construction scaffolding still surrounds an unfinished Pico Aliso senior citizens housing complex in Boyle Heights. But community leaders nonetheless gathered Thursday beneath the $6.5-million structure's wood skeleton at 1st and Clarence streets to celebrate what they see as another manifestation of a long-awaited neighborhood renaissance.

A 63-year-old woman died in an apartment fire early Wednesday, and two would-be rescuers were treated for smoke inhalation, officials said. Helen Carmody-Lebo was dead on arrival at Huntington Beach Medical Center after suffering burns and smoke inhalation. Firefighters responded to the fire at the Emerald Cove senior housing complex, in the 18200 block of Parktree Circle, at 6:22 a.m. An official said the fire was extinguished within nine minutes.

The City Council on Tuesday approved an agreement to allow the development of an 81-unit senior-living apartment complex on Garden Grove Boulevard at Sungrove Street. On the property now are a flower shop, a dairy and a carwash, all of which will be demolished. As a part of the agreement, at least 17 of the units will be designated for low-income seniors for at least 30 years. Information: (714) 741-5127.

In the latest twist to a decade-old saga, residents of a 1950s-era Mar Vista apartment village urged officials Thursday to revisit demolition of their rent-controlled property to make room for a large new residential complex. While the city of Los Angeles years ago approved replacement of the 82-unit Westdale Village Apartments with a 204-unit project, residents hope to make developers set aside 29 apartments for current residents who are elderly--as old as 101.

Hidden Hills is a community that tries to live by its name. It has just two entrances, both gated and guarded. Million-dollar homes sit behind spacious front yards, oak trees and white ranch-style fences. It is a town without apartments, without condominiums and without, well, poor people. But now the city is grappling with a state mandate that it provide low-cost housing.

More than 120 Korean-American senior citizens joined Los Angeles housing development officials Friday to celebrate the completion of Sangnok Villa, the city's first subsidized housing project for the region's burgeoning Korean community. Between benedictions by a Korean minister and the singing of the U.S.

Have you reached an age where you're thinking about thinking smaller? Then take a flinty-eyed look at that big old dining-room table, with its eight chairs, matching sideboard and china cabinet. And the baby grand piano. And the 9-foot sofa, the oversize recliner, the power lawn mower, the hundreds of books, multiple sets of dishes and countless tchotchkes you've collected over the years.

A county transit agency Wednesday advanced a plan by the group that stages the Grammy Awards to build a senior housing project for music-industry retirees next to the North Hollywood subway station. Encore Hall, proposed for Metropolitan Transportation Authority property across Lankershim Boulevard from the subway station, would include six stories of apartment units with the ground floor reserved mostly for retail shops.