ONE DRUG HOUSE DOWN, MANY MORE TO GO

City Attorney Dedicated To Doing Away With Dastardly
Dwellings

COMPTON -The power of public nuisance abatement law is becoming a tool
of choice in the crusade to rid local neighborhoods of negative elements.

City Atty. Craig Cornwell is no stranger to that battle, and he's
proven himself pretty wieldy with such legal tactics.

Assisted by Sheriff's deputies, he successfully shut down last month a
problematic residence that has created turmoil and dragged down
property values within its neighborhood for years.

"The city of Compton has one less drug house within its jurisdiction,"
Cornwell said Tuesday, Jan. 27.

Getting to this point wasn't easy. Declaring a property a public
nuisance is a detailed and often drawn-out process, one that Cornwell
saw through to the end.

"It was a matter that I've personally been dealing with for about four
years now," he said.

His work began in an administrative capacity when the owners were
brought before the Council for a public hearing that resulted in the
property being declared a public nuisance.

"We asked the owner to abate the activities, and if not, the City
Attorney's office would take whatever steps necessary to make sure
that activity stopped," Cornwell said.

Regardless, the drug sales continued.

It was only a matter of time before the city filed a civil suit
against the property owner. The suit went all the way to trial, where
the judge granted the property owner one more chance to cease selling
drugs from the property.

"That didn't happen," Cornwell said. "Ultimately, we went there last
week with the help of the Sheriff's to secure the property and change
the locks."

Although the owners of 1502 S. Exmoor Ave. will retain ownership of
the property, the city now has possession of it and can maintain
possession for up to a year, Cornwell said. Under such a situation,
the city will be responsible for the cleanup and maintenance of the
property, and the owners will have to foot the bill.