To merchants along Cesar Chavez Avenue in Boyle Heights, the dramatic drop in crime has done more than make life a little easier.

It’s been good for business.

Up and down the avenue, and in the manufacturing districts nearby, business owners say it’s easier to keep employees, because the risk of getting accosted on the street or having their cars vandalized is down. And shoppers are staying out longer, instead of deserting the streets as soon as the sun sets.

“Now sometimes we have to close at 7:30 or 8 because people are still coming in,” said Maria Lara, who works at Zellman’s clothing store.

Her boss, Dean Zellman, says the neighborhood still has its troubles, but that the plague of street crime is definitely on the wane.

“People are willing to walk later,” he said. “There used to be a lot of car vandalism, drug dealing and some prostitution. (Now) when night falls, I feel very safe.”

Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan made the connection between crime and commerce when he first ran for mayor in 1993, when the city was in the depth of recession.

Riordan said that the city must first get a handle on street crime, and that in doing so the city would become more attractive to business.

With the City Council’s support, he launched a campaign that added nearly 2,000 new officers to the LAPD over the last four years.

The increase in the number of street cops seems to have paid off, especially in areas like Boyle Heights. Last year, the number of violent crimes in the LAPD’s Hollenbeck Division (which includes Boyle Heights) dropped 24.9 percent, the sharpest drop of any LAPD division in the city.

“A few years ago a lot of people were complaining that their shops were being fired at, but recently people haven’t expressed those concerns,” said Capt. Tom Moselle with the Hollenbeck Division. “People are feeling better about their local businesses … they’ve seen an increase in pedestrian traffic which of course is necessary for their business.”

But Martin Krieger, a professor of urban planning at the University of Southern California, dismissed the idea that a lower crime rate can have a significant impact on the business climate.

“My guess is that it’s all nonsense … there are other major forces working here, like the boom in L.A. I just don’t see it. I would be shocked if it were true,” said Krieger. “If it were that easy, it would be a lot cheaper to buy more cops than to try to (create new jobs).”

But others disagree, saying that perceptions of crime are important in keeping and retaining business.

“It’s a huge help. We have a lot of jobs in those industrial areas,” said Steve MacDonald, director of L.A.’s Business Team, which was launched by the mayor’s office. “Crime perception is crucial … in attracting new businesses.”

At the same time, McDonald said, L.A. still needs to work on changing the perception that it remains a dangerous place to do business, according to Riordan aides.

Ralph Carmona, economic development director for the Boyle Heights Chamber of Commerce, said that the business community on Cesar Chavez has already been hit hard by competition from downtown clothing wholesalers and shopping malls.

A high crime rate, he said, is something struggling merchants don’t need.

“It’s tough for them,” Carmona said. “They rely on pedestrian traffic. If people feel intimidated they won’t come.”

Carmona acknowledges that the improving economy is helping business, but said a diminishing crime rate should not be overlooked.

“Businesses are doing better, especially in the manufacturing sector. I think it’s because the economy has picked up and unemployment is down (but) I also think public safety is a part of it,” said Carmona.

At the Angelus Home Center furniture store, for example, sales manager Orlando Gallegos credits the crime reduction with putting more shoppers in his store.

“(Business ) is picking up,” Gallegos said. “It has changed substantially.”

The furniture store, which has been in the same locale since 1901, is getting so much more business these days that it recently extended its business hours an extra hour said Gallegos.

Some business owners consider public safety such an important factor that they are willing to pay extra for it.

Hector Hernandez, owner of Paramount Mattress on Olympic Boulevard in Boyle Height’s industrial sector, is among a group of 60 business and factory owners formed a pool in 1993 to pay out of their own pockets for private security guards to patrol the area.

The privately policed section stretches along Soto Avenue beginning at Whittier Boulevard on the north end to Washington Boulevard on the south.

“I think the program we helped implement has helped,” says Hernandez. “(And) we’re not going to stop working on (preventing crime).