By NOLA L. SARKISIAN

Staff Reporter

Norma Washington likes to get up early in the morning.

With a cup of coffee, she usually sits on her porch for more than an hour beginning at 6:30 a.m., sipping and waving at children walking by on their way to Weemes Elementary School, near USC.

“Kids aren’t afraid to walk to school together,” said the 62-year-old retiree. “They wave back and laugh and talk. They don’t look behind their shoulders anymore. Things are better now.”

As a volunteer for Kid Watch, a USC-sponsored program that enlists the help of nearby residents to watch for trouble, Washington has seen a dramatic turnaround in her neighborhood.

The morning scene outside her home is just one example of the changes taking place in the Los Angeles Police Department’s Southwest Division, which includes USC and Exposition Park. The LAPD reports that crime in that division has dropped 22.1 percent since 1996.

The transformation has led to increasing enrollments for the university, as well as a number of businesses moving into what traditionally has been an underserved community. One example is Ralphs Grocery Co., which opened a new store two years ago.

“The area was completely under-stored and Ralphs thought it would be a good location, and it’s turned out to be a profitable store for us,” said company spokesman Terry O’Neil.

Over the past five years, arrivals to Vermont Avenue have included the Adams-Vermont Shopping Center, anchored by the new Ralphs, and the Campus Plaza, which has a Taco Bell, Togo’s, Supercuts and Smart & Final. Such retail activity has been a blessing for residents who often had to leave the area to do their shopping.

“They feel that things are more accessible to them. If they have errands to run, they have a place to go,” said Jose Curtez, manager of a 5-year-old Chief Auto Parts on Vermont.

The makeover, however, seems to stop at Jefferson, where trash and graffiti stand in stark contrast to the newly landscaped sidewalk of Exposition Park across the street.

Folding a comforter and doing her laundry at the newly opened SpinCycle Coin Laundry at Martin Luther King Boulevard and Vermont, Christlyn McKay, 26, said the neighborhood is headed for better times.

“It’s prettier. I grew up here and have seen the drastic changes. Back then, I wouldn’t have gone outside for fear of being shot,” said McKay, who works at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center as an emergency room technician.

The transformation has occurred as the result of a collaborative effort involving USC, the LAPD and scores of community residents who have launched a number of crime prevention programs.

One of the most prominent players is USC President Steven Sample, who says the future of the university and its 28,400 students depends on the stability of the neighborhood, which includes 70,000 nearby residents and 1,600 businesses.

Asked about the enrollment impact of the falling crime rate, he said, “Let me put it this way: Last year, we had 21,000 applicants for 2,800 positions. The number of applicants shot up 86 percent in last eight years.”

Crime on the 155-acre USC campus and the surrounding area is down 50 percent since 1995, according Robert Taylor, deputy chief of the school’s Department of Public Safety. Crimes that showed the biggest plunge were burglary and car theft.

Taylor said the department is like a small police department, with 200 officers 75 of whom are armed who keep the peace and meet monthly with community block captains about their concerns.

“The types of problems have changed over the years. Five or six years ago, our neighborhood block captains were telling us they feared drive-by shootings, burglaries and robberies. Now the problem is loose dogs, some graffiti and transient usage of shopping carts in the neighborhood,” Taylor said. “It’s a positive sign and a remarkable reversal.”

Sample said that when he arrived in 1991, “L.A., as a city, was down on its luck. The recession was in evidence throughout Los Angeles and the neighborhood. Rather than save the city, we thought we’d make a tiny contribution to it and focus our efforts on our community.”

The main thrust of his five-pronged approach is devising ways to step up community policing and making more efficient use of LAPD officers assigned to the area.

Another program involves giving a financial incentive to faculty members to live within the community. The program began in 1995 with seven participants and has increased nearly seven-fold, to 44 in 1998.

Gib Hentschke, dean of the USC Rossier School of Education who has lived near Adams Boulevard and Hoover Street for 11 years, has been waiting for his colleagues to join him. He’s thrown parties for students and faculty members in his 1905 Dutch colonial home to educate people about the nature and safety of the area.

“There’s a rich texture to this community. I have neighbors who are African American, Asian and Latino. It’s a wonderful mix,” he said. “There are auto break-ins, but that happens everywhere. We have a house alarm, but there aren’t many burglaries around here. Once they get in, there isn’t much to steal.”

Residents, business owners and campus officials cite the facelift at Exposition Park as a linchpin to the revitalization. In the past 10 years, a master plan has been in place to revitalize the rundown 160-acre park area.

A $24 million infusion from a park improvement measure on the Los Angeles County ballot in 1992 has helped restore some luster to the area that included last year’s opening of the four-acre Jesse A. Brewer Park. A tree-lined, 50-foot-wide promenade with benches and lampposts was installed a year ago along what had been a barbed-wire-enclosed stretch along Vermont Avenue. There’s also a new median with eucalyptus trees along Exposition Boulevard.

The jewel in the development crown is the nearly year-old California Science Center, which underwent a $130 million renovation. Surpassing 2 million in attendance in just 11 months, the hands-on, interactive museum could hit the 2.2 million target by its anniversary on Feb. 7.

“Exposition Park and other regions were considered neglected areas in the city. The image was forgotten and rundown. Today people talk about the park as vibrant and beautified and a family destination,” said Leonard Aube, vice president of development for the science center. “We won’t say we’ve absolutely arrived, but we’re moving in the right direction.”

Aube said future projects will include construction of an elementary school later this year that will be just 200 feet from the Science Center. A former 1913 armory building will be renovated and expanded for kindergarten to fifth-graders, accommodating up to 700 kids.

The investments represent giant leaps of faith for the area, said Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas. “There’s no question that word is getting out. That’s why more investments are coming into the Figueroa Corridor,” he said.

The declining crime rate also bodes well for the proposed $357 million renovation of the Coliseum to attract a National Football League team. In the past, NFL owners have expressed concerns about safety.

The area still has its problems and a dubious reputation, despite the hard sell by USC.

“It’s one of the first things you hear about USC. People ask, ‘Is that in Compton?’ There’s a definite stigma surrounding USC, but I’ve never felt endangered,” said freshman Miwa Cojez, 18. “I live in the dorms and haven’t locked my doors since I’ve been here.”

But Derek Chitwood said he hasn’t noticed any changes for the better. “My car was broken into last year and a stereo was stolen. And my other car was stolen in 1997. So no, I haven’t noticed the improvement,” said the 33-year-old graduate student “What can you say though? We’re talking about statistics. You may not experience any crime, but the girl next to you gets robbed. It’s just a random occurrence.”