Residents, businesses press Bellflower council on homeless encampments, traffic and car-alarm nuisance

Several residents and downtown business owners addressed the Bellflower City Council May 12 with complaints about homeless encampments, neighborhood speeding and persistent car alarms that they say are affecting safety and business operations.

Loreen Duke, a dentist who identified her practice at Clark and Oak, told the council that people experiencing homelessness have been on her porch and prevented her staff from opening. “We arrive. The homeless are on my porch. We can't get them off. We can't go in our office,” Duke said, adding that deputies can take hours to arrive for non-emergency calls and that staff and elderly patients feel unsafe. She said she had contacted Sheriff’s sergeant Ferguson and asked for more timely patrols and advance notice when encampment cleanups occur.

Neighbor Priscilla Brown and Council members responded directly; the mayor said staff would connect Duke with Public Safety Director Brian McNurry for follow-up and asked city patrols to step up targeted checks near the empty medical office Duke mentioned.

Resident Ace El Chico said his cul-de-sac at Leggett and Cable has a repeated speeding problem that began in early 2022; he described repeated near-misses with children and the elderly and said repeated calls to law enforcement had not solved the issue. “We have kids in the neighborhood that ride their bikes, and we also have other elderly people in our street,” Ace said, asking the council to consider traffic-calming measures or routine patrols.

Several speakers also complained about recurring vehicle alarms and noise from a nearby car-repossession lot near Pacific Avenue. John Williams and tenant Aileen Perkins described alarms sounding multiple times in the early morning and daytime and asked code enforcement and city staff for stronger enforcement and follow-up. Williams said tow-truck drivers told him some vehicles, such as certain electric vehicles, cannot be silenced easily and that ongoing alarms were degrading residents’ “quiet enjoyment” of their homes.

Council members acknowledged staffing and resource constraints and said the city uses a contracted southwest patrol and is trying to coordinate more checks; the mayor and council said they would ask public-safety staff to follow up with affected residents and businesses and to consider targeted patrols or other measures.