Potential for Trouble : San Fernando to Shut Street by School

A San Fernando City Council committee approved a request Tuesday from San Fernando High School officials to close a street next to campus that has been the scene of gang-related problems, loitering and traffic jams caused by cruisers.

During school hours, hundreds of students cross a short stretch of Chamberlain Street between Laurel Canyon Boulevard and O’Melveny Avenue next to the high school campus, creating an uncontrolled pedestrian walkway, said Principal Bart Kricorian.

Also, he said, the area is a prime entry for campus trespassers.

Chamberlain separates the school’s main campus from its football stadium, agricultural gardens and child-care center. Students continuously walk back and forth to attend physical education classes at the football field.

Kricorian said the street has become a cruising strip before and after school, attracting outsiders who block traffic when they stop to talk to students.

“Whenever there is a fight, it usually happens at that end of campus,” he said. “If we can control the traffic, we can control who comes on campus and becomes involved with our students.”

Police said the situation often becomes strained when local gang members confront cruising youths from outside the area.

“The gang members who live in the area see the cruisers and look at these individuals as being on their turf. It can become confrontational,” said Capt. William Pruit of the Foothill Division.

According to a city Department of Transportation report, “There have been several gang-related incidents on Chamberlain Street during the school day, cases of loitering and traffic in illegal drugs, in part because of the street being open to the public.”

The report stated that the closure is “necessary for the protection of persons attending San Fernando High School.”

The daytime barricades are not expected to adversely affect traffic flow or access to nearby homes, mainly because most of the traffic now is connected with the school, the city report stated.

The request was approved by the city’s Public Works Committee without discussion and is expected to go before the full council next week for approval.

Once council approval is obtained, Kricorian said, school employees will set up barricades at both ends of the street before school and take them down after school.