Marchers Aim to Drive Out Drug Dealers

Celia Rodriguez described how she had seen the same man peddling drugs for several weeks at Pinney Street and Bradley Avenue in Pacoima.

Then, a group of three men walked past the block party where Rodriguez and other residents were capping off an anti-drug demonstration Saturday.

“That’s him, that’s him!” she said, pointing an accusing finger at a man in a white T-shirt, who answered with a sidelong glance as he kept walking.

“I’m not afraid,” Rodriguez said.

Before the block party, Rodriguez was among about 50 marchers, including City Councilman Ernani Bernardi, who were led by bullhorn-wielding Arthur Broadous of the Pacoima Community Youth Culture Center.

The march was one of a series of anti-drug demonstrations that began last year in Pacoima. In November, Mayor Tom Bradley was among the demonstrators.

Los Angeles Police Department statistics were unavailable on whether the marches have had any effect on drug dealing in the community. But many of the marchers said the positive impact on community morale cannot be measured.

“The march gives power to the people,” said Efrem Olvera, president of the Haddon & Mercer Homeowner Assn. “A lot of people never came out because they were afraid of the people selling drugs.”

Now, he said, many are not afraid. Olvera’s group has tried to make the neighborhood near Haddon Avenue and Mercer Street less hospitable to drug dealing by boldly taking pictures of deals and by reporting buyers’ license-plate numbers to police.

Saturday’s march went past Van Nuys Boulevard and Bradley Avenue. The corner has been a popular spot for drug sales, said Los Angeles Police Officer Pete Weinhold, who was at the corner to watch a separate group of people paint over gang graffiti. Seven people doing court-ordered community service work took part in the paint-out organized by Bernardi’s Neighborhood Watch program in Pacoima.

“You’ve got to let these guys know that the community cares,” Weinhold said. “If the community gives up, these guys are going to take over,” he said of drug dealers.

A man nearby praised the marchers but said they should also demonstrate in wealthy parts of the San Fernando Valley where many drug buyers live.

“We don’t have any money to buy drugs,” a man said. “We need jobs.”

The marchers also crossed paths with a 44-year-old man who said he is a drug addict. He, too, praised the march, but said it wouldn’t stop him from using heroin and cocaine.

“I take it every day, and I’m going to get some in a few minutes,” he said. “I don’t want to get off it.”