Fence Goes Up at Arleta Park to Quiet Fears of Neighbors

Workers on Thursday began erecting an 8-foot chain-link fence around Branford Park in Arleta so the park can be closed at night against troublemakers who have been frightening the neighbors.

City Councilman Ernani Bernardi called it “another sad day in the history of this city” as workers installed the first lengths of what will be a 3/4-mile fence.

“It’s tragic that we have reached a stage that we have to fence in a public park,” Bernardi told a gathering at the park, which is on Branford Street a few blocks northeast of Roscoe Boulevard.

Attending were several neighbors who had circulated petitions about crime at the park and met repeatedly with police, park officials and the councilman. The $36,000 fence was paid for with park money and Bernardi’s office funds.

Sign of Deterioration

To the neighbors the fence was both a civic accomplishment and a sign that their neighborhood is deteriorating.

Branford will become the second fenced-in park in the San Fernando Valley. Pacoima Recreation Center is the other, said David Gonzalez, assistant general manager of the city Recreation and Parks Department’s Valley region.

“It’s a shame. But believe me, we want it, and it will help,” Norman Lincoln, 67, said of the fence. Lincoln, who has lived in his Urbana Avenue house for 30 years, led the drive for the fence after he was beaten on the head with a wrench by a man he found trying to break into his car.

“I love this neighborhood,” Lincoln said. “But that park, that damn park--you’d think it would bring us peace, but it’s just been agony. It’s driving us crazy.”

Their troubles begin when the sun sets, said six homeowners who can observe park activities from their living room windows.

Music Disturbs Peace

Loiterers park in front of the homes and play music that makes the bedposts vibrate, residents said, and the troublemakers walk into the park to drink and use drugs under the elms.

Over the years the residents have seen fights and heard gunshots. Houses have been burglarized and car batteries stolen. Several neighbors said they have bought guns.

In October, one resident discovered the beaten body of a man who was probably the victim of a robbery, police said. No arrests have been made.

Roxanne Summers, 29, said she saw vandals smash a car’s windows and then set it ablaze. “I thought it was going to blow up my house,” she said.

Lisa Cermack, a 37-year-old mother of two, said a man “acting like he was on PCP” tried to break into her garage. “It’s gotten so scary we don’t want to bring our children up in this neighborhood,” Cermack said, adding that she and about five neighbors are moving out.

The Veloz family buys paint in 5-gallon containers to keep their walls free of graffiti. “Our wall is like a chalkboard. But what else can we do?” asked Emily Veloz, 60, whose home has been burglarized twice in 8 years.

Statistically, crime in the Branford Park neighborhood isn’t as bad as elsewhere in the area.

Police Capt. Valentino Paniccia said the neighborhood surrounding the park “is in the bottom 25%” in the number of crimes reported in the Northeast Valley.

“We understand they have a problem,” Paniccia said.

Police officials advised the neighbors to seek a fence because it would make it hard for criminals to hide in the park.

“We know police are busy and can’t respond to everything,” Summers said. “But when you live next to this, you live in fear of even going out to your car after dark. We are willing to try anything.”