Anti-Gang Task Force Considered

Prompted by complaints about increased gang activity and graffiti in Lawndale, the City Council on April 20 will discuss whether the city should hire more sheriff’s deputies for an anti-gang task force. The meeting will be at 7 p.m. at City Hall, 14717 Burin Ave.

Councilman Larry Rudolph said at last week’s council meeting that graffiti has become so widespread that the city must take action. “We’re at the point where we can’t live with it anymore,” he said.

At Thursday’s council meeting, two residents said that in recent months gang markings on walls and buildings have become much more prevalent in their neighborhoods, and they called for the city to take action.

Another resident, Nancy Marthens, said that to get at the root of the problem the city needs to fund a truancy program that would authorize sheriff’s deputies to remove youths from the streets during school hours.

Mayor Sarann Kruse and Neighborhood Watch coordinator Nancy McKee announced plans for a March Against Gangs starting at 10 a.m. Saturday from City Hall. Also open to the public will be a Sheriff’s Department presentation on gangs at 7 p.m. April 18, also at City Hall.