Caught in the Middle : Neighborhood Plagued by Gangs

Over the past six months a small neighborhood on the northern edge of this city has been plagued by gang activity.

Sheriff’s deputies say there have been at least seven gang-related shooting incidents. In one case, a 16-year-old gang member was shot in the leg when the occupants of a passing car opened fire on Pioneer Boulevard.

In five of the incidents, residents reported that stray bullets struck their homes after rival gangs exchanged gunfire. No one was injured.

“There were times when you hated to see Friday and Saturday nights roll around because of the shooting in the streets by gangs,” said a 58-year-old widow who lives in the area. A bullet shattered her bathroom window during one of the drive-by shootings, she said. She asked that her name not be used.

Officials say most of the gang incidents involve fighting between the Chivas gang, based in the neighborhood, and the rival Varrio gang in Norwalk. The neighborhood is bounded by Pioneer Boulevard, 166th Street, Elaine Avenue and the Artesia (91) Freeway.

There are about 10 or 12 “hard core” gang leaders and perhaps 100 followers in the Chivas gang and more than 300 in the Norwalk gang, Deputy George Vanecek said.

City Manager Lois O’Sullivan said: “The gangs warring among themselves have a way of controlling the neighborhood. It interferes with the liberty of others. People are afraid of going out at night.”

There were 30 arrests of gang members from February to mid-March on charges ranging from suspicion of armed robbery to painting graffiti on homes and city property, said Vanecek, who is assigned to the city. Artesia contracts with the county Sheriff’s Department for law enforcement services.

For many neighbors, the “last straw” occurred when the city closed the neighborhood’s only park after youths broke windows and ripped out telephones at the community center, drove a stolen tractor over playground equipment, and coated the building and handball and tennis courts with gang graffiti, Vanecek said.

A chain-link fence has been placed around A.J. Padelford Park and the community center at Clarkdale Avenue and 169th Street. The facility had housed a child-care center. Classes in English and sewing for more than 50 Spanish-speaking adults also were held in the building.

Most of the adults have been switched to other classes in the ABC Unified School District. Seven of the 25 children receiving

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child care have transferred to ABC schools, but others have been placed on a waiting list to attend preschools when space becomes available.

Officials have taken a number of steps to address the problem.

The Sheriff’s Department has increased its visibility, adding regular helicopter patrols to supplement squad car patrols, Vanecek said.

The city has installed a 24-hour hot line to encourage anonymous calls from residents about gang-related activities. During a five-month period, the city received 40 calls about such incidents as alleged drug dealing and gangs gathering in the streets, officials said.

The city also has proposed that the park community center be leased to the California Conservation Corps, which would set up a recruitment and training center for youths.

The Conservation Corps was created by the Legislature in 1976 to train youths to fight disasters such as fire and floods and to clean up public facilities such as parks.

Cisco Hunter, a district director for the corps, said the proposal is being evaluated.

City officials also considered a Vanecek proposal to distribute anti-gang buttons, but the idea was scrapped after school district officials said they feared that gang members would attack other youths wearing the buttons.

Meanwhile, a few youths who identified themselves as Chivas gang members said in an interview recently that they also were disappointed about the park closure and would be willing to paint over the graffiti on the park building.

City Manager O’Sullivan said officials have met with gang members in the past, and that Vanecek will attempt to meet with gang members again, but she added that she is skeptical.

Some gang members had requested that handball courts be installed in the park, but vandals still covered the courts with graffiti, she pointed out.