Council Votes to Continue Anti-Drug Barricade

The Los Angeles City Council, told that temporary barricades have all but wiped out drug trafficking in a 12-square-block area of Sepulveda, voted Wednesday to allow police to continue blocking off the neighborhood as long as they deem necessary.

The action came after Councilman Joel Wachs told council members that the barricades were needed until residents of the targeted area could take control of access to the neighborhood. Wachs predicted it would take at least a month before owners of 60 apartment buildings in the area--which he described as a “veritable drive-through drugstore-- could establish a guard station at Sepulveda Boulevard and Rayen Street, where police now regulate traffic into the barricaded zone.

Apartment owners have formed a committee to study whether to establish a guard station and how to pay for it.