LOCAL : Sepulveda Drug Blocks Removed

Barricades temporarily installed two months ago across streets in a Sepulveda neighborhood to keep drug dealers out have been removed, with Los Angeles police saying the unusual effort was a success.

The sawhorse barriers were removed Monday from the neighborhood bounded by Orion Avenue, Nordhoff Street, Langdon Avenue and Parthenia Street. The 12-block area was closed off to traffic Jan. 18 in an effort to curtail drugs.

The closure followed by three months the installation of permanent barricades in a similar-sized neighborhood along nearby Columbus Avenue because of extreme drug and crime problems.

Capt. Jim Whitley said the Orion neighborhood barricades were planned as a temporary measure because problems were not as severe as in the Columbus neighborhood.

Although exact statistics were unavailable, Whitley estimated that drug activity in the Orion neighborhood dropped 75% during the barricade period and that other crime dipped 30%. He said that the neighborhood will be closely watched and that the barricades will be replaced if drug problems return.