MOORPARK : 2 on Council Back Forum About Gangs

Two Moorpark City Council members pledged to hold a community forum this month to discuss a possible gang problem in view of a drive-by shooting last year.

But there is disagreement over whether gangs exist in the city.

“The way you don’t have a big problem is you meet it before it walks in the door,” Councilwoman Eloise Brown said Thursday. “I’m much more confident addressing the concern before it gets really big.”

Moorpark had its first drive-by shooting last November when Oxnard gang members fired on a group of Moorpark teen-agers at a Round Table Pizza restaurant, wounding five people.

“There’s still concern about the drive-by shooting,” Councilman Paul Lawrason said.

About 50 people attended a forum on April 5 to discuss the gang issue. Brown said she will ask for a meeting this month and another in September just after school begins.

Brown is up for reelection, and Lawrason is running for mayor in November.

“It’s election time,” said Clint Harper, a councilman who has said he intends to run against Lawrason for mayor. “Politicians tend to go berserk as you get closer to elections.”

Law enforcement officials say a serious gang problem does not exist in Moorpark. Lt. Rich Rodriguez of the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department said the city occasionally has graffiti on walls, but there is no gang operating in the area.