Torres Calls for Renewed War on Gangs in East L.A.

Flanked by mothers who have lost sons to gang violence, state Sen. Art Torres on Thursday called for more money and resources to combat rising gang activity in East Los Angeles, where gang experts predict that as many as 30 homicides could occur this year, compared to none in 1988.

The Democratic lawmaker, in whose district the largely impoverished and unincorporated Eastside is located, blamed the increased gang activity on the diversion of federal, state and local funds and resources to other gang hot spots, principally South-Central Los Angeles.

But Torres, careful not to stir up the race question when it comes to gangs, did not ask that the resources, which have gone to largely black sections of South-Central Los Angeles, be returned to the Eastside. Instead, he asked for a parity on how moneys are spent.

“It’s like the homeowner who has a leaky roof or a washing machine that doesn’t work,” he said. “What do you fix first? East Los Angeles is in a crisis with gangs.”

Torres pointed out that about $4.4 million in gang-prevention funds have been allocated since 1982 to South-Central Los Angeles, while the Eastside has received roughly half that amount.

That point was emotionally driven home by members of Concerned Parents, a group formed 16 years ago as a support group for Eastside residents who have lost sons and daughters to gang violence.

“When I read my son’s letters when he was in the Marines, I still cry,” said Margaret Gomez, whose 38-year-old son, Sam Chavez, was killed in a drive-by shooting early this year.

“I miss the hugs.”

East Los Angeles has been a traditional breeding ground for Chicano gangs, with some groups tracing their beginnings to the 1920s and 1930s. When gang-related homicides in East Los Angeles reached what was then considered an all-time high--24 in 1978--increased resources and moneys turned the tide to the point where no homicides were reported two years ago.

Today, with cocaine-fueled gang activity virtually out of control elsewhere, much of anti-gang agencies’ resources have been diverted. For example, the intervention staff of Community Youth Gang Services in the Eastside was cut in 1988 from 11 to two, partly because it was believed that the area’s problem was solved.

But last year, 11 gang homicides were recorded in the area--generally bounded by Indiana Avenue on the west, the San Bernardino Freeway on the north, Atlantic Boulevard and Garfield Avenue on the east and the Santa Ana Freeway on the south.

So far this year, 18 gang-related killings have occurred in East Los Angeles. An estimated 260 gang-related killings have been recorded in the city of Los Angeles.

Torres called on private corporations as well Los Angeles County, the Los Angeles Unified School District, the state and other public agencies to finance gang-prevention efforts and parenting programs to fight growing gang violence. He praised the parenting program offered by the Soledad Enrichment Action program, financed by Catholic Charities, as a good way to help parents steer sons and daughters from gangs.

He also said he would introduce a measure in January that would set aside 5 cents from each sale of a gun in California for gang-suppression purposes.

Experts in the gang-prevention field said it was not clear whether a diversion of resources back to East Los Angeles is a good idea since some positive results in South-Central Los Angeles have been reported.

Steve Valdivia, executive director of the East Los Angeles-based Community Youth Gang Services, said increased intervention by his agency in two areas targeted by the Los Angeles Police Department--the 77th Street and southeast patrol areas--has produced a 40% drop in gang-related homicides in the last year.

“The embers were going in East L.A. but the fire was raging in South-Central, so we moved,” Valdivia said. “I’m not wanting to make the same mistake (by going back to the Eastside). The numbers will come back once we leave.

“I’ve taken a lot of flak in East L.A., believe me.”