Alley Near School Site of Killing to Be Closed
The Los Angeles City Council voted Tuesday to close off an alley in Sherman Oaks in an effort to make Millikan Junior High School safer after the slaying of a teen-ager in May.
The council voted unanimously to install gates in the block-long alley, which is frequented by gang members. The alley is south of Magnolia Boulevard between Sunnyslope and Greenbush avenues, just east of the Millikan campus.
The measure was sponsored by Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky and sought by Millikan school administrators and parents in the wake of the gang-related slaying May 21 of 14-year-old Alejandro Penaloza, a North Hollywood resident who attended the junior high.
Penaloza was shot and killed within a few steps of the alley in an incident that stunned the quiet suburban school and prompted a surge of calls from parents urging school officials to beef up campus security, Assistant Principal Norm Isaacs said Tuesday.
Isaacs said the shooting also has prompted parents to begin patrolling the campus, caused the school board to vote to appropriate $4,000 to erect a fence around the school and inspired discussions on reopening the school library after regular hours to provide students with an alternative to loitering in the neighborhood.
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