Volunteers Gang Up on Vandalism : Cleanup: Drawing from an arsenal of pride and paint, La Habra residents cover graffiti, sweep debris and urge neighbors to report crime.

An army of about 40 residents, outraged over the city’s gang, graffiti and drug problems, fought back Saturday with brooms, paint brushes and a heavy dose of community pride.

The angry residents met on Burwood Street, sweeping away debris and painting over graffiti.

Four of the city’s Neighborhood Watch groups organized the event in hopes that it will be the first in a series to clean up La Habra, one neighborhood at time.

“We need this badly,” Teresa Soto said in Spanish as she watched her neighbors paint the graffiti on a fence visible from her kitchen window.

Tony Mora, who owns an apartment complex in the area, agreed.

“It’s about time we all got together,” he said. “This way, little by little, things will get better.”

Mora said he believes the Burwood community is the worst in terms of crime and trash in the city. And the cleanup, he said, “is a pretty good punch to criminals who come here. I think this is the beginning of something big.”

Teri Chavez, the Police Department’s Crime Prevention Officer and Neighborhood Watch coordinator, hopes the cleanup sends a strong message that things are changing in the city.

She said that by beautifying the streets, residents will take pride in La Habra and start protecting it. If people love where they live, they will call police when they see drug dealing, graffiti painting or other criminal activity, Chavez said.

As it is, Chavez added, some residents don’t alert police because they’re afraid and have accepted it as part of living in La Habra.

That attitude infuriates Dorothy Rush, block captain of the Grace Street and Pacific Avenue Neighborhood Watch group.

“We need help in my neighborhood too and to get help, we need to give it. The whole city needs it,” said Rush, 58, as she she swept away cigarette butts, beer bottles and plastic six-pack holders from an alley.

“I hope this cleaning will give people incentive to pitch in and try to do it in all the neighborhoods,” she said. The materials used in the cleanup were donated by the city’s Community Services Department.

With a paint roller clutched in his hands, 11-year-old George Herrera hopped on the hood of a station wagon so he could paint over some graffiti he couldn’t reach.

Officer Ed Flacks brought his 2-year-old son, Ryan, to help.

“I want him to get an understanding that we need to get this thing stamped out,” Flacks said, his hand gripping Ryan’s as the two painted over graffiti on a trash dumpster.

Martha Verdugo, a three-year resident of the Burwood area, said she and her neighbors have begun to feel proud of their neighborhood.

Once word got out that the Neighborhood Watch groups were going to clean up the area, she said, “we all gathered to do some pre-cleaning on Friday. We’re willing to put in the work because we don’t like graffiti either.”

About a dozen children who belong to a youth club that tries to stop gang violence, some city employees including uniformed police officers and police Explorers also helped paint over the scribbles on the walls.

Luz Onesto watched her 5-year-old daughter, Shaina, paint over a graffiti-covered wooden beam. Shaina had a giant smile on her face. The girl had specs of beige paint all over her black hair and ruffled skirt.

“I want her to learn to take care of her neighborhood and take pride in it,” Onesto said.