BURBANK : Valley Is Model in Anti-Gang Effort

The city of San Jose, inspired by similar programs in Burbank and the San Fernando Valley, has obtained a court order banning suspected gang members from a four-block area near downtown that they consider their turf.

Superior Court Judge Robert Foley issued a preliminary injunction Wednesday banning 19 members of the Sureno gang from congregating in the Rocksprings neighborhood, which has the highest number of gang-related crimes in the city, according to City Atty. Joan Gallo.

Foley also issued a temporary restraining order banning five other suspected gang members from the neighborhood, pending an April 15 hearing.

“We think this will be a very effective tool,” Gallo said. “Residents there have been under siege. But we think this will have finally broken the cycle.”

The San Jose order is modeled closely along the lines of a similar court order adopted last October banning 88 suspected gang members from a Burbank street. The city of Los Angeles is seeking a similar court order in the Panorama City area, which would ban 350 gang members from a neighborhood just west of the now-closed General Motors auto plant.

The American Civil Liberties Union has threatened to file suit against the Panorama City proposal on the grounds that the order would ban constitutionally protected activities, such as free association, free speech and freedom from unwarranted search and seizure.