Fighting Gangs and Reclaiming Parks : City Atty. Hahn is right to target--carefully and constitutionally--a specific, troubled case

The City of Los Angeles is rightly testing the constitutional waters again by attempting to use a controversial method of stemming gang violence: banning such a group from an area it seeks to control. This time, the area is Blythe Street, between Van Nuys Boulevard and Willis Avenue in Panorama City. Police call it the most crime-ridden stretch of the San Fernando Valley; to residents, it is a neighborhood under siege.

As described by law enforcement officials, the gang operating on Blythe Street behaves like an occupation force. Lookouts are stationed on rooftops while other members “patrol” below. When fleeing from police, Los Angeles City Atty. James K. Hahn reports, gang members sometimes demand entry to apartments and then retaliate against those residents who refuse.

To combat this and to help reclaim the street for law-abiding residents, the city attorney’s office is seeking a court order banning from Blythe Street about 350 gang members between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m. During that time, it would be a crime for gang members to appear in public with each other. In this respect, the effort would be similar to court orders and ordinances briefly applied in public parks in San Fernando and Pomona and on West Elm Avenue in Burbank.

These efforts have yet to receive a sustained legal challenge from civil libertarians. An attempt by the American Civil Liberties Union to block enforcement of the San Fernando city ordinance against gang activity in Las Palmas Park was initially rejected by a judge. The ACLU then dropped its lawsuit when the ordinance expired.

The ultimate decision on whether such gang bans meet constitutional standards will be reached in the courts. Until then, officials are right to proceed with an effort that seems to have produced measurable results in the past.

Many such efforts across the nation have failed when courts struck down ordinances on the ground that they were too broad, too vague or subject to abuse. In an attempt to avoid such problems, Los Angeles officials would first serve Blythe Street gang members with written notification of the ban, giving those notified the chance to challenge the assertion that they belong to a gang. Only those gang members who had been served would be subject to the ban.

In Burbank, a similar effort was credited with eliminating major gang incidents. In San Fernando, residents were able to reclaim Las Palmas Park as their own. Blythe Street deserves a similar opportunity.