Sunland-Tujunga Residents March to Show Their Pride in Community

Sick of insulting nicknames and negative publicity, dozens of residents marched Saturday to promote the virtues of their community and spotlight local efforts to control crime.

More than 130 paraded down Foothill Boulevard on Saturday in the first Sunland-Tujunga Pride March.

“I’ve grown up here,” said marcher Valerie Statland, 14, a Tujunga native. “I’ve been able to see the changes for the worse, and it’s not right. I have friends who’ve been mugged. It’s getting to be like South-Central.

“We’re here to say we’re going to do something about it.”

The focus of the pride march was to accentuate the positive and peel off the unwanted labels that have long stuck to these two communities, nestled at the base of the Verdugo Hills and home to a population of about 85,000.

Some marchers say they are prepared to face down drug dealers and abusers, gang members and others who pose a threat to the peace and stability of the neighborhood. And, they say, the faceoff has already begun.

Linda Nelson, founder of the Tujunga Crime Stoppers, said her group has been instrumental in persuading apartment building owners to clean up their properties and evict residents convicted of drug dealing or other crimes. Its efforts, combined with the 35-unit Neighborhood Watch and a corps of red-jacketed Citizens Patrol volunteers, have made a difference, residents and police officials say. Nelson’s group patrols crime-battered neighborhoods in cars, using cellular phones to call in suspicious activities.

Police say the community initiatives are working.

“One of the big problems here is narcotics,” said Los Angeles Police Department Officer Ernst Cabriales, who has manned a substation operated by the Foothill Division in Sunland for six months. “For some reason, the drug of choice here is methamphetamines. There’s a higher rate of theft caused by some of the users, who steal to support their habit. But it’s not the entire area, it’s only a problem in isolated areas, especially around Little Landers Park. That’s where the Neighborhood Watch groups have really had success.”

Cabriales said events such as the pride march, which followed a route south on Foothill Boulevard to Commerce Avenue and concluded with a rally at Little Landers Park, are important because they bring the community together. The Sunland-Tujunga Coordinating Council and the Rotary Club sponsored the event.

Store owners said citizen patrols have had more impact on residential areas, but believe they have indirectly had a positive effect on commercial areas too.

“We were robbed several times before we put up the gates,” said Betty Merithew, owner of Merithew True Value on Commerce Avenue near Foothill Boulevard. “But nothing has happened in the last two years. We had our window smashed in and some things were stolen. The community patrols seem to have cleaned it up.”