Anti-Crime Rally Supports Plan for Police Station : Panorama City: About 100 take part in march designed to warn lawbreakers that the public is fed up.

About 100 San Fernando Valley residents, more concerned with crime in their neighborhoods than with hovering rain clouds, took to the streets Saturday morning in Panorama City to declare their support for police and send a message to local ne’er-do-wells.

“Simply put, we’re mad as hell, and we want our community back now,” said Paula Rangel of the Mid-Valley Coordinating Council, which organized the event.

Under ominous skies that would open up on them before the rally ended, residents of several mid-Valley communities gathered at Sepulveda Park for the “Take Back Our Community” march.

The purpose of the showing was to demonstrate support for a bond measure that would help fund, among other things, a Los Angeles Police Department station in the mid-Valley and to warn criminals that residents are fed up.

“We want the troublemakers to know how many of us are watching,” said Leslie Timmons Yamashita, director of the Panorama City West Neighborhood Assn. “We’re out watching, and we’re making reports.”

After speeches supporting community involvement in crime-fighting efforts and the bond measure, including a talk by City Councilman Richard Alarcon, who authored the measure, the group marched through neighborhoods around the 15000 block of Parthenia Street.

Many carried placards warning criminals to beware, demanding a safe park or encouraging residents to support police officers.