51 Vie for 3 Slots on Simi Valley Anti-Gang Unit

This city was supposed to be safe, the residents said.

So when gang violence flared and graffiti blossomed right in front of their children, they jumped in by the dozens to help.

More than 50 residents--among them housewives, firefighters, ex-gang members and LAPD officers--have volunteered to serve on the city’s newly re-formed anti-gang task force.

Only three seats are open.

“That’s the most the city has ever gotten for any kind of volunteer program,” marveled Councilwoman Barbara Williamson. “The downside is there’s only three vacancies and we have all these wonderful people.”

Next week, Williamson and Councilman Paul Miller will interview the candidates one by one and pare the list from 51 to three.

Those who cannot make it to the task force’s twice-monthly afternoon meetings (every other Tuesday from 3 to 5 p.m.) will not make the cut, Williamson said.

Others, she said, may be turned down in favor of candidates with more desirable qualifications, such as those with experience in law enforcement--or experience in gangs.

“We’ve had some people who’ve applied for this who were past members of gangs, and I think it’s important to get feedback from them as far as their perspective is concerned,” Williamson said. “If you’re going to have heart surgery, you go to a heart surgeon for advice.”

The three who are chosen and later confirmed by the entire City Council will join police officers, parks officials, social workers and educators on the task force in writing a long-term, citywide plan to quell gang activity.

The city will urge the rest of the unchosen volunteers to bolster Simi Valley’s Neighborhood Watch programs, she said.

The applicants share the goal of curing Simi Valley’s gang virus, but they signed up for a variety of reasons:

* Gerardo Garcia says he settled in the nation’s third-safest large city 18 months ago to escape the rough streets of his youth in Pacoima and raise a family without fear of gang violence--only to see a spate of drive-by shootings and beatings shatter Simi’s suburban calm.

* Barbara Zaslow said she was shocked when she and her daughter drove past a brawl on the way to school one day.

* And Hugh Chisolm just got fed up with the graffiti. “I hate graffiti,” said the 69-year-old retired auto parts salesman. “This is what I consider a civilized community, and I would like to keep it that way and make my contribution.”

Zaslow said she is glad so many residents are competing for the three task force slots.

“I think we have to start educating these kids that are street-educated already and talk to them like human beings, instead of, ‘C’mon honey, that’s not nice,’ ” said Zaslow, 46, an interpreter for the deaf.

“Maybe we need to get a busload of them and go down to the jail,” she suggested. “Maybe we need to see what happens to people who disobey the law and do graffiti and do drive-by shootings. Maybe we need to go to the hospital and see what a gunshot wound looks like. . . . Maybe we need some reality.”

Garcia grew up in the 1970s in Pacoima, where knife-wielding gang members on his block sometimes left rivals bleeding on the sidewalk.

“Now, everybody has a gun,” said Garcia, 31, an electrical engineer at Point Mugu Naval Base. “I grew up around gangs and drugs, and due to my strong family, we never got involved in what I saw gangs do to the neighborhood. I really felt positive that Simi Valley is going about it in the right way, trying to stop it before it starts.”

The city’s gang troubles had lain dormant for more than two years until April 1, when an alleged gang member shot a rival to death.