Officials Promise to Help Cypress Park Fight Gangs

To calm the fears of increasingly angry residents in Cypress Park frustrated over gang violence, an array of local officials have pledged to combat the situation.

Their first step, announced at a community meeting Thursday night at Aragon Avenue Elementary School, is to stage a community parade “to install pride and to let everybody know that Cypress Park isn’t dead,” said state Sen. Richard G. Polanco (D-Los Angeles).

Polanco, who represents Cypress Park and other Northeast Los Angeles communities, said the parade will be held in July but that details have yet to be finalized.

The lawmaker and others decided to hold the parade after The Times reported last week that the local Chamber of Commerce canceled the annual Cinco de Mayo parade because of fears of gang violence.

Polanco and other officials who represent the area--Democratic Assemblyman Antonio Villaraigosa, Los Angeles school board member David Tokofsky and Los Angeles City Councilman Mike Hernandez--attended a meeting of about 80 members of the Cypress Park Advisory Council to reassure them.

“Don’t lose hope,” Polanco told the audience.

Polanco repeated himself when a longtime Cypress Park resident, Carlos Torres, stood up and told the meeting: “I’m running out of hope. All [the anti-gang remedies outlined at the meeting are] for down the road. We need help now.”

Since the shooting death last Sept. 17 of 3-year-old Stephanie Kuhen, which drew international attention, residents have been angry at the adverse publicity. Five gang-related homicides have occurred this year in the square-mile community despite extra law enforcement measures implemented after the girl’s death.

Unlike a similar meeting in October during which Hernandez came in for some heated criticism, Thursday night’s gathering listened quietly as the councilman told of various city programs, including the hiring of more police officers, initiated at his insistence.

He said residents need to pitch in to help solve the gang problem. “I’m not going to solve the problem [by myself],” he said.

Police officials from the LAPD’s Northeast station, which patrols Cypress Park, outlined a new program of setting up video cameras in areas prone to gang activity. That idea was well-received by the crowd.

Lt. Raul Vega, Northeast’s head of detectives, asked for the audience’s help in the search for the gunmen responsible for two of the five slayings in the Cypress Park area.

Art Pulido, chamber vice president and head of the Cypress Park Advisory Council, called the meeting a promising start for what he hoped would be an aggressive campaign to fight gang violence.

The officeholders were invited back for a council meeting May 22 to discuss specific anti-gang solutions.