Housing Project to Be Gated

In an effort to cut down on drive-by shootings and reduce crime in Boyle Height’s Aliso Village, city Housing Authority officials will install iron fences and gates in all but one of the housing project’s entrances.

There were more than 35 shootings in Aliso Village last year and six people were killed, Housing Authority Police Chief Ray Palacios said. About half of the incidents were drive-by shootings. So far this year, one person has been killed by gunfire and six shooting incidents have occurred, he said.

“Our data indicate that a majority of our crime problems are caused by outsiders who don’t live in the community,” Palacios said. “Controlling access will reduce the number of violent crimes in the development.”

With only one way of driving in or out of the project, outside gang members will have fewer ways of committing crimes there and running away, said LAPD Det. Bill Eagleson, coordinator of Hollenbeck’s CRASH unit, which also polices Aliso.

Built in 1942, Aliso’s 685 dilapidated units were declared unsafe by Housing Authority inspectors last year because of earthquake damage and wear and tear over the last 57 years. Some of the units have been demolished and others are vacant and boarded up. New units will be built in their place.

Many residents back the fences and gates as a necessary safety measure, but a small, vocal group considers the action misguided.

David Ochoa, a leader of Aliso’s tenant group, said three community meetings were held in which most of the residents approved of the fencing plan.

Maria Flores, a mother of four who has lived in Aliso Village for nine years, said she saw two men die in front of her home. One of them was a victim of a drive-by shooting. She fears for her children, who have to walk to and from schools, she said.

“I think it’s going to be much better [with the fences],” Flores said. “Some months ago there was a drive-by shooting in front of the [elementary] school. I think that with the roadblocks it’s going to be harder for gang members to do them.”

Utah Elementary School is located within the housing project.

Gloria Espinoza, a 23-year-old mother who grew up in Aliso, said she doesn’t think the fences will help deter attacks. “It’s only going to make things worse. I think [outside gang members] will just wait outside and stake [local gang members] out,” Espinoza said.

She also said outside gang members will still be able to come down from an adjacent freeway hill to commit shootings.

Members of Union de Vecinos, a group that opposes the demolition of Aliso Village, criticized the fences, saying residents were not given a say about the fences and that they will slow access for ambulances in emergencies.

“It doesn’t make sense,” said Elizabeth Blaney, a Vecinos community organizer. “A lot of people in the back part of the projects suffer from diabetes and heart problems. The response time for ambulances will be affected.”

But city officials say most emergency vehicles will continue to use the Clarence Street entrance off 1st Street, which will remain open. Palacios said firefighters have been advised about the fences and will have keys to get into Aliso Village entrances with gates that will roll open.

Three of the five entrances affected will have rolling gates that can be opened.

The Housing Authority’s Palacios said the fences will also help police officers keep squatters and hustlers from setting up drug houses in the 160 units that are vacant and waiting to be demolished, Palacios said.

He added: “The problem with the vacant units is not going to be from the people living there, but from people from the outside.”