‘The situation never seems to improve.’

Here are a sample of the comments readers posted on the Homicide Report regarding the gang violence and police shootout Thursday in northeast L.A. that left two dead. Readers offered their own experiences living in the neighborhood and called on residents to help reduce the violence:

“I live around the corner from Drew Street and can attest that the situation never seems to improve. The city has forced abatements of buildings on that street in years past, boarding them up and posting their notices. A year will go by, or so, and what do you see? That same building wide open again, nothing has changed, same ill looking young thugs hanging in the yards and on the corners. Tennis shoes and stuffed animals hangin’ from the intersection power lines, letting their ‘customers’ know they are here and open for business. The same ridiculous cycle of tagging walls/painting over the walls, tagging the walls/painting the walls, tagging the walls/painting . . .”

-- JJ

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“Until yesterday, when I told people I lived in Glassell Park, they said ‘Where?’ -- now they won’t need to ask. Amazingly, it is possible to live here and not know that this happens -- this police shootout happened just a few minutes from me, but I never heard a thing, I just saw it in the paper the next day. Apart from occasional graffiti on my street there is little evidence of gang activity, nor have I ever heard gunfire. Kids play in the street, neighbors are friendly and most people say hello when they see you. It’s a decent neighborhood of working-class Latinos and incoming middle-class whites.”

-- GP resident

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“I lived in Glassell Park for three years after a 15-year [stint in] Silver Lake. I went there for the lower rents following the sale of my home. The nightmare of the neighborhood visited me on my first night there as gunshots rang out in the early hours of the morning. Not the kind of small weapons but the kind heard in war movies . . . Police helicopter flyovers were bizarre frequent light shows. My co-tenants were mostly the Latino working poor. The children dressed in school uniforms, up and ready to go each morning -- parents in tow. How they were able to face each morning, ready to study following the routine shootings is a testament to their courage and will to survive. I had the financial resources to leave . . . They do not! Shame on our city -- we have the resources to end this! Pity on the families -- particularly the children for having to endure this reality.”

-- John

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“The best thing that can be done in this situation is give the residents of the entire area a 2- 3-years advance notice and then tear the neighborhood down. Turn it into a public park or controlled-rent housing. Offer programs to relocate willing families in as diverse and distant areas of California.”

-- Sean

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“I’m [speaking] to the community of Northeast Los Angeles. Please we must come together and help stop these shameless acts! It’s claiming countless lives. These are our people.”

-- Armanda