Taking back their streets

Gang intervention volunteers and residents knocked on doors and passed out fliers in the northeast Los Angeles neighborhood of Glassell Park on Saturday, trying to muster support for a month of public events aimed at wresting control of the community from the deadly Avenues gang.

Most noticeably absent were the people closest to the latest violence: residents of the two blocks of densely packed houses and apartments at Drew Street and Estara Avenue.

Thousands were stranded in their homes there two weeks ago during a police shootout with gang members that left one dead. That incident followed a fatal drive-by shooting in nearby Cypress Park.

“They’re scared to get involved because the gang still controls Drew Street,” said Caroline Aguirre, 63, a retired parole agent who grew up in the community -- north of the 2 Freeway below the hilly Forest Lawn Memorial Park.

Thirty-year resident Elizabeth Guzman, 60, has stopped taking out her trash after dark and has given up after-dinner walks with her 29-year-old son, Xavier Rodarte.

“It’s become lawless, with no one to take control,” said the UCLA concessions worker as she handed out fliers on the corner of Drew and Estara.

“For decades they’ve been saying, ‘Don’t come to this block,’ ” she told Argelia Melendez, who lives in a two-story apartment building at the corner.

“We know it’s a hot area,” Melendez replied in Spanish, “but our economic situation doesn’t allow us to do more to protect ourselves.”

Some volunteers from neighboring communities who saw the area closed off with police tape last month have started to avoid the area.

Gabriel Quintana, 16, of Silver Lake, used to ride his bike through on his way to his Eagle Rock high school. After the shootout, his mother made him start taking the bus. Now he thinks he should have read more into the graffiti and shoes hung over telephone wires that he saw along his route.

As he went door to door, Quintana said he hoped that people would be inspired to organize against the gangs and take back the neighborhood. But it’s a tough proposition.

“A lot of people are frightened to speak out against the gangs because retaliation is a real problem,” he said.

Officials have scheduled a public safety summit, workshops on gang intervention and community organizing, and a job fair for upcoming Saturdays this month in an effort to show a commitment to the neighborhood.

“We’re trying to show a presence of a different kind,” said Kabira Stokes, a field deputy for Councilman Eric Garcetti. Stokes led one of the eight groups through the neighborhood.

“It’s been a tragic loss on both sides of the conflict,” Sgt. Roberto Alaniz, of the Los Angeles Police Department’s Northeast Division, told the people in the auditorium at Washington Irving Middle School before they fanned out to cover each house in a nine-block area. The school was locked down into the evening after the shootout Feb. 21.

Guzman said that living for decades in the area has taught her that change comes slowly. Even so, there are some signs that the neighborhood has a chance at becoming more hospitable for families. A supermarket has opened within walking distance, and Juntos Park two blocks away is relatively new. But the park’s expanse of grass and gushing fountain for children to run through has been empty lately, she said.

“Today, neighbors won’t even come out from their houses to talk,” she said. “I just hope something good comes of this.”

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tony.barboza@latimes.com