HAHN FOR MAYOR
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Tarzana, CA 91356

Pacoima Injuction Targets Local Gang

MARCH 22, 2001
LOS ANGELES DAILY NEWS

PACOIMA -- They've shot girls, killed teens, dealt drugs, committed felonies and bullied families in a neighborhood long marred by graffiti and gang violence, police said.

Their reign of terror and mayhem prompted Los Angeles officials to announce a crackdown Wednesday on the notorious Pacoima Project Boys gang with a pending court order barring top gangbangers from gathering on city streets.

The abatement lawsuit by City Attorney Jim Hahn would, if approved by the courts, drive gang members from a less-than-a-square-mile war zone where gang-related gunfire raked a 9-year-old girl and killed a 15-year-old boy last fall.

"Our young people should be shooting baskets in our parks, not getting shot at by gang members," Hahn, a candidate for mayor, said Wednesday at a news conference at David M. Gonzales Pacoima Recreation Center attended by City Councilman Alex Padilla and Los Angeles police.

"For the sake of our children and for our families, we are taking our neighborhood back."

Some, however are concerned an injunction against gang members is a Band-Aid against crime. What's needed are jobs and activities for kids, they say, not possible civil rights abuses.

"I get mixed emotions," said "Blinky" Rodriguez, head of Communities in Schools, an intervention program for potential gangbangers. "The downside is that the community may be suspect.

"What happens is that maybe someone else with a shaved head will be under suspicion without probable cause."

The injunction proposed for 15 leading Project Boys would be the third to fight gangs in the San Fernando Valley and one of five being sought by the Los Angeles Police Department.

For residents of this war-torn neighborhood, it couldn't come soon enough.

"It was terrible over there," said Sandra Valadez, 40, standing with two of her eight children at Pacoima Elementary, located next to the recreation center. "We had to sleep on the floor so the gun bullets wouldn't go through us. You can't go nowhere at night."

Hahn's lawsuit charges that the 20-year-old gang with an estimated 300 members is a criminal band and public nuisance known for its brazen bullying of its Pacoima turf.

"I'm happy about it -- about getting rid of the Project Boys," said Jimmy Mederos, 10. "I saw them with a gun, in the apartments over there -- they shot up the sky."

"A gang member shot his brother ... right next to my house, he was bleeding a lot," said Jimmy's brother, Charly, 12. "I wouldn't like that for my future."

To fight gangs, injunctions help, but more is needed, such as LAPD prevention programs, said Lt. Gary Nanson, head of the Valley's gang units of about 70 full-time officers.

"We're just not willing anymore to have our officers drive up and down the street and stop gang members," he said. "We've done it for 30 to 40 years, and its minimally effective.

"We have to think out of the box."