Crestview Neighborhood Association Meeting August 9, 2005

Robertson Recreation Center 6:30 – 9:00 PM

In Attendance: 160+ Crestview residents

Susan Bursk in attendance for Jack Wiess.
Sargent Andrey Lewis, in service for 16 years.
Sr Lead Officer Allee, for Rancho Park/West Side Pavilion filling in for
Senior Lead Officer Rashad Shariff, on job for 11 years, 10 in WLA,
been Sr Lead Officer for 6yrs, brought Neighborhood Watch info.
Dan Whitley, Deputy City Attorney for the City of LA , assigned to the Safe
Neighborhoods division, nuisance abatement work—where narcotics are sold
, prostitution, general nuisances. Susan Strick, Dept City Atourney, neusence
issues that have criminal charges against them,
she is a city prosecutor, works with chronic problems, assigned to only our area;
310-445-1706—works with Sr. Lead Officers and specific problems being
investigated with police;
if we need additional enforcement, we can call her.

Lieutenant Don Layman, in charge of gangs and narcotics, rep. several people
who are on vacation this month; spent 5 years in Rampart and is not used to
such large gatherings—

310-444-1554; needs all help and info you can give me, even annonymously, glad to see
so many here, we have resources in this area—9 gang officers, 7 narcotics officers for all
of WLA; this reporting district is from Pico to 18 th and Robertson to LaCienega; I’m
used to being in an area where there’s 8 to 12 shootings a weekend… we are going
to be asking for some help and info.

Chuck Chavoor, Parks and Rec Department, on a personal level from ’79 to ’86 worked at
the Robertson Rec Center, my job is to provide recreational programs through staff
and volunteers, and to work as a team with law enforcement and any others.

School Police—Officer King, for Hamilton High, lives in the area and heard about the
meeting, that’s why he’s here, “I arrest just as many adults as juveniles”, we have
a partnership;

Officer Johnson—King’s partner; Dorsey/Crenshaw district, West division at
LA School Police.

Briefing of what happened: Lieutenant Layman—shooting happened on Sunday,
let’s say about 1pm—this person was arrested last Sunday—if you have any info
as to what specifically occurred and who did what, please call him—310-444-1554.
Gangs—“PAL 13” and PGB Crips, Hispanic and black gangs, respectively. They
play basketball here, and that’s what we would prefer them do. An argument
ensued between these 2 groups, PGB was beating up Pal 13, Pal 13 left and came
back with a gun. Gangs, most of the time they are not the best witnesses or victims
because they want to handle it there own way. They are not talking, including the
one who was arrested. No one was injured or hurt, or arrested for firing a weapon
in a deadly manner. A couple witnesses said they saw somebody with a rifle or a
shotgun. This lead us to an apartment building on Robertson. We found the
weapon and arrested the individual. The DA rejected the case because of lack
of evidence because no one could say that this person shot this weapon.
Lieutenant Layman asked the shooter to come talk to us tonight, but he refused.
We’re going to see if we can re-file the case, see if we can specifically get somebody
to point out who did it—I’m looking for help in that area. So far, there is no plans
that he knows of that PGB is planning on retaliation. On Monday we arrested
another individual who came out of the same building and threw a gun…
detectives and gang officers are working on it, they usually work just south of here
—18 th to Cadillac—the most violent crime in WLA. We have 10 gangs in WLA
and 9 of them are on this East side. Figures: 2005—8 gang crimes in our area;
2004—6 gang crimes (3 in the Airdrome/Pruess area); We take reports on shots fired
(evidence of something being hit); and shots heard. 2004—3 incidents; 2004--
14 narcotic arrests, 2005—14 (2 at 18 th and Robertson); assaults in the park
2005—5 assaults… There’s always going to be too many. One shooting is too many.
We have overtime funds, a certain amount of money, and it is directed to this area;
our bicycle units are concentrated on this area… this is the focus area of WLA;
I was here Sunday and Monday. Extremely quiet last Sunday. Mostly gang members
are 13 to 16. Deal with issues of people coming from outside of the area doing crime
—but that doesn’t happen much. A lot of people at those apartment buildings.
We’re trying to get them educated, so we can get the troublemakers evicted,
and working with the city to get more lighting in those areas.
(applause)
Q: Does that park close?
A: Yes, at 10:30pm . (near Cadillac)
Q: Is there any way to lock that gate?
Susan Strick: If the City of LA decides that leveling this park is the solution, then they
will do it. When you see the new graffiti, report it 311, and report to the LAPD
non-emergency number and report it as vandalism; Recently, it wasn’t taggers, it was
more aggressive graffiti. If you call LAPD, it reports as “more crime in the area” and they
have to devote more resources to the area. More people should be a part of the
park board/committee. There are children using the park in the morning;

A guy stood up to defend the park…best child care facility, etc.

Strick: The park is your park, it is a public park, we need feedback as to who uses it and
what people want. We have a drop in center here. Can we have resources here to better
staff it. This is the first I’ve heard that the lights are on at 1am ; maybe that’s for safety;
is it loitering if they’re standing on a public sidewalk? No. Disturbing the peace is. Take
more info—get the car license plate, and then the police can arrest the person, but I need
a witness and someone has to come forward to testify if I subpoena you. If your park is
your concern, then let’s get the park advisory board up and running (there were 2 people
who raised hands in group who had been to a previous meeting about the park). We have
an organization within the police department -- voluntary snoopers – who come to the area|
at different times and report what is happening at different times. But we will have the
Park Rangers come and lock the park when it’s closed.

Susan Bursk: There are Prop K funds to improve the park (3 million dollars), but
neighborhood objected to the parking problems. The money is sitting there doing
nothing. We’ve been
working with city on what to do with those Prop K funds to make it better for the
community. … We talked about doing voluntary surveillance, I’ve done it for LAPD
—the thing that I’d
like to see come out of tonight—put a task force together with what to do with the park.
Q: About figures—Can you share with us who were the victims of these assaults?
A: Gang against Gang.

Q: Solved any of these crimes? |
A: Limited in our investigation because we’re not getting cooperation.

Q: These kids are committing crimes against each other; why can’t we have some of
these officers reach out to these kids and play basketball with them? It’s important to
protect
the good kids too.
A: Well, Fred, who we drove out of the meeting, he knows them, he plays with them
everyday. They’re either going to play basketball, or they’re going to drive
around your neighborhood and commit crimes. I’m not sure we want the lights off
(agreement from the crowd), but
we want the gates locked. Because the next morning, you’re going to wake up and find
a new paint job.

Q: I’ve been here… it’s been 7 years and they still haven’t locked the gate. We’ve been
here, with the park, supporting the park, with the park officials. The city people aren’t
listening
, they aren’t responding. It’s not that we’re abandoning the park.
The city isn’t listening to us.

Q: What we have here are two crack houses—how does that happen? Across the street
from my salon are sex offenders and rehab people. We want to update from Robertson
all the way to the school, etc… we can drive these people out of here in 2 years.
A: I want those addresses..

Q: We gave those addresses to Susan in January. We wrote and sent copies to people
with addresses.

Q: One is a mental health center, one is a graduate house. There are no sex offenders there.
They are not sex offenders.

Q: Even in broad daylight there are plenty of people who hop the fence.

One of the benefits when I moved here in 1990 was that there was a park here,
but I don’t feel comfortable

walking by the park; I don’t feel comfortable walking by. Let’s take down thebasketball,
and put up tennis courts and charge $5/hour, that $$ going for wonderful
programs in the park.

Q: I live across the street from here. One thing we need is greater supervision here.
There are at least 2 serious fights once a month. The bike cops don’t see the
guys smoking dope behind the building.
A: If we don’t get information from you, we can’t do anything. Give me a call,
with a car, make, model and license plate number.

Q: We have done all this in the past… doubtless we need to keep doing it.
I’ve never gotten a follow up call. When we pave over the courts then we
need to build the courts somewhere else. They are a good tool. They work.

Q: I represent So Robertson Neighborhood Council… something on the horizon,
partnering with the police department with putting in a tv hub that goes right into
the police department. It would help the police department, so that even if no one
were here at 10pm , someone could be watching. It is not expensive--$120,000.
The expenditure of money and privacy issues need to be addressed.
We need to get feedback to see if the neighborhood wants it.

Officer Ali—We need to get involved, not shut it down. The reason this man is mad
is because he’s here and personally involved with these kids. There are a lot of kids
who do use the facility. If we shut it down, we are giving up on our community.
We need to get together. There are 160 of us here now [at the neighborhood meeting]
—we are here now using the facilities—there are no gang members here now.
We [LAPD] are 1200 officers short… from PCH to National we have 14 officers on patrol.
Where the community wants us, that’s where we’re going to go. Be vocal. Call 311.
If the light is not working on your street, call 311. If there’s a refrigerator dumped,
call sanitation… we’re asking for a partnership. Marching out there, showing support.
When there’s a shooting, plan a walk through in the park… take back what is yours.
It’s this park that’s our focus. From there we grow into a problem solving community.

Beth: Thanks for coming out and showing your concern. I’m going to ask you to
do something else. There are more of us than there are of them. Obviously there’s
a lot of passion, a lot of ideas, there’s a lot happening here. I invite all 160 of you
to be on this committee, and see how we can better utilize the park. There were
13 community members here to renovate the stop in location. There are a lot of bike
units here. We’re working with SoRo. If you could write down if you’re willing to be
on the Robertson Rec Center Committee, please do so. Working together we can
make a difference.

Gordon Dupris (works at the Robertson Rec Center ): I was sent here for a reason,
to bring back rec programs to your center. Toddlers’ On the Move class, etc.
to bring more programs and planning to the center. I hear the anger… a small fraction
of the kids cause problems… if you come out now, you’ll see that all courts
are being used, by young and old. Tearing the courts down is not the answer.
There are different ways to address the problems—one way is to come to the park
and use it, have your kids play here. When I first encountered Fred, he talks to
every body. He knows every body. He got an award for being a volunteer.
The programs are coming. I’m speaking with Beth Ryan and Chuck ???
It takes time for things to happen. I know a handful of you, I’m here Tues-Sat
and I haven’t seen a lot of you. You can’t intimidate someone who’s not here/not…
pointed out Martin [in the audience], a WWII veteran, who introduces himself
to everyone. All he wants to do is meet the patrons of the park. I think it’s a shame
that you are afraid of your own park. This is your park. Become involved—
it is your responsibility. The new programs are not going to work if you don’t show up.
Meet some of these kids, they’re actually pretty nice.

Q: I come very early in the morning. We do need to come up here more. There is
so much real estate dedicated to basketball. We should come to you and tell you
what we need. I brang my dog here, but the grass isn’t very good. Maybe a dog park
. [“No”s from the audience] We need to incorporate everybody. Something different
for everyone. I know there’s daycare, … we need a better layout and facilities
that more people can participate in.

Gordon Dupris: Please come to your park. Do not be afraid. These people are
actually nice… bringing back programs for kids and seniors. I’m here to help
improve the program that is here for the park.

Q: There’s nothing for me to do here.

Susan Stick: People used to come to the park just to relax and do nothing.
You could come and just hang out, bring a book. There are benches…

Q: A few years ago we had the Crestview patrol, maybe we could have something
similar in the park—organize times when different people are going to come to the
park. Once we invigorate the park, we can work on the whole neighborhood.

Q: I bring my 3-year-old. My friends and I meet with our kids and we have never
had a problem.

Q: I moved here 8 months ago. My son and I sold lemonade to raise money
for the stop in station. It’s a mixed bag here. [stories about selling lemonade]
We came to play and garbage was thrown at us… We need a contractor,
because we need a big window installed at the stop in station so the police
there can see the park when they are there.

Q: Talk about the burglaries…

Susan Strick: In Summertime there are more burglaries…

Q: Who is doing the burglaries?
A: Lieutenant: Mostly Juveniles. There are organized rings around Sunset, but not
here that we know of. People leave windows open. It’s hot, and windows are left open.
You’d be surprised. When you leave, close all the windows. Lock up your house.

Q: We need to organize—I’ve been here 30 years and no one has told me about any
committees.

Dupris: I’m here from 8:30am to 5:00pm . Basketball mostly gets started up after 2pm .
Come to me if there’s a problem. I’m always walking around or in the office. But
I want to say this. People come to me and point out people smoking or drinking
in the park. I’m not a police officer. I approach them; I make sure my badge is showing.
But I’m not going to put myself in a position to get in physical harm. You wouldn’t do it
either. I say to them, “There are some people here who don’t like what you’re doing.
Have a nice day.” Sometimes they stop. Sometimes they tell me to go bleep myself….
There used to be programs here that you couldn’t believe. We’re trying to bring
all that back. There are piano lessons here, sewing.

Officer King (school police): I want to give you my number—213-625-6631.
There are truancy laws. If there is a kid on the street on a school day, call me.
We’ll pick them up, cuff them, site them, and give them a ride back to school.
There are curfew laws—anyone under 18 after 10pm —they’ll be cuffed, sited,
and driven home.

Meeting adjourned.

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