A judge has made some exceptions to the latest injunction issued against gang members in the city, offering a way around a couple of the sweeping rules he recently granted at the request of the Los Angeles City Attorney's office.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge David P. Yaffe agreed to a preliminary injunction that restricts the activities of members of the Temple Street gang, which is said to consist of an estimated 250 members who operate various illegal schemes in a territory that includes a significant portion of the Silverlake district northwest of the Downtown and smaller parts of the neighboring Echo Park and Westlake districts. The injunction marked the 65th currently in place against various street gangs in Los Angeles.
Yaffe offered the possible exceptions on the curfew and the prohibition against associating with other gang members, however. The judge ruled that gang members can seek permission from the City Attorney's Office for exemptions from the curfew if they can show they have legitimate reasons to be on the streets during that time, such as going to and coming from work, attending a legitimate entertainment events, or moving about in response to an emergency.
The judge also established a provision under which gang members can ask to be exempt from the restriction regarding any association with other gang members if they live with other family members who are also in the organization.
Those requests for exceptions can be made to the City Attorney's office, according to the ruling. Yaffe said he would also consider direct requests in instances where the City Attorney's office denies such exceptions.
Temple Street is a mostly Latino gang whose members engage in various crimes from street robberies to drug dealing, according to the City Attorney's office. Law-enforcement officials contend that the gang operates in a territory bounded roughly by Silverlake Boulevard and Virgil Avenue on the west; Alvarado Street on the east; Reservoir Street on the north; and 3rd Street on the south.
The request for the injunction followed recent incidents where members of Temple Street and several of the other gangs have made public displays of what appears to be some ongoing dispute. The activity has included various graffiti markings emblazoned on buildings in the area and sometimes cross out by rivals--an act that is sometimes a signal of heightening tensions between or among the illicit enterprises. The City Attorney's office described the situation as "war" between Temple Street and other local gangs.
Yaffe faced seven members of the gang at the December 30 hearing where he agreed to grant the injunction against them, noting that nobody targeted by the action had filed any opposition. The judge then ruled that members of the gang will be subject to a 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew within the zone designated by the City Attorney's office, and prohibited from associating with each other in public, intimidating witnesses, and selling or possessing drugs or weapons, among other conditions.
The efforts to restrict the gang members come in an area of the city that became a leading center of the trend toward gentrification in the year's of the red-hot real estate market that preceded the current mortgage meltdown and general economic downturn.
Both the Silverlake and Echo Park district saw the trend of gentrification drive prices up and many longtime working-class residents out of the neighborhoods. A number of bargain retailers gave way to hip boutiques, and shot-and-beer joints yielded to hipster clubs. Some renters found themselves looking for new addresses in other neighborhoods as landlords fixed up old buildings with an eye toward higher rents from young creative types priced out of Westside markets. Tensions rose, sometimes following ethnic lines, with many Latino/Americans feeling aggrieved as European/Americans took their places.
The real estate market rolled along, sweeping most symptoms of the tension aside. But not everyone picked up and left, and the economic slump that has tightened up budgets for the gentry and working class alike appears to have brought an increase in crime that has city officials looking harder at some of the gangs that have outlived gentrification.
The recent gang activity is likely to test the staying power of gentrification, which brought many newcomers who took an active role in the community, with public safety at the top of many of their lists.
Sam Hassan is a writer for the L.A. Garment & Citizen.
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