Month: April 2007

Vose St. between Kester and Sepulveda, one block south of Sherman Way, is paved in two-lane concrete with an asphalt meridian.

There are still several homes, set far back from the street on large lots, with old chain link fences, big backyards, fruit trees, rose gardens and more grass than drywall.

But most of the large lots have been sold, and many of the ones that remain have “for sale” signs in front.

The new houses, predictably, are peach and pink, in the garage mahal style. Many have large security fences with menacing dogs in the front yard. There are little trees planted in the narrow space between the curb and the sidewalk.

There are Mercedes, Land Rovers and other expensive cars parked on some driveways. Affluence and fears for personal security are evident. This is an area where murder and prostitution thrive as walnut trees once did.

Vose is long and architecturally fragmented. It is doubtful that even next-door neighbors know each other. Cars speed down as a cut-through from Kester to Sepulveda. At the western end at Sepulveda, is a clean and well maintained shopping center with Jons, Bank of America, CVS and Washington Mutual.

Man, 18, Shot In DMV Parking Lot In Van Nuys
3 Suspects Arrested After Leading Police On Pursuit

(CBS) VAN NUYS, Calif. A man, 18, was seriously wounded at a Department of Motor Vehicles parking lot in Van Nuys Sunday, and three men who led police on a half-hour chase were taken into custody in connection with the shooting, an officer said.

The teenager was shot about 5:30 p.m. outside the DMV office at 14920 Vanowen St., Sgt. Dave Cuato of the LAPD’s Van Nuys station said.

He was hospitalized in serious but stable condition, Officer Mike Lopez of the Media Relations Section said.

A motive for the shooting was not immediately known. Three men 18 to 25 years old suspected in the shooting led police on a chase that lasted more than 30 minutes, Lopez said.

At one point the car slowed down and one of the passengers got out, but was taken into custody a short time later.

The chase ended when the car crashed into a pole after being struck by another vehicle at Terra Bella Street and Arleta Avenue in Pacoima, Lt. Robert Marino of the LAPD’s Foothill station said.

It was unclear if anyone was injured in the accident, Lopez said. The three suspects were expected to be booked on suspicion of murder, he said.

This past Sunday, many residents of the Bassett/Cedros neighborhood in Van Nuys, whose homes are under the threat of LAUSD condemnation, held a block party in unity against the plan to destroy their neighborhood. LAUSD wants to build a school on this land using bulldozers, attorneys and eminent domain.

I met people who have lived there for many years, an island of stability surrounded by the blight of Van Nuys. I was shown around the home of Norma Jean, who moved here in 1970, and is now leading an effort to fight the death ray aimed at her pocket by the massive money machine of LAUSD invaders.

Van Nuys has many, many undesirable slum apartments and broken down mini-malls covered in trash, graffiti and obsolescence. There are enormous industrial areas, empty parking lots, vast sections of junk along Sepulveda, Vanowen and Van Nuys Boulevard. The entire area needs new housing and schools, which naturally should be built in conjunction.

Drug dealers, gang bangers, prostitutes and illegal immigrants who pack the third world apartments will be left alone…..while hard-working homeowners are kicked out! How can this benefit Los Angeles?

Somehow the city thinks that tearing down a longtime village full of elderly and struggling middle-class homeowners is desirable.

Shame on LAUSD, shame on Mayor Villaraigosa and shame on anyone who can turn a blind eye and deaf ear to the insanity of clearing out neatly kept homes and paying rock bottom prices to those “grateful” enough to take the money for what they have saved their entire lives to keep.