"It's notable how it all got better," one resident said. "You don't see the guys in the street. There's no races, no noise at night. That anxiety, that desperate feeling of wanting to leave -- it's gone."
Violent crime -- which includes homicide, rape, robbery and aggravated assault -- has dropped significantly in recent years, according to LAPD statistics. On Drew Street and the immediate surrounding neighborhood, the number of violent incidents has fallen from 98 in 2000 to 26 last year.
Recently, police solved a robbery of a nearby store largely based on information collected from residents. "That wouldn't have occurred a year or two years ago," said Capt. Bill Murphy of the Northeast Division.
Teachers at nearby Fletcher Drive Elementary School find their students better rested now that gunshots and police helicopters don't wake them at night, said Maria Manzur, the school's principal.
"There's a more calming effect throughout the school," she said.
On Wednesday, police and city officials were eager to cast the drop in neighborhood crime and the demolition of the Satellite House as a sort of Drew Street victory.
But some residents fear that the gang culture hasn't been entirely uprooted in a neighborhood crowded with apartments and poor people.
They also fear that police will eventually be drawn elsewhere.
But Police Chief William J. Bratton tried to allay those fears Wednesday. His department is hiring 1,000 new officers, he said, and many are expected to be placed in highly stressed neighborhoods such as Drew Street.
"We have never left," he said. "We're here to stay."
sam.quinones@latimes.com
