Mar Vista Gardens Housing Project

They are springing up throughout Southern California, private, gated communities with security guards manning the entrances and towering fences encircling the property, luxury developments whose exclusivity stems from who they are able to exclude. Los Angeles' newest gated community is an entirely different type of place. Mar Vista Gardens is one of the city's 21 public housing projects, a place plagued by gangs, drive-by shootings and drug trafficking.

In the latest twist to a decade-old saga, residents of a 1950s-era Mar Vista apartment village urged officials Thursday to revisit demolition of their rent-controlled property to make room for a large new residential complex. While the city of Los Angeles years ago approved replacement of the 82-unit Westdale Village Apartments with a 204-unit project, residents hope to make developers set aside 29 apartments for current residents who are elderly--as old as 101.

In the latest twist to a decade-old saga, residents of a 1950s-era Mar Vista apartment village urged officials Thursday to revisit demolition of their rent-controlled property to make room for a large new residential complex. While the city of Los Angeles years ago approved replacement of the 82-unit Westdale Village Apartments with a 204-unit project, residents hope to make developers set aside 29 apartments for current residents who are elderly--as old as 101.

For two straight Saturdays, the 9-year-old boy asked to borrow some toy wrestling figures. And both times, Florencio Orozco Jr. said he didn't have any to lend. But after seeing the boy sadly watching other kids play, Florencio, 15, decided he had to do something. So he spent $12--money his mother had given him to get something for himself--to buy the youngster two plastic wrestlers. "He was real happy," Florencio says. "He told me thanks and he told the other workers here thanks too.

For two straight Saturdays, the 9-year-old boy asked to borrow some toy wrestling figures. And both times, Florencio Orozco Jr. said he didn't have any to lend. But after seeing the boy sadly watching other kids play, Florencio, 15, decided he had to do something. So he spent $12--money his mother had given him to get something for himself--to buy the youngster two plastic wrestlers. "He was real happy," Florencio says. "He told me thanks and he told the other workers here thanks too.

It took a bullet hole through a pre-kindergarten classroom window and 4-year-olds pressed to the floor during gang gunfire to galvanize parents and teachers at Stoner Avenue Elementary School. The school, located between Culver City and Marina del Rey, hasn't even had a PTA for 15 years, but last week more than 100 people turned out for an angry and emotional meeting with school district officials.

A 17-year-old Mar Vista youth died after a gang-related stabbing, police said Saturday. Officer Bill Hallett of the Los Angeles Police Department's Pacific Division said Anthony Monroe was stabbed by an unidentified assailant after an argument broke out near the Mar Vista Gardens housing project in the 4800 block of Marionwood Drive about 10:10 p.m. Friday.

About 200 students from Marina del Rey Middle School graduated from a DARE program Friday. They took their oath and made their pledge to stay out of trouble, out of gangs and away from drugs. But it was a painter--who worked quietly on a mural in the background during the graduation ceremony--whose actions spoke the loudest about safety.

Police street barricades, successful in stemming the flow of drugs through some neighborhoods in Los Angeles, are getting a tryout in two Westside communities. Los Angeles police said Wednesday they have barricaded one of two entrances to the Mar Vista Gardens housing project, a 600-plus apartment complex notorious for violence spawned by drug sales and gang warfare. A major thoroughfare through the project has been blocked off, creating a cul-de-sac.

Two high school seniors from the Mar Vista Gardens housing project have been chosen to participate in a program designed to increase youth awareness about the political process. Jackie Villavelasquez, 18, and Selamawitt Kidane, 17, will travel to Sacramento this weekend under the auspices of Capitol Focus, a nonpartisan group based in Sacramento. "We use the state Capitol as a living laboratory for the kids," said Jim Muldavin, executive director of the program.

They are springing up throughout Southern California, private, gated communities with security guards manning the entrances and towering fences encircling the property, luxury developments whose exclusivity stems from who they are able to exclude. Los Angeles' newest gated community is an entirely different type of place. Mar Vista Gardens is one of the city's 21 public housing projects, a place plagued by gangs, drive-by shootings and drug trafficking.

It took a bullet hole through a pre-kindergarten classroom window and 4-year-olds pressed to the floor during gang gunfire to galvanize parents and teachers at Stoner Avenue Elementary School. The school, located between Culver City and Marina del Rey, hasn't even had a PTA for 15 years, but last week more than 100 people turned out for an angry and emotional meeting with school district officials.

Los Angeles Councilwoman Ruth Galanter went against the wishes of the Mar Vista Del Rey homeowners when she allowed the approval of the placement of trailers (for the homeless) in the Mar Vista Gardens housing project. Now, her office claims that because of the great opposition raised, the placement will be delayed until the drug dealing and crime problems that run rampant are reduced. Empty rhetoric, as proven by the installation of Mar Vista Gardens with 601 units. And now, once again, Ruth Galanter is proposing to build a bus maintenance yard on the Westside--a move from Venice (where she lives)

Three men identified by police as gang members were arrested Thursday in connection with the fatal stabbing last month of a man at Mar Vista Gardens housing project, police said. Sergio Ginez, 19, Edwardo Negrete, 21, and Julian Espinoza, 20, were booked on suspicion of murder in the killing of Cartavius Wilson, 28, said Los Angeles Police Detective C.E. Wilder of the Pacific Division. Wilson was attacked about 5 a.m. July 23 near his home at the housing project on Allin Street, Wilder said.