Crime down but fears remain

Earvin Chapman is used to getting harassed by gangsters on the Fourth of July. His relatives even refuse to attend his front lawn barbecue. Gene Maddaus in the Daily Breeze.

He held it anyway this year and, surprisingly, nothing happened. At night, he heard fireworks instead of the gunfire he often hears as he is trying to fall asleep.

But the next morning, he saw Corona bottles on the sidewalk and fresh tagging on the vacant corner house near his Harbor Gateway home. In large numerals had been written "204."

"They wrote up the whole neighborhood," he said.

On Jan. 18, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa vowed to dismantle the 204th Street gang, two members of which had been charged in the death of 14-year-old Cheryl Green. A task force was assembled. Extra patrols were dispatched.

Six months later, some progress has been made. Gang members have gone indoors, while kids have tentatively come out to play. Crime is down: there have been 34 aggravated assaults so far this year, compared with 170 for all of 2006. Of those 34 assaults, only two were connected to the 204th Street gang. Police reported that the Fourth was unusually quiet.