MOORPARK : Forum Addresses Rise in Gang Activity

About 50 Moorpark residents--including business people, the mayor, other city officials and a group of youths--met Tuesday night to discuss the city’s growing gang problem.

Residents divided into groups and discussed their experiences with graffiti, vandalism, loitering and other instances of gang activity. They also heard different viewpoints on why gangs are forming in Moorpark and what should be done about them.

“It’s a chance for people to understand a variety of perspectives on the issue,” said Steve Kingsford, county assistant superintendent of schools, who moderated the forum at the Moorpark Community Center on Moorpark Avenue.

And perspectives did vary.

Guadalupe Barrales, 18, who said he hangs out with members of Moorpark’s only gang, the Moorpark Locals, or MPLS, said he came to the forum to tell people, “There is no gang problem. It’s not like L.A.”

Ted Green, a parent, said he thinks Moorpark does have a gang problem.

“Alternatives to the glamorization of gangs is what we have to get funding for,” Green said. He said the city’s young people need more jobs and job training.

Assistant City Manager Susan Cauldwell said the city wants to try to stem gang activity before it escalates and pranks turn into more violence.

The forum, the first of two scheduled meetings on the issue, was sponsored by a committee formed by the City Council in response to the increasing incidence of gang activity, particularly by the MPLS. A recent report by the committee says police know of about “20 hard-core MPLS gang members and up to 100 associate members,” generally ranging in age from 14 to 20.