Politics & Government

Neighborhood Council to Host Community Forum on Gangs, Graffiti

The council is calling on community members to attend Thursday's meeting.

The (HHPNC) will convene their bi-weekly meeting an hour early on Thursday, August 2 for a community forum about tagging and gang violence in Highland Park.

HHPNC President Chris Smith said neighborhood residents are invited to directly express their concerns to representatives from Council Districts 1 and 14, who will also be on hand.

, council members grilled David Bermudez of the Central City Action Committee--a graffiti abatement company contracted by the city to serve Highland Park--over what the council considered inadequate response times to tagging in the neighborhood.

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Bermudez responded by saying that Central City's impact on Highland Park had been a net positive. He added that response times would be faster if neighborhood residents were more vigilant about reporting tagging through the city's 311 service.

Smith said that, given the limitations of Central City's staffing in Highland Park, the neighborhood council may need to encourage Council District 1 to seek another contractor. Central City only employs one cleaner in Highland Park, who works from 7 a.m. until 2:30 p.m. on weekdays.

Find out what's happening in Highland Park-Mount Washingtonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

"We're basically working on the premise that graffiti tagging is a preamble to and we want to have a conversation about what can be done about it," Smith said.

The Historic Highland Park Neighborhood Council will meet on Thursday, August 2 at 6 p.m. at the at 6152 N. Figueroa St.


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