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# Take back our streets
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/take-back-our-streets/
- Published: 2006-03-03T16:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T17:19:22.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Opinion, Pico, #archive-import

*one corner at a time*

The community is once again grieving the loss of one of its young residents as a result of violence. And once we get past the grief, we will no doubt feel outrage. What we do with that outrage will be the biggest issue facing our community in the coming months.

Eddie Lopez, 15, a standout athlete in both baseball and football, as well as a well-regarded student, classmate and friend, was gunned down by a punk masked in a bandana and hooded sweatshirt. The shooting, which occurred outside a convenience store on Tuesday night at the corner of 26th Street and Pico Boulevard, appears to be gang related since, according to police, the suspect yelled a Hispanic LA gang name before opening fire on three teenage friends.

Apparently, Lopez and his buddies were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Unfortunately, that can be anywhere at any time these days in Santa Monica.

It is an absolute tragedy that a 15-year-old student-athlete is gunned down just blocks from his house, especially at the hands of a gang member. Lopez was a product of a longtime Santa Monica family that has worked especially hard to raise their children responsibly, despite the odds against them. Lopez’s mother, a native of Mexico, has worked two jobs in efforts to ensure that her children have a bright future.

Gang violence — which victimizes not just those involved in the crime organizations, but the entire community — is out of control. We find it ridiculous that in a city as educated, affluent and compact as Santa Monica there are so many gang shootings and murders. And it all happens within a small pocket of the city — the Pico neighborhood, which obviously doesn’t get the attention it deserves by city leaders.

Community leaders have attempted to address the violence through gang workshops, increased police patrols and racial diversity training within the schools. But from our vantage point, and most likely from the Lopez family’s eyes, it’s not working. This is a community issue and must be addressed on a larger scale.

We need to change our approach. Perhaps we need even more police presence in the Pico neighborhood — with walking patrols on top of the saturated police car, bike and helicopter patrols. And if that’s not enough, then maybe we need more of a vigilante approach whereby residents take to the streets as part of a beefed-up neighborhood watch program with the assistance of the Santa Monica Police Department. Station a police officer and resident at every street corner, and send a message to these punks that they’re being watched 24/7\. The police know where these Santa Monica gang members live and they know where the parolees live.

There’s always going to be bad guys out there. And many of the criminals wreaking havoc on our community are coming from outside of Santa Monica. But that doesn’t mean we can’t try to quell the violence on a regional level through outreach, teaching tolerance to our young people and training those who deal with youth in an effort to understand their issues better.

The third in a series of gang workshops sponsored by State Senator Sheila Kuehl (D-Santa Monica) will be held on March 18 at John Adams Middle School from 10 a.m. to noon. Hundreds of people turned out last year for the forums, which generated plenty of good ideas, but how many of them were actually put into practice remains a mystery. We encourage everyone in the community who cares about this issue to show up and find real solutions to this growing problem.

City officials would be wise to create a coordinated youth prevention program that penetrates deep within the gang community. And the school district needs to protect its students by training its staff on diversity and racial issues. But none of that will matter if parents don’t start paying attention to their children and teaching them the value of human life. Children are inherently innocent. It is society’s ills that pollute them, and the parents’job to protect them.

When recent racial tensions at Santa Monica High School broke out in the form of fights and graffiti, it alarmed many in the community. Parents started pointing their fingers at school administrators, saying they weren’t doing enough to address the hatred.

It starts at home and ultimately, it’s the parents’ responsibility to raise their children to respect themselves and everyone else.

That’s what the Lopez family tried to do, and it still wasn’t enough. For that, we are regretful, saddened and ashamed that, as a community, we haven’t been able to adequately protect our young people.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on March 3, 2006.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/030306.pdf?ref=smdp.com)