GANG MEMBERS GATHERING AT NEW COMMUNITY PARK : LAKE LOS ANGELES TO FIGHT BACK.

Byline: Bhavna Mistry Daily News Staff Writer

It was years of battle that brought Lake Los Angeles residents their community park, but a month after the park's opening, members of the park association have a new fight - against gangs.

Officials say gang members have started congregating in the park in the evening hours, and that the youths drink alcohol, commit vandalism and hang out after closing.

``They're intimidating other parkgoers,'' said Judy Kunkel, president of the Lake Los Angeles Park Association.

In an effort to combat the situation, sheriff's officials stepped up patrols of the 3-1/2-acre park on 170th Street East with local deputies and the department's VOICE volunteers.

This weekend gang deputies will be visiting the park, monitoring park activities and trying to discourage gang activities at the park.

``We just want to make it undesirable for gang members to be there,'' said Deputy Steve Harbeson. ``This is a park for the children.''

Park association officials are working to get security and additional lighting in the park to help alleviate the problem and are planning to hold an opening ceremony in September.

According to Harbeson, two gangs are trying to claim the park as their turf. Deputies say that gang activity at parks is nothing new in the Antelope Valley.

``Each park has its share of gang problems,'' said Deputy Erik Ruble, a member of the Sheriff's Department's anti-gang detail. ``Some more so than others. But once we notice the problem, it is addressed and eliminated.''

The effort to build the park - the unincorporated community's only one - started eight years ago, and took six years longer than expected.

Residents have been paying $60 a year in taxes since 1990 to maintain the park.