RESIDENTS TAKE AIM AT VIOLENCE; NEIGHBORHOOD DECRIES DRUG-RELATED CRIME IN NORTH HILLS.

Byline: Yvette Cabrera Daily News Staff Writer

Sylvia Garcia's 5-year-old-son Carlos came to her one day and showed her how the drug dealers outside their apartment complex tossed wrapped packages of rock cocaine into their mouths to conceal the drugs.

Hoping to protect her son, Garcia moved a few blocks away to nearby Langdon Avenue, unaware she was entering into what used to be one of the city's worst open-air drug markets.

Though reported crime in the area had been on the decline, an eruption of violence in the past three weeks has reignited residents' concerns.

Residents marched last week in protest of the violence. Young girls toted bright pink and yellow signs that called for an end to the violence, teen-agers chanted in unison with their parents. And Garcia had Carlos in tow.

``I want him to see that this (violence) isn't good,'' said Garcia, as she and Carlos marched past gang members congregated outside apartment complexes.

The most recent incident was the shooting death Feb. 15 of Joe Martinez, 22, of Canoga Park. In the days after the shooting, Garcia walked her son to the very spot in the 8900 block of Orion Avenue where Martinez was shot to emphasize the effects of violence.

``I want him to study, to get involved in good things, not the bad things,'' said Garcia, the mother of four young children.

In 1997, 72 percent of the Devonshire Division's violent crimes and 34 percent of the narcotics arrests in the San Fernando Valley occurred in the nearly square-mile area that includes the neighborhood, according to Los Angeles police Officer Ernie Jimenez.

The neighborhood has cleaned up considerably, as seen in a 44 percent drop in reported crime over the last two years. But in the last three weeks tension between local gangs has flared, Jimenez said.

Residents were shocked by a particularly bold display of violence last month when a 26-year-old man was shot and found slumped over his car's steering wheel in front of Langdon Avenue School.

Police suspect the shooting was tied to a drug sale.

``Often I fear the things my son may see on the street,'' said Guadalupe Yvonne Villegas, 38.

Indeed, parents have recounted stories of their sons gathering tiny rocks and pretending to sell rock cocaine and then run from police. They aim make-believe guns and act out drive-by shootings, said Paula Rangel, a former North Hills apartment manager.

``We keep getting shooting after shooting. We get raid after raid. Everybody wants to come up with a solution to decide the fate of the community when all it takes is putting a little more money into that community to do some prevention.''

The neighborhood group Familias Unidas would like to see community centers within each apartment complex to provide youngsters with alternatives to gangs.

``We, the mothers, feel impotent because we don't have sufficient help to stop this violence,'' said Villegas, a member of the group.

Ramiro Estrada, a field deputy for the Los Angeles City Council's 7th District office, met with Familias Unidas recently to begin guiding the parents.

``The city is concerned, very concerned, and even though the area has improved . . . we need to work more and harder to get rid of the gangs and the drugs,'' Estrada said.

In a few days residents will dismantle the makeshift altar of flowers and candles they erected for Martinez, but the killings will remain part of the neighborhood's collective memory.

Marching through the neighborhood last week, their posters proclaimed: ``Without justice there's no peace; without peace there's no life.''

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PHOTO Alondra Martinez, 16, takes part in a march against violence in North Hills.

Andy Holzman/Daily News