It is home to more than 300 families, and many residents who say they don't like what they see going on outside their windows. Three weeks ago there was a drive-by shooting at four in the afternoon, right when my kids were walking home from school. This is just the kind of neighborhood that would most benefit from a new strategy in the war on drugs, say supporters of Proposition 36, a state ballot initiative that aims to place people with non-violent convictions for drug possession into treatment programs instead of jail. In an ideal world, fewer of those using drugs would be locked up and more would head to treatment centers and turn their lives around. But as most Valencia Gardens residents understand, the ideal is often a mirage.
Life here has a way of moving along untouched by ballot initiatives and political promises.
In fact, most residents at the complex, which spreads over two city blocks, have not even heard of Proposition 36. Daily reality presses too hard. Officer Ken Nieman, who has worked the beat for more than 20 years, said that most of those crimes involve people from outside the community who are either using or selling drugs on the street. Then they see me pull up in my black and white car and go run and hide in someone's apartment. When the day begins with dealers on their front steps, families inside have had to learn how to cope with the terrifying.