Echo Park's rising gentrification has obviously pushed out some long-time residents, and that includes many members of the local gang, the Echo Park Locos. The gang's numbers were already on the downturn (some members got locked up, others moved away intentionally to escape the intense violence), but rising prices in the area were the final push, causing many of the gang members to move out of Echo Park, some going as far as the Inland Empire, says the LA Times. The once-omnipresent group is now more of a commuter gang, coming home on the weekends to hang out in familiar places and see each other. That's something that they are technically not supposed to be doing—the recently adopted (and very controversial) gang injunction that includes Echo Park (as well as Elysian Valley and parts of Silver Lake) is intended to prohibit suspected gang members from having contact with each other. The injunction was welcomed by some neighbors who were interested in reducing gang-related crime, but others believe that it's worded way too broadly to be applied fairly.
· With gentrification, Echo Park gang members move outside their turf [LAT]
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