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Mayor: Must Engage NCs in Fight Against Gangs |
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State of the City
By David Lowell
As he said he would, the Mayor made the budget crisis and gang prevention the features of his State of the City address on Monday.
 Mayor Villaraigosa told the assembled gathering of mostly city elected
officials, commission and committee appointees and city employees, that
the dreams he offered two and a half years ago were ambitious. And, he
said, even though all of them have not been realized, “we have laid a
foundation for LA’s future.”
He reminded everyone that the city is half way to the 1,000 new cops goal, steps taken to cure LA’s traffic ills and of the foundation that has been laid for making LA’s schools work.
Villaraigosa then provided some insight into his budget plan. “Our budget will propose moving parking and surplus property revenues into the General fund” he said. “I know these monies have traditionally been the political province of the Council … but, ladies and gentlemen, we cannot solve this equation dividing by 15.”
The Mayor repeated that his office, council and most city departments would, or have, cut budgets by 5%. And, his proposal to eliminate 767 civilian positions. “We’re going to make people see that a leaner government can be a more effective servant.”
On the topical and timely subject of gang prevention, Villaraigosa outlined a plan … headed by the Rev. Jeff Carr and influenced by recommendations in both the Connie Rice and Laura Chick (City Controller) reports.
Gangs are about turf, he said, and to make serious headway in reducing gang activity and violence, we have to go to the neighborhoods and engage the neighborhoods.
“We’re going to need to begin by engaging … and challenging … our Neighborhood Councils to assume a greater leadership role in the fight against gangs,” he said. “Many Neighborhood Councils are already leading the charge against graffiti.”
The Mayor’s gang prevention plan calls for: Expanding the number of Gang Reduction Zones from eight to 12; providing a nearly 79% increase in General Fund dollars for Gang Reduction and Youth Development strategy; investing $1.5 million in prevention and intervention in each zone and engaging the community … Neighborhood Councils, churches, non profits … in the battle.
“We won’t address the gang problem,” Villaraigosa noted in closing, “or solve our budget crisis if we choose to dwell … on the narrow question of winners and losers. The challenge … is to give more of ourselves.”
(Complete State of the City address here.)
CityWatch
Vol 6 Issue 31
Published: Apr 15, 2008
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