LA Gang Wars III: Antonio Finally Sides With Laura

The LA Times and others have been trying to get LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa to say whether or not he’d be willing to go with Laura Chick’s much contested suggestion that the city’s gang intervention and prevention programs—and budget—be consolidated under the mayor’s office. But Antonio and his spokespeople have danced away from any kind of answer…..for a variety of political reasons. (Naturally.)

And so who finally got an answer out of AV as to whether he’d be willing to have LA’s gang efforts run out of his office?

Nope, it wasn’t the LA Times or the Daily News.

It was smart USC Annenberg grad student, Deborah Stokol.

Debbie isn’t my student. She’s in LA Citybeat news editor Alan Mittelstadt’s graduate journalism class.

The way she managed to snag an interview with Antonio was by showing up for the mayor’s regular once-a-week trip to City Hall on the metro.

It worked. You can read Debbie’s whole article after the jump, but here’s the section with the money quote:

Until now, the mayor has made equivocating noises regarding his true stance on the matter, saying he agreed with Chick but not indicating whether he really wanted the responsibility or not. But in between stepping off the bus and hopping onto the train, he announced he felt ready and willing to bear the burden of stopping gangs through the use of strict organization, financial investment and mentorship and rehabilitation programs.

“First of all, I support Controller Chick’s work,” he began. “I do think we need to consolidate and coordinate these programs, and I’m willing to accept the jurisdiction for these programs.”

Wooo-hooo! Brava Debbie for getting Antonio to actually say he’d was willing to let the gang programs live at his house.

Here’s the rest of Deborah Stokol’s story about her ride with the mayor:

THE MAYOR PREFERS CHICK’S PLAN

Withdrawn into either their thoughts or the music coming from their CD-players and iPods, those standing at the bus stop at Wilshire Boulevard and Crenshaw Avenue 7 a.m. Wednesday waited in silence. The only sound that could be heard was the buzz of a few cars gliding by on an otherwise empty street. The spring air smelled like flowers and exhaust, and the gray sky promised to lighten to a clear blue in about an hour or two. Those waiting wore scarves around their necks to guard against the slight chill before the day would turn warm.

If they shivered, it wasn’t in nervous anticipation of their ride with Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.

A scant 30 minutes and few blocks later, though, the city had woken up and a series of shiny, white news vans hovered by the Metro Station on Wilshire Boulevard and Western Avenue, eagerly hoping to grab a minute of the mayor’s time.

The mayor’s use of public transportation is not new; he encourages every citizen to favor buses and trains over the use of cars at least once a week, saying that traffic would improve by 15 percent if everyone did so. He sets an example by commuting on one day of each week and tries to instill the practice in others by making “Go Metro with the Mayor” his motto.
But his commute affords the public another advantage.

It’s a time when anyone trying to get a hold of the mayor could almost certainly do so without difficulty.

And there were many trying to get a hold of the mayor on Wednesday.

Gang violence has again spattered LA streets with blood while filling its homes with grief. In the past two and a half weeks alone, more than a dozen people have fallen victim to its deadly hand. Los Angeles spends millions of dollars each year in gang-prevention services, but the problem remains grave, the wound fresh. Tension is mounting within the city’s own government as Councilman Tony Cardenas clings to his post as the chair of an anti-gang committee and City Controller Laura Chick tries to wrest that and other gang programs from him in order to cede them to the mayor. In a scathing report she wrote last month, she said the city’s treatment of gangs was ineffective, its use of funds inefficient and youth’s gravitation to gangs as bad as ever.

Until now, the mayor has made equivocating noises regarding his true stance on the matter, saying he agreed with Chick but not indicating whether he really wanted the responsibility or not. But in between stepping off the bus and hopping onto the train, he announced he felt ready and willing to bear the burden of stopping gangs through the use of strict organization, financial investment and mentorship and rehabilitation programs.

“First of all, I support Controller Chick’s work,” he began. “I do think we need to consolidate and coordinate these programs, and I’m willing to accept the jurisdiction for these programs.”
“I can tell you this,” he continued, “people want us to move ahead as quickly as possible, so we can start directing the prevention and redirection of millions of dollars with this.”

Villaraigosa explained that there were specific ways these programs needed to address those about to join or already in a gang.

“I’m waiting for everyone to come together as a city to reach out to some of these kids and to work with organization like Father Boyle’s organization ‘Homeboy Industries,’” he said.

He explained that “Father Boyle is committed to working with some of these kids, provide them jobs, giving them alternative to gangs [through] mentorship.”

He emphasized his point by repeating why these young adults sought places in gangs and the important role that mentorship played in steering them away from such company.

“Look, the issue of gangs has been with us for decades. It has a lot to do with family break-up, poverty, with social disintegration,” he said.

“I’ve said it to some of the clergy, that we’re going to all have to reach out…some of these gang members are hard criminals, and there’s very little you’ll be able to do with them, but even them—give them skills, the job skills, to get them out.”

The mayor also said that such mentorship need not come from clergy members alone. In fact, he said, anyone who could help, should.

“There’s something that all of us can do—the churches, the mad prophets, the individuals, the city, the county, the federal government.”

He mentioned the federal government’s part should not be limited to that of mentorship.

“We need to spend a lot more money on protection and prevention. The Federal Government has to be more supportive,” he said.

“We still don’t have the resources to deal with this issue alone,” he said. “We just don’t.”

Villaraigosa delicately addressed the Cardenas-Chick matter by saying that “I haven’t stepped in at this point. You know, from time to time people are going to gave disagreements on how best to proceed.”

He repeated his feelings of confidence that once programs were consolidated and financed, things would go more smoothly. But he also warned that true change could not come instantaneously.

“We expect that once a decision is made, we’ll move things along.” He said. “We don’t spend money on the suppression side, and we certainly don’t have enough resources on the prevention side.”

“You see, it’s not just anti-gang programs, it’s also finding them jobs and job training,” he said. “The next stage stage of the process is to deliver, but you know, look, it’s not going to happen overnight.”

Alright, now that Villaraigosa’s said yes, will Tony Cardenas give up control? Or do we just stay stuck?

photo by Deborah Stokol