Okay, when we last left our City Hall squabblers, City Controller Laura Chick and City Councilman/Gang guy Tony Cardenas, they were…..well….squabbling.
It was predictable that Monday’s center-of-the-page, above-the-fold story by Duke Helfand, on the twosome’s internecine quarrel would likely up the ante. And indeed it has.
Yesterday, the Times’ Helfand outlined the central issue quite nicely:
The current friction involves Councilman Tony Cardenas, who chairs a committee on gangs, and City Controller Laura Chick. Cardenas is fighting a plan by Chick to shift gang-prevention services, now under council control, to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s office.
Chick made her recommendation in a report last month that criticized the city for scattering a jumble of services across more than a dozen departments and spending millions of dollars on programs that have proved ineffective in turning youths away from gangs.Since then, she and Cardenas have accused each other of delaying, with their feud spilling into public view two weeks ago during an appearance on the radio program “Which Way, L.A?” and continuing in statements issued by their offices.
Then late Monday the dueling statement storm continued.
First, in the afternoon it was released that Cardenas had written a letter to City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo’s office asking Rocky if Chick would have the authority to audit future gang programs if they were moved to the mayor’s office.
Here’s an excerpt from the letter:
“The charter explicitly states that the city controller does not have the authority to conduct performance audits on elected officials, I would be derelict in my duties as chairman of this committee if I did not look at this major policy matter and investigate the limitations of scrutiny and accountability of these programs if they are placed in an elected
office.”
Okie-dokie.
Then Laura sent her own letter to Rocky’s office today to ask if Delgadillo (whose job is suddenly starting to lean alarmingly in the direction of couples’ counseling) if he thought that it was legal to put gang programs under the mayor’s office, as Chick recommended in her report. (Why wouldn’t it be?)
And here we have an excerpt from Laura’s prepared statement:
“Councilmember Cardenas has been waging a counterproductive disinformation campaign. The city controller can audit any program in the city regardless of whether it is housed in an elected official’s office or not. I have already been doing exactly that with my Risk Management and Grants audit, which looked inside the Mayor’s Office. Isn’t it time for us to say how we can do things and not why we cannot?”
Ooooooh! Smackdown point to Laura!
Should you be curious, the abstract for Chick’s report can be found here. And the entire 158 audit is here. Admittedly, I’ve only read parts of the longer document. Yet, from what I’ve seen it’s pretty sensible, smart and usable. (Plus it has lots of nice ‘graphs and charts for the visual learners among us.)
So……as the downtown spat continued, there was a fatal gang shooting in Compton on Monday. (Yes, I know, that’s the county not the city.) There was another gang shooting on Whittier Blvd. in East LA. Fortunately, it wasn’t fatal. SWAT was at Venice and Rimpau last night. And those are just the shootings reported in the news.
But, see here’s the thing, maybe the reason it’s considered permissible for everyone to play various versions of tug-of-war with each other for a full year down at City Hall instead of taking some kind of action is because, as Connie Rice pointed out on Monday morning when she was interviewed on NPR, other than the “innocents” who’ve recently been shot—the beautiful little six-year-old boy now on life support, the dead football star with the mom serving in Iraq, the little girl shot in the chest at the bus stop—most of the city’s gang homicides are from the wrong social class and the wrong zip codes. So the rest of the city doesn’t feel it needs to take their death’s all that seriously.
“Three weekends ago,” said Connie, “we had 27 separate shootings in a spark of grape street crip mayhem, and it barely made the paper. If you had a 27-shooting shootout in any other American city it probably would have made 60 Minutes, but it didn’t even make the news here.”
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FYI: Cardenas’ Ad Hoc Committee on Gang Violence and Youth Development will conduct an opening meeting at City Hall on Friday at 1:30 p.m. I’ll be teaching then, or I’d assuredly be there. If you go, take notes. Take names. Take prisoners.
Ms. Fremon,
Now that the money is moving away from Senor Vato Loco, Cardenas(Mr.Pacoima/San Fernando connection), all his ass rubbing “friends” (Community Based Organizations and political toe sucking contractors) will come out from under their hotbed rocks, bitching and crying (even playing the race card) that “business as usual” needs to continue with Cardenas. They are going to say that moving the money away from a latino representive is sometype of undermined deal made in a back room in City Hall (the white folks)…or some bullshit story like that.
If Ms. Chick found the loophole evidence and figure it all out, then your never going to see Senor Cardenas control any faction of money – ever. His days are numbered.
I wish I could kiss that lady.
Celeste here’s some grist for your “The Wire” commentary that also might be useful here. Last night NPR’s “Talk of the nation” had the two creators of the series on to ask what the series meant to them and if producing it had taufght them anything. One of the creators is an ex-cop and he says the war on drugs is a complete failure. His answer? Several members of the writing crew – including the two creators – have signed a pledge that if they are ever on a jury trying a non-violent drug offense case they will vote for aquital no matter what the evidence in that case says.
This “pledge” and disclosure also makes it a pretty sure bet that they’ll never get on one of those juries…
Probably true Reg but I’ve heard anecdotal evidence that DC juries do in fact nullify and at such a rate that the DC DA’s rarely bring such cases.
Another wrinkle, the Mayor’s office isn’t even sure, after all, that they want to take the full responsibility — “the buck stops here” is a double-edged sword. I think they’ve suggested some sort of compromise team, between Cardenas’ and those under Carr/ new appointees. (Of course, they’ll have to create a new committee to study who’s on that committee, no doubt…)
As for Rocky Delgadilo getting into couple’s counseling: it would be a lot better than most anything else he’s done: selling out the city to the billboard companies, who had the audacity to hold a fancy “thank you party” for him a couple of nights ago. Or losing every lawsuit on behalf of the city, when he’s not just getting us to pay for outside law firms so he doesn’t have to take the heat. As for his gang- fighting activities, besides showing up for photo ops and making promises, his accomplishments would be hard to find.
But please, please don’t get into playing the race card yourself, Celeste: that none of these people cares “because most of those being shot are from the wrong social class and wrong zip codes.” (My paraphrase may be slightly off.) This is the kind of bleeding-heart knee-jerk liberal stuff we get from most baby boomers, and why I’m so sick of them, and want younger leadership. (Contrary to how I may sound, I’m not a huge fan of Billary for this reason — I only wish Obama had the experience and credentials to be that person who drags us away from this generation whose ideas all stem from the days of Vietnam and segregation.)
Cardenas, you may have noticed, is Hispanic, and so’s the Mayor, and Rocky, and half that City Council is Hispanic or black, then you’ve got those bleeding-heart lib boomers Janice Hahn and Bill Rosendahl. (Even Poplock can see through the phoniness of “playing the race card” here, that it’s a ploy by White guys meaneuvering in back rooms — you should be too smart to lead this hue and cry, Ms. Celeste!)
Fact is, Cardenas wants the attention and power for personal reasons, maybe to parlay into a position as Gang Czar in the Assembly or at a State or Federal level. The Mayor sort of wants the power, but is waffling about the responsibility if things don’t improve. Etc. etc… They’re just plain inept, Celeste.
And of course, they’d never dream of repealing SP40, which you’ve mentioned yourself many cops plead for — it’s crazy that we can’t locate and deport illegal gangbangers. (During the recent summit between local law enforcement and those from Mexico and Central America, it was too absurd that the reps from Salvador were upset that we ever deport any back to them — they’ve have to build two jails just for these repatriated gangbangers, and it’s such an expense and bother! And after all, they weren’t quite as bad when they came here illegally and set up shot, as they are now. It’s Los Angeles’ fault, again!)
On other note,
Ms. Fremon,
Please talk to your people at the LaWeekly and tell them to get their sources and facts correct. That last gang article stating that the Mexican Mafia ordered the Avenues to hit Cypress Park over tax collecting is a total horseshit story. This is what happens when people listen to jackasses like Tony Rafael. Then there is that stupid made up rumor of “where there are hanging shoes on a telephone pole, there are drug dealers selling.” You think these articles would attempt to help people, they are scaring the crap out of a normal concern person who knows zero on gang issues.
I thought you people had some good inside cheeeeese…
Point black – A Leon got out and wanted revenge for his brother’s death. Nothing else.
This is just another never ending gang story throughout Los Angeles and any other troubled urban populated city.
I read it too, Poplock…and had exactly the same thoughts. Christine’s so often a very good reporter. But that sort of thing drives me completely nuts.
And, yeah, I’d bet the ranch that Tony Rafael was the source.
From what I hear, there was a precipitating event that had exactly zero to do with the Eme. Just the usual tit for tat. Maddening.
You know, WBC, point taken. In terms of the racial/class issues, I really meant that’s why there’s very little public pressure for them to get off the dime and get it together. But I realize that’s not how I phrased it. I don’t really think Laura Chick’s inept at all. But everybody’s playing politics. And the mayor isn’t sure WHAT he wants to do. He certainly doesn’t want to hand Laura too much power or credit.
Anyway, good comments, guys.
Bratton and the Mayor reporting that Shaw was killed by a gang member, MS13 I think, an Espinoza character aged 19, who just got out of jail the day before (March 1st), where he’d served a few months for assault with a deadly weapon (why only a few months for something like this, from a known gang member?).
Bratton seems to be trying to play down the racial aspects of many of these crimes — did anyone see how he chewed out a black reporter for Ch. 7 who initially reported this as a racially-based hate crime? He’s now admitting it MIGHT be…
Being the cynic or maybe realist, I don’t think any Los Angeles based gang intervention program will make much of dent in the L.A. gang problem. There are too many issues which a Los Angeles gang program can’t address. There are issues such as illegal immigrant gang members, securing our borders, improving our economy and increasing livable wage jobs, population control, drug legalization and/or changing America’s voracious appetite for drugs.
And the federal government needs to provide $billions$ for additional resources and tools for local police to fight the existing gangs and keep them at bay. The whole social dynamic of the country has to change; this is a bigger task than the bankrupt city Los Angeles can do. Just like Connie Rice said, we need a “Marshall Plan” for many inner cities.
We are just sticking a finger in the leaking dike ready to explode.
Cardenas may be right that there’s nothing new or original in Chick’s report, it’s just a rehash — but just calling attn to the problem that millions are wasted because no one’s truly in charge, and the gang intervention programs seem to be operating on auto-pilot, with some not being audited in over a decade; and meanwhile, more and more lives are lost, has been significant in that all the kiddies have to sit down and agree on something. (I could never trust Cardenas again after his histrionics in City Hall recently, admitting he’s been powerless to even control his own street — we need someone strong enough to at least inspire confidence. All Cardenas and Hahn can say is, give us more money, tax the homeowners again…)
The Daily News had a recent article, and I think an Opinion piece, saying that which killings got rewards attached to them is too political. A spokesman for LAPD explained that they tend to be in cases where the victim is unsually young or old, or there are special circumstances (like Shaw’s mother being in the military in Iraq), or are hate crimes affecting a whole community. Gangbanger-on gangbanger crimes don’t inspire public sympathy, not surprisingly, but many of the high-profile cases we’re seeing are indeed from the various hoods, and sympathy seems to depend more on WHO the victims were, and the special viciousness of the killers, not their zip code or race.
Poplock, I don’t pretend to have any “inside cheese” except when I talk to a cop once in a while, but I too am surprised that sneakers on a line don’t mean anything. Are they just airing out? Actually, it would seem dumb for gangbangers to advertise to cops this way, “Hey, we’re selling dope.”
A different note: What about Geraldine Ferraro’s comments that Obama is getting special treatment because he’s black? (Aren’t all those people saying they’re voting for Obama in part because “he looks like America,” biracial, from Maria Shriver at the UCLA rally, to Eric Garcetti, admitting just that?) Hillary tried to avoid condemning her but said she wants to just stay focused on the issues.
Los Angeles gang violence is finally making national news. Jeff Carr aka “sleppy” the Mayor’s gang czar selection is questioned.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/03/11/eveningnews/main3927389.shtml
And off topic what about all those television and media female psychologists, with their psycho-babble telling us why men in power i.e. N.Y. Gov. Eliot Spitzer cheat on their wives. They say the men in power have special feelings of entitlement, ego maniacs, felling above the law, and blah, blah, blah
I remember Dr. Phil educating Oprah and the high school audience, on sex many years ago. Dr. Phil was telling the young girls to abstain, have self-esteem, and don’t believe the amorous boys stories. Then Oprah asks Dr. Phil when is going to talk to the boys, Dr. Phil say “it’s a waste of time the boys are horny dogs.â€Â
13-year old Anthony Escobar, shot picking lemons, was already associated with gangs, according to a relative quoted in the Daily News or L A Times, so he’s not quite the same level of “innocent victim” that the six-year old was (as depicted in the CBS story, L A Res.). But he was still savable, hadn’t done anything “bad” yet.
This is exactly the kind of case that needs attention: how do you get a kid who’s pressured to choose a gang, not to? Are they safe if they opt out? Many public schools have excellent STAR after-school programs, and others like Carr’s. But even at many private schools, except for a few, I see kids as young as 14 going off on their own afterschool, talking about sex and drugs. (But I do see pretty fluid inter-racial friendships.) How do you get inner city kids, then, to choose homework clubs and sports instead? Exactly, not general b.s. Is “just say no” any more effective than what Dr. Phil and Nancy Reagan were telling girls about sex?
“You can’t just arrest your way out of this problem,” Mayor Anthony Villaraigosa said. “We’ve got to support families. We’ve got to mentor kids.”
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This is what the Mayor said. So, are we going to do the right thing?
Put the money into local community centers ran by good clean honest people with their hearts in the right places (and not fund some ex-felon EME connected jackass or his scamming relatives).
Are we going to continue to provide funding to these smoke screen organizations that LA tax payers should be asking, “Where do the F***ing MONEY go and to who?”
Steve Lopez’s column today takes a break from hounding the Mayor to interviewing people who’ve been in the trenches of gang intervention/prevention for years. (Well, he actually does harangue the Mayor, telling him to just do something and stop worrying about turf battles, to just take charge — he is the Mayor and all. By implication, meaning if Cardenas doesn’t want to play along, he can go and cry in a corner.)
He quotes a Paul White, dir. of a West Valley Youth center in Canoga Park, who answers some of my exact questions. Yes, kids as old as 15 can and should opt out of gangs, despite the pressure — it’s safer than not doing so. Juvenile hall is a gang recruiting center, and he thinks Father Doyle’s Homeboys is harmful by “dignifying” gangs. Feels gang intervention programs shouldn’t be run by former gangbangers, who may not be all that reformed, and by virtue of being singled out as authorities, actually give cred to having been gangbangers.
White’s simple solutions: his team organizes sports and other wholesome activities and by giving kids a sense of belonging to a group, feel confident they can “save” them.
He makes good points, that parents of young gangbangers who often are also school dropouts, should be required to attend parenting classes.
And why aren’t churches doing more? One local protestant “megachurch” has a great program for kids elem. to h.s., including pizza/pasta and movie nights; game and woodshop working nights, in addition to staging the usual plays and concerts and camps. These are universal things any church could do with volunteer help and minimal cost.