Gang Activity Reduction Strategy (GARS) Report
Gang Activity Reduction Strategy (GARS) Report (09/11/06 - Budget & Finance Meeting)
ZD attended the Budget and Finance Committee meeting yesterday and they happened to be addressing the GARS report findings. Councilmember Parks headed the meeting. And you can say what you want about Parks, it was pretty cool that a guy like me, was able to sit down at the mic, four feet away from the guy, and present my own report, publicly. And I know Parks probably hasn't been the biggest ZD fan in the City -- but, he DID pass by me today and say, "Great job yesterday at the Budget and Finance Meeting." (Daaaaaaaaaamn...ZD, in the mix, with Bernie Parks, y'all!!!)
So, first; the summary, then an opposing viewpoint sent to me by email from a Mayor Sam reader/TV 35 viewer; followed by my comments; then highlights of the report itself on GARS. I CAN TELL ALREADY...based on the contraversy over the "trash collection fee" money going to these GAR Units (even though Council has clarified the money will be coming from somewhere else, we just don't know where, yet) -- THIS WILL BE A PRETTY BIG ISSUE IN THE CITY. So, again, here's your chance to read about it first (maybe) at Mayor Sam (or maybe just catch a few things you may have missed).
SUMMARY
The City, while it has a few programs and community contractors that are excellent examples of best practices in intervention, and prevention, basically has no entity with the capacity, power, knowledge or funding design to develop and operate a compreshensive, coordinated, strategic, data based, state of the art, Citywide strategy that is accountable to reducing gang violence and activity. (ZD: Very excellently said!)
OPPOSITION: "First of all the first contract is for 6 months at $465,150. All this non profit has done is have 12 community meetings asking for solutions to the gang problem. This agency is called Advancement Project who did another study before this gang study that concluded $82 million given to the gang programs is not working. There is no accountability on how the gang programs have been spending this money all these years. Now, we're paying this non profit to study the problem instead of just making the gang programs accountable.
Now yesterday at Budget & Finance they approved an amendment to give them an additional $128,000 and extending for additional 3 months to do research. The total amount this non profit is getting from the city is $593,430 to do what? I've been to meetings and there is nothing new people are saying to resolve the gang issue.
Here's the file index on it. It will go to the full council floor for a vote to give them the additional $128,000 in the next couple of weeks. For what I want to know??"
ZD IS THINKING: Yeah, Chief Bratton is the one who said the money is being wasted. But here could be why. We have all these separate Gang Reduction Units in the City working independently of each other, in an un-coordinated effort. If Los Angeles had a football team, how do you think it would do if each player on the field didn't coordinate the play together as a team. And what if the team didn't even have a coach? So if the Chief says the money is wasted, I don't think he's saying, "So don't spend any at all." I think he's saying, "Let's get a coach, take all the players, give them a playbook, and let's run some plays as a team, working toward the same effort/play, instead of just yelling, "Hike", then have everyone run separate, individual plays. THEN AT LEAST WE'LL SEE IF THIS SH*T CAN WORK, AND IF NOT, PUNT. And another important point is, Chief Bratton has aksed the Mayor for a Gang Czar to be the coach and coordinate the $80 million effort. So Mayor V., just like State Senate couldn't look like they were standing in the way of your LAUSD improvement effort, so they "RELUCTANTLY" voted yes on AB 1381...You can't be appearing as if YOU are standing in the way of Chief Bratton/LAPD/Citizen's effort to improve the public saftey of the streets of Los Angeles, so the kids can feel safe enough to actually try and walk to school and back, and so businesses will continue to invest in the City's development. Thank you Mayor V. Now, here's the GARS report.
[ZD: I edited a bunch of the report, to save space here, but the whole post is at http://zumadogg.blogspot.com if you want to read more legalease.]
FINDINGS/HIGHLIGHTS
Key obsticles to effective implementaion of a gang activity reduction strategy exist at mutiple levels of the City's operation particularly with regard to coordination within City departments and programs and on an inter-goverment/agency level, and inadequate community engagement.
* The region LACKS definitions (as those previously stated above). This makes it difficult for the city to understand the true magnitue of the gang problem.
* The City does NOT have sustainable and adequate funding stream that is sustainable and broadened to match the scale of the gang problem and which can provide sufficient fleiblity to address prevention, intervetion and suppression in a balanced mannner.
* Frequent changes in political and programmatic leadership hamper the deveopment and implementation of a sustained strategy. Develop and operate a comprehensive strategy that is accountable to the gang problem OVER ANY POLITICAL CLIMATE. (You may as well say Mayor V. is a pro-gang, saftey-blocker, y'all!)
SOUNDS LIKE WE'RE STARTING FROM SCRATCH, SO LET'S GET STARTED.
Posted by Zuma Dogg @ 9/12/2006 06:25:00 PM
26 Comments:
ZD,
You have good posts but I just wish you could be a little more concise. But keep up the fine work!
6:42PM,
Thanks. I know...I'm trying, that's why I edited some out and posed on my own blog. In the future, I'll edit the Mayor Sam posts more and put a link for the WHOLE thing (with all the in-concisment) at http://zumadogg.blogspot.com.
"If I had more time, I would have written a shorter book."
- Benjamin Franklin
6:42PM,
Thanks. I know...I'm trying, that's why I edited some out and posed on my own blog. In the future, I'll edit the Mayor Sam posts more and put a link for the WHOLE thing (with all the in-concisment) at http://zumadogg.blogspot.com.
"If I had more time, I would have written a shorter book."
- Benjamin Franklin
ZDOGG
You were trampled & trashed today You have no place in politics. city council won & you lost
Dude, you need to get a job.
Thank God, finally someone is covering policy-politics where it really happens, at the committee level. Excellent job ZD!!
its funny you should say that anon. ZD officially sacked his 2 'outlaw' buddies yesterday, and was 'flying' alone today.
I'm now a former associate of the candidate for council, Dogg, and want that fact entered into the record...
meanwhile, I'll continue to point out what i perceive to be forgotten injustices, or anomalies in council, along with hounding council over this unconstitutional vending ordinance at Venice Beach....
FROM ZD's INBOX: (zd@zumadogg.com)
"From this afternoon's postings it seems those clowncil members are getting angry you're bringing attention to the stuff they've been doing and no one has been questioning them on.
I want to find out how much they paid the "Advancement Project" to do the first study of how much city money was being spent on gang programs only for them to conclude $82 million gang programs is not working."
- TV 35 Viewer/Mayor Sam Reader
Matt Dowd is a guy who I beleive should be listened to because he does come up with a lot of really important shi*t that represents the People's best interest vs City Council.
The problem is, he drives, and insists on having Michael Hunt drive along every time...and although I wish Mike could just take the bus once or twice -- or have someone else drive him down...cause I always want Mike to be up there, too...representing to the fllest...cause he's talking important sh*t, too...
I JUST CAN'T STAND TO RIDE IN THE SAME CAR WITH THE MU**** F***ER CAUSE HE'S WAY TOO LOUD, WAY TOO EARLY IN THE MORNING, IN WAY TOO MUCH TRAFFIC, WITH NOT ENOUGH CHRONIC...AND I CAN'T TAKE IT!!!
Plus, his endless and relentless follow-ups and stop-offs that add hours to my already long and unpaid day at city f*cking council meetings that i already hate.
So that's all y'all...Matt told me he would roll with me, and Mike would get another ride, cause I had to review sh*t and write sh*t down in the car, on the way to city hall to represent a lot of info, that a lot of people spent a lot of time and my cell phone minutes on, after three weeks hiatus.
And all Mike wants to say is that I'm a sell-out, bitch for tryng to evolve and take this sh*t to the next level, for the real...and do some REAL things.
But at 10pm, last night, for the fifth time, he caved and said Mike wanted to roll, too...and blah, blah, blah...so all I can say is,
So if I have to take the bus at 7am to make it on time, or miss a day altogether, and just call KABC and post on Mayor Sam...so be it.
If only we could all just shut the f*ck up and listen to some Snoop & Dre on the drive...But Noooooooooo!
FROM ZD's INBOX:
Hey Zuma,
Connie Rice the civil rights attorney who did the Rampart Blue Ribbon report and is heading this gang project.
This is HER non-profit. That means she's been paid a lot of money within a year's time to do these studies.
FYI
Connie Rice stated in her first study of all LA gang programs that $82 million was not being used properly. That statement of hers was all over the news. So the solution is accountability. How does the city decide WHO gets how much money in these gang programs? Why does one gang program get more then another? Does the city have criteria to allocate the money? Are these on city council agendas when they do give money as example to LA Bridges?
YOU DO THE MATH...23 ANTI GANG PROGRAMS AT A COST TO TAX PAYERS OF $86 MILLION AND ITS NOT WORKING. CONNIE RICE IS SAYING APPOINT A GANG CZAR.
Study: L.A.'s Anti-Gang Programs Aren't Working
(CBS) LOS ANGELES Los Angeles is losing the battle against street gangs because it lacks a cohesive, well-funded approach to keep youngsters from joining gangs in the first place, according to a city-commissioned study.
The study by the Advancement Project, a nonprofit group, suggested that the 23 anti-gang programs spread throughout various city departments be put under a single authority, the Los Angeles Times reported.
The programs cost $86 million annually.
The Los Angeles City Council commissioned the study in response to a continuing plague of gang violence in recent years, despite increases in spending on anti-gang efforts.
"You've had a pretty ad hoc, scattered, incoherent approach to the problem," civil rights attorney Connie Rice, co-author of the study, told the council's Ad Hoc Committee on Gang Violence and Youth Development, according to The Times. "Somebody needs to be responsible. There needs to be centralized accountability."
Rice said the last phase of the study, to be completed by the end of the year, will look at possible models for better coordination of anti-gang programs, including appointing a gang czar at City Hall, creating a city department and reorganizing an existing city office or convening a task force.
There is still a huge gang problem in LA. Oh this agency thinks they have the answer to decades of trying??????
Daily News
Project seeks to coordinate efforts
By Dan Laidman, Staff Writer
A nonprofit group seeking a $465,000 contract to develop a comprehensive anti-gang strategy for Los Angeles won the endorsement Monday of the City Council's budget panel.
The consulting project is part of the city's wider effort to evaluate the tens of millions of dollars spent each year combating gangs and trying to keep young people away from violent lifestyles.
"What the city has is a whole bunch of uncoordinated, unsynergistic programs, some of which do some very good work but not to scale and not together," civil-rights lawyer Connie Rice told the Budget and Finance Committee.
City analysts picked the Advancement Project, a nonprofit policy and legal advocacy group run by Rice, to evaluate the programs and create an anti-gang road map for the city.
The Advancement Project proposes to draw in experts from academia, law enforcement and public health while examining successful programs in other cities. Consultants will seek ways the city can hone its gang-prevention and intervention efforts, currently spread across dozens of programs costing millions a year.
"I think it's long overdue to look at the preventive strategies," Councilwoman Wendy Greuel said.
Gangs are "a growing problem" in her east San Fernando Valley district, she said, and she asked Rice to be sure to consult with Valley experts.
While the contract is for six months, officials have indicated a willingness to consider extending it. Rice said she wants to examine whether Los Angeles and neighboring cities are getting their fair share of state money to fight youth violence, an undertaking she said could take a year.
The consultant's findings will help officials decide whether to pursue a proposal to consolidate all the prevention and intervention programs into a single anti-gang agency.
The Advancement Project has also drawn the approval of the city's ad hoc committee on Gang Violence and Youth Development. The contract now goes to the full City Council for a vote.
Since Zuma Dogg, Matt Dowd and Mike Hunt all go together - it's time to kiss and make up.
You're old enough to be "sell outs" now. Too much stuff is getting done. What could be more important?
Matt is feeling a little left out OR this is part of your hilarious persona and part of the script.
Matt will drive you on Saturday to the Alliance meeting at City College and Michael - will you be kind enough to not make too much noise early in the mornings? Some people are really annoyed by it. It is a sort of noise pollution, but what is really important here is Wendy Greuel really likes your name the best!
CONNIE RICE
http://www.grad.uiuc.edu/eep/cos/speakers.htm
ZD....
Kevin James on KABC just spent one hour raging on Villaraigosa and the gang problem in LA. Kevin James is THE BEST of all the talk rdio jocks, but he's on from 1 to 5 in the morning. 4 hours of blasting Villagraigosa!
He also played a snippet from a tape of James Hahn (don't know the date) saying that "Villagrossa is pro-gangs and from the time he was in the Assembly he was an OBSTRUCTIONIST on all anti-gang legisltation and that he refused to impose any penalty or punishment for the gang members. He also said that once a gang member...always a gang member."
Kevin was talking about the horrendous beheadings by the Mexican mafia drug cartel in Mexico, and said it is COMING TO LA SOON!
He said that all of these hundreds of gangmembers are DOMESTIC TERRORISTS.
He talked about the illegals wearing the bandanas around their faces at the Mexican Pride parade...just like Hamas. A cop called in a verified it. Villagrossa was the Grand Marshal of the parade!
Dogg....please contact Kevin James! You need to be on his show!
Villaraigosa and his refusal to deal with his precious gangbangers is becoming a HUGE issue!!! We can get rid of him once and for all if all the shit hits the fan!
Go, Dogg, Go!!!!!
Kevin James IS the bomb!
I was listening, too, as you posted your comment.
I called Kevin's show all throughout he past hiatus. Have tons of airchecks that i am gonna post, soon, so everyone else can hear it.
This guy Kevin James is the greatest.
ZUMA DOGG,
DOGG bro do you ever sleep? Myself, i crash out early and was wide awake as you were talking to Kevin. regarding your post, we need to think about gangs in this way. 20,000 protential terrorist are wondering the streets of our county. Our Housing Projects are "LITTLE BAGDADS" where police are subject to daily shotings. More important, The ACLU is WEAPON the gangs use to keep law enforcement at bay. I praise you for highlighting this topic. If we do not take a combination of tough enforcement, and early childhood intervention. Then the future is a city run by the gangs.
GOOD JOB DOGG!!!!
NOW TIME TO SLEEP AGAIN
Positive comments about Parks! I almost fell out of my chair when I read the remarks. It is getting old that all you ever see on this blog is how corrupt our council is. Parks and Zine are former LAPD officers who served this City for decades. Smith is currently a reserve officer. Weiss is a former federal prosecutor.
I have more confidence in my city council than the handful of self appointed Neighborhood Council leaders who constantly attack them.
7:17am ok Clowncil staffer get ready for work now that you've posted for your boss.
An important fact is Antonio IS AGAINST GANG INJUNCTIONS. There was a gang in San Fernando Valley taking over a park and threatening families and kids. Hahn got a gang injunction and when Antonio was with ACLU he FOUGHT IT AND DEFENDED THE GANG BANGERS. He has a touchy spot in his heart for these low life cowards. These domestic terrorists are shooting at officers in South LA all the time. Has anyone heard our midget mayor say anything about it? NO cause he protects the gang bangers cause he thinks they've had a hard life.
Zuma has become a teacher and one to imitate.
I wrote a post on two yahoogroups downtown about how Brady Westwater claims Main Street is clean of crime and I know for a fact it isn't.
Well , yesterday afternoon, the LAPD were enfocing narcotics trade on main street agressively.
Thanks Zuma Dogg fro reminding me how important it is to speak up and not fear.
Thanks buddy.
zuma dogg needs sponsors people. he could be so much better still with resources. I'm thinking Toyota, Starbucks, Dell, Sony, Verizon and a compassionate Kush clinic somewhere.
I want him to run against Wendy.
she compl;tely lost it yesterday with her mobile graffiti unit, to cite victims of graffiti (on trucks parked in the street)...
thats the kind of BS that turns the balance of the community against the city. making people offenders because they ignore graffiti on their personal property? Ed Reyes, Bill Rosendahl, and Dennis Zine were all moved to express concerns, but vote yes anyway. Gentlemen, your gut instincts are what made you step up. Now follow through and defeat this. its another ordinance that potentially cripples innocents and working people.
you've done some good things Wendy, but this one is bottom of the barrel and look forward to seeing these people next at public comment.
Yea dog! Did Zuma fight Special Event Waivers?
Yes he did. I saw last night on Channel 35 he went after the clowncil with the special event waivers and made some very compelling argument for them to think about.
Big my ass Archie. Word from women who have been with Antonio are saying he can barely get it up and when he does they have to look for it cause its as small as a tip of a pencil.
Poor Child
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