Who ya gonna call? Gang-busters!
Politicians are always thinking about their next office and its de rigueur they be perceived as doing something people care about as opposed to actually doing something people care about. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is running for Governor/Vice President/President. City Controller Laura Chick is going to run for Wacko Jacko's Council Seat or maybe Mayor. Half the City Council will run for Mayor when Antonio is gone; the rest of them are running for City Attorney, County Supervisor or State Legislature. That's why the Mayor, City Controller and Clowncil all have plans intended to reduce gang violence.And you guessed it, each of these plans come attached with hefty price tags.
Celeste Fremon of the Witness LA blog knows what she's talking about when it comes to gangs, crime and violence. She's been writing and doing something about it for years.
This old, dead Republican mayor likes Fremon's take on Chick's plan: we don't need more studies or plans. We need simple, direct action.
The only problem with simple, direct action is that politicians can't spend a lot of money on that or hire their friends and contributors to run circles around the problem.
For Fremon's concise yet eloquent ten point plan click here.
Posted by Mayor Sam @ 3/13/2007 12:19:00 AM
10 Comments:
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I was really impressed with Celeste's blog. She posts very intelligent stuff. I didn't like her stories when she writes for LA Weekly and makes excuses for the gang bangers. She's also a Father Gang Banger Greg Boyle groupie. However, this blog is completely different and it looks like she finally gets the point. Giving these gang bangers jobs won't work. Not when they can make $1,000's of dollars selling dope in a couple of days. Father Boyle's gang bangers fight inside his company all the time then it heads out to the street. School kids see the violence from his homeboys but the media doesn't report it. His Homeboy Industries is a sham!!!
IF Celeste really wants to get to the heart of the gang problem since she's a reporter why doesn't she do her own audit of the gang programs? That would put her on the map.
Look fellas, here's the deal. Celeste's point is that we don't need a Laura Chick plan, a Tony Villaraigosa plan, a Rocky Deladillo plan, a City Clowncil plan, etc. all at $1 million a pop. And its all grandstanding.
For sure, the gang problem is complex and its going to take more than a list of 10 action items to solve it. However, much of what Celeste proposes is common sense things we all should be focusing on. Much of the solution will not come from the government.
We don't need special tax breaks for companies who hire gang bangers. We need enough police to make all neighborhoods safe, so that businesses will be willing to open everywhere. People are making this problem harder than it really is. If you catch and/or deter criminals, the rest takes care of itself.
We also need to end sanctuary city policies NOW, arrest and deport ALL illegal alien gang members, AND secure the border so this scum can't slither back in. Then maybe, just maybe, we could get a (slight) handle on the gang problem. But since the above has about as much chance of happening as pedophile protector Mahony converting to Islam, the gang problem will just get worse. Sad but true.
Good point Walter and I hope you campaign on that issue. Common sense says if you have more black and whites in a neighborhood those coward gang bangers settle down. Amazing clowncil can't figure that out. AT least Celeste is trying to be part of the solution and I'm glad she states the obvious with Laura Chick Shit wanting $500,000 for what? She could use that money to AUDIT AUDIT AUDIT AUDIT. I'm looking to read some reporter who has the guts to follow up on this story of a diversion by Chick not to do her job.
Hey, Mr. Mayor, thanks much for the mention! As some of your visitors noted, I tend toward the liberal end of things (Okay, yeah, I'm often somewhere to the left of Che Guevara, but let’s not quibble about degrees). Nevertheless, I've always enjoyed your blog. Intelligent grumpiness of any political stripe is a really good thing in my book.
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As for ZDs comments…My dear Mr. Dogg,
Yes, of course it’s a list. (Hence the title of the post, “The $Million Dollar To Do List.”)
The point is---as Mayor Sam noted----we don’t need more in the way of expensive, politically-driven studies and coma-inducing public posturing. We need action. Preferably now, not later. I suggested the main directions in which we ought to be taking that action.
Actually, in a way it’s heartening that the points I made seemed obvious to you. In truth, reducing gang violence isn’t rocket science. It is, however, labor intensive and requires more political will and leadership than anyone seems to be providing. Bratton gets it. But he’s just responsible for the cop end of things.
About fixing the schools: I’ll be writing a lot about it in the coming weeks and months. I think it’s very doable. (We can’t afford for it not to be.) But we’re not going to get anywhere if we insist on preserving the existing system. (Much, much more on that to come.)
As for police recruiting… That’s another thing I’ve been researching intend to get into in the coming weeks. It’s one of THE main issues in modern policing. It seems nobody wants to be a police officer (or a deputy sheriff) any more. Or not enough people do anyway. But it’s not hopeless, not by a long shot. Some very smart cops have given me some very smart ideas. So prepare yourself. There are most lists to come in the near future.
PS: If you don’t like what I write, come over to WitnessLA and say so publicly. I’m always open for a smart fight. Plus, the blog is already attracting more folks on the left, than on the right. In other words, we need conservatives, libertarians….and the occasional quarrelsome Dogg.
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TO ANONYMOUS, ABOUT DOING THE GANG PROGRAM AUDIT…
That’s a brilliant idea! No kidding. I need to sleep on it to make sure I’m not having a psychotic break in saying this, but I believe I may take you up on that! Thank you for thinking of it!
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I removed my 9:58 PM -- here's an update, of my update:
Celeste:
My 9:58 was a total, "my bad"...but now I'm updating the update. See, on Mayor Sam's description he said, "plan" -- so that set me off when I read it (I skipped right to the points, without looking too much at the headline where you DO call it a "to do" list. AND A GREAT TO DO LIST IT IS. Nothing on there to argue with.
See, calling it a "plan" puts it in a different catagory for ZD's checklist of scrutiny.
HOWEVER: In the body of your description, you do refer to it as a "plan" -- but ZD isn't about parcing words and trying to find one little thing and blow it out of context. You called it a "to do" list in the headline, and was represented as a "list", not "plan" -- and even if you did use the word, "plan" once...no one would have given much though between the difference of the two. So I deleted my 7:13AM comment, AND PLEASE FEEL FREE TO COPY AND SEND OR POST TO ANYONE OR ANYWHERE TO CLARIFY -- It was a great list of things to consider. A very nice compilation, indeed! I'm gonna copy it and refer to for ideas and inspiration. Thanks! zd
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