LA Bridges reincarnated as GRYD ??

"Gang Programs, Invitation to Fraud and Graft then, and now ??"

LA Bridges here again ?? Maybe ex. City Controller Laura Chick can be brought back to audit,(something she never did as controller regarding LA Bridges), the latest incarnation of gang prevention and intervention programing known as the "Office of Gang Reduction and Youth Development".

The Los Angeles Times, to their credit, exposes the problems with the agency "Unity T.W.O."
and those include the following according to the Times.

......Officials called in Unity T.W.O., a high-profile South L.A. intervention agency and City Hall contractor that has received more than $350,000 in public money this year and considerably more in the previous five years.

Unity T.W.O. never showed up -- and yet, days later, it submitted a standard form to City Hall reporting that it had responded as promised and spoken with gang members in an effort to reduce the tension, according to sources close to the city's gang-reduction efforts.

The discrepancy was the latest, and perhaps last, stumble for Unity T.W.O. According to documents obtained by The Times, including financial reports and e-mails between Unity T.W.O. and City Hall, the agency has left gang-reduction supervisors, city officials and nonprofit executives frustrated with its operation. The documents paint a portrait of a troubled, overwhelmed agency -- of overdrawn bank accounts, blown deadlines and missed payrolls.

More problems.......

In May, two staff members in the mayor's Office of Gang Reduction & Youth Development (GRYD) submitted sexual harassment claims against Unity T.W.O. employees -- "unwelcome sexual advances, inappropriate remarks and continued harassment even after our staff asked them to stop," according to one document. Unity T.W.O. workers were ordered to stay away from GRYD's female staffers.

Enough is enough........, even for the Rev. Jeff Carr, "General Secretary of Gang Intervention" (He does not like being called the "Czar", goes against his political train of thought).

By June, executives at Soledad Enrichment Action, which hired Unity T.W.O. as a subcontractor in the Newton area, were having difficulty even making contact with Fletcher and other Unity T.W.O. workers and resorted to sending a letter asserting that "we have no record that substantiates that any services have been or are being provided by your agency." City officials also were raising questions about Unity T.W.O.'s decision to "delegate" responsibilities to yet another intervention organization."OK.

What exactly does he do then?" e-mailed the Rev. Jeff Carr, GRYD's director, referring to Fletcher. "Still don't know," replied Jorge Reyes, a GRYD supervisor.

Fletcher seemed stymied by the bureaucracy's confusing demands."We want to comply. We will happily comply. But please help us do so," he wrote to Carr and Villaraigosa on June 26.

Word on the "Street" is that Unity T.W.O. is not the only sub-contractor who has problems with being forthright when it comes to documenting their work. E-mails are making the rounds about "sub-contractors" who are "double-dipping" on the city dime.

Then there is the question of transparency in the hiring process when it comes to the GRYD.

Lets use the latest "connected non-profit" Legacy LA as an example.

Posted in the "comments" were the job titles for Legacy employees.

Current "Legacy LA" Employees,

Jenny Krusoe"Director of Development"

Maria Lou Calanche"Exective Director"

Monique Moncayo"Director of Youth Outreach"

George Sarabia"GRYD Program Coordinator"

What oversite did the GRYD have in the selection and hiring process ? Were job fliers past out in the communities ? Where is the openness and transparency in who gets hire ?

But the last sentence in this paragraph gives us the sad truth.

"There has to be rules. If there aren't rules, people will abuse this thing, and I think the city is making an honest effort to do something to stem the violence," said Ted Baker, a case manager with a group that works closely with Unity T.W.O. in South L.A. "But you still have to have real contacts on the street level. There is no other way to break that cycle. I just don't know. The politics here run pretty deep."

Your thoughts.................................