Villaraigosa downplays gang crime spike at Valley VOTE

BY NAZBANOO PAHLAVI

In this week's Sun Community Newspapers


Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa spoke to Valley VOTE members and guests about public safety and education May 12 at Galpin Ford in North Hills.

Villaraigosa stressed the importance of listening to concerns unique to the Valley, which he said has “always felt like the weak sister or step-child in the family.”

“I try to be here, I try to be present, I try to be responsive,” he said.

The mayor said that although gang crime went up by 160 percent last year, that statistic should be viewed in perspective. “You got to understand what that meant. The numbers had been so small before that they went up – it wasn’t that we have now an epidemic necessarily,” he said.

Villaraigosa discussed cuts in the city’s anti-gang initiatives, an issue that he addressed in Canoga Park earlier that evening at the West Valley Family Guidance Center. As a result of two studies – one done over a six-month period by the Advancement Project, a self-described “innovative civil rights and policy action tank,” and another by City Controller Laura Chick – the city decided to reduce anti-gang initiatives and instead focus on “targeted areas to spend limited resources,” he said. A program in the West Valley was cut as a result of the initiative’s restructuring.

The mayor also discussed public education and his highly-publicized attempt to take over the Los Angeles Unified School District. As a result of his efforts and an ensuing lawsuit, Villaraigosa will have control over nine schools and about 18,000 students starting in July.

He said he aims to focus on integrating charter schools into the fold and cited the Alliance for College-Ready Public Schools, a non-profit charter management program with Richard Riordan as board chairman, as a model to emulate. Villaraigosa said he wants to “really show people what we can do if we have high expectations for kids – spend money locally, cut bureaucracy and really focus on achievement.”

Discussing the budget, Villaraigosa said roughly 767 positions – performed by 350 city employees – will be eliminated due to fiscal restraints. He is seeking six mandatory furlough days to offset the possibility of more cutbacks, although both labor unions and the Los Angeles city council oppose such temporary layoffs.

“One thing about me is that I’m not afraid to make a tough decision,” Villaraigosa said.

The mayor also touted the expansion of airport flyaway shuttles and the success of the Van Nuys airport service where travelers can check in their baggage and acquire boarding passes en route to the airport.