Officials mixed on 'gang

Measure would fund after-school programs

By James Nash
Staff Writer

Saying Los Angeles needs more after-school programs to keep children out of gangs, City Councilman Martin Ludlow on Friday proposed a ballot initiative to raise property taxes by $40 a year.

The measure would appear on the May ballot along with the mayoral runoff and another possible tax measure: a half-percent increase in the city sales tax to hire more than 1,200 police officers.

Ludlow, who represents the Mid-City area, said he believed voters would support both tax measures because of the importance of reducing crime. A half-percent sales-tax proposal won support from 64 percent of Los Angeles voters last November but failed to meet the two-thirds margin required countywide.

"I know voters are looking for creative ways to reduce youth and gang violence," Ludlow said. "I'm saying, Let's spend less than a cup of coffee a day for these kinds of programs. That's what this is about."

The City Council must vote by Jan. 26 on whether to place the initiative on the May 17 ballot. It would require a two-thirds majority to pass.

Some city officials said that, while they support Ludlow's push to combat youth and gang violence, they're concerned that placing two tax measures on the same ballot could turn voters against both.

Councilman Dennis Zine, a retired police sergeant who sits on the Public Safety Committee, said the city needs to better evaluate the effectiveness of existing anti-gang programs before asking voters to pay for new ones.

"If we have a half-cent sales tax coming on for public safety and a parcel tax, we don't how much that's going to cost," Zine said. "We just reduced the business tax. We're coming through an economic recovery, and we need to be sensitive on taxes."

A spokeswoman for Mayor James Hahn said he also was concerned that Ludlow's initiative could detract from the quest for a half-percent sales-tax increase, part of which would be earmarked for gang-intervention efforts.

"He feels that the sales tax is a comprehensive approach," said Hahn spokeswoman Elizabeth Kaltman. "Just funding the gang programs is extremely important, but the mayor feels that a sales tax gives us an opportunity to address the issue in a comprehensive way."

Ludlow also has proposed creating a Department of Urban Affairs using existing city revenues, part of which would address the culture of gangs and violence.

Ludlow said he's confident that voters will respond favorably to his parcel-tax proposal because of the importance of fighting gangs, which account for an estimated two-thirds of violent crime in Los Angeles.

"I think (they) complement each other," Ludlow said. "There's a strong chorus from Angelenos, both residents and property owners, that crime is the No. 1 issue in the city."