From-the-Streets Proposals on Gang Violence Unveiled

Billed as a “from-the-streets” approach to the escalating gang problem in Los Angeles County, a series of proposals, including making possession of an unlicensed, concealed handgun a felony, were unveiled Thursday by a group of business and community leaders backed by the United Way.

Many of the recommendations formulated by so-called “round-table groups” in the Pasadena-Altadena, San Pedro and South-Central Los Angeles areas are not new, admitted former pro football player Willie Davis, head of the South-Central group. “But maybe we can get at it (the problem) a little better,” he said.

Often-repeated solutions to gang programs--parenting classes, anti-gang programs aimed at elementary school-age youngsters and summer jobs for out-of-school teen-agers--were recommended, but the solutions urged by Davis’ group are new, United Way officials said.

Conceal Weapons

The South-Central Los Angeles group urged, for example, that carrying an unlicensed firearm be made a felony, not a misdemeanor as it is now, with a penalty of up to a year in prison. But it was not immediately clear from talks with various United Way officials if a lobbying effort for such a law will be mounted.

The group also called for the use of tax incentives to create “business enterprise zones” to attract new companies and jobs to the South-Central area, where unemployment is estimated at 18%. One blighted area ripe for such development might be in the vicinity of 103rd Street and Compton Boulevard, round-table members reported.

Francis L. Dale, chairman of United Way’s Countywide Youth Violence Prevention Round Table and commissioner of the Major Indoor Soccer League, lauded the approach endorsed by United Way, saying the recommendations “are coming up from the streets, with people in each community bringing it to the community as a whole.”

Gang violence claims a new fatality every 22 hours in the county, and the challenge now for the United Way groups is to marshal manpower and funds to implement their recommendations, Dale said.

Funding for the proposals has not yet been determined, but several United Way officials said the nonprofit organization would probably pay a portion of the costs.

Despite the much-ballyhooed “from-the-streets” approach, some Latinos were upset that the recommendations seemed to overlook their concerns about gang violence.

Law enforcement officials estimate that about 60% of the 40,000 gang members in Los Angeles County are Latino. And despite the acknowledgement that gangs have long plagued Eastside barrios, there was no round table formed for East Los Angeles.

Concern Told

“I have a concern that there was very little Hispanic representation in any of these groups,” said Steve Valdivia, director of the East Los Angeles-based Youth Gang Services program.

One expert on gang violence, who asked that his name not be used, criticized the United Way effort for not dealing “with bilingualism, because many of the gang kids now come from El Salvador, Mexico, Colombia--all over Latin America.”