Prison in Santa Clarita Valley

Halloween trickery in the form of an ill-conceived suggestion by Mayor Tom Bradley to site a maximum-security prison in the heart of the Saugus residential community is not only ludicrous but also defies all premise of sound judgment and planning expertise. It also reeks of political manipulation to gain undeserved attention for the 1988 gubernatorial race against Gov. Deukmejian.

I might think that the idea was generated by an ill-advised aide, except that it follows too swiftly on the heels of the governor’s stinging criticism which pinpointed the mayor’s leadership weakness and inability to solve L.A. city’s massive waste, homeless and crime problems.

It is shocking that such a long-tenured, respected leader would stoop so low as to lodge a sneak attack on a totally unincorporated and unprepared community without even the courtesy of a call to the area’s county supervisor, Mike Antonovich, or community leaders. Instead he chose to stage a massive media blitz to glorify his total disregard for neighboring communities and run roughshod over a 2 1/2-year city-county community development commission effort to process plans and permits to provide housing for the aged-- and a sizable profit for the city’s coffers.

Of course it’s possible the mayor doesn’t always have time to communicate with his numerous departments in matters such as these. But it’s more than obvious that he has ample time to unjustly criticize the state’s governor, who, incidentally, has already expanded the state’s prison system by 3,300 permanent beds plus many other temporary beds. And he plans to add another 15,000 beds by the end of 1986. He also guided the opening of the prison at Vacaville--the first new maximum-security prison in the state in the past 50 years. It might be well if L.A. followed the example of our crime-fighting, responsible governor and worked toward crime reduction in its own backyard instead of trying to shift its problem to a very low crime area that already carries more than its share of 6,100 prison inmates at Wayside Honor Ranch plus two probation camps and three fire camps that house prisoners. These add another 1,100 inmates to the total.

Los Angeles produces 38% of the state’s criminals. Saugus and the whole Santa Clarita Valley produce fewer than 1%. A real leader equitably guides, directs and holds a place of dignity. Shifting blame, distorting facts and unfairly forcing a large prison population on an unprepared bedroom community, surrounded by homes, families, seven schools and three churches, and devoid of the necessary medical, judicial, transportation and supply systems to sustain a maximum prison facility, is sheer “Tom Foolery”--not Mayoral Wisdom!

CURTIS DARCY

Saugus