San Diego
Mayor Maureen O’Connor said Friday that she will ask Gov. George Deukmejian for about $31 million to combat the city’s crime and drug problem when she, Councilwoman Gloria McColl and Police Chief Bob Burgreen meet with the governor Tuesday.
At an afternoon news conference, McColl said the city’s top priority will be to request $12 million to fund a 200-bed pre-arraignment jail for three years. The jail is envisioned as a privately operated facility aimed at incarcerating the more than 100 misdemeanor arrestees who are now cited and released each day because of jail crowding.
The city also will ask for money to hire more police officers for special anti-gang and drug details, and to fund youth diversion programs.
In May, O’Connor declared that drug- and gang-related shootings had created a “state of emergency” in San Diego’s inner city. The council asked Deukmejian for $34 million from the state’s newly discovered $2.5-billion surplus to help quell the violence.
Deukmejian formally rebuffed the request in June, but not before his press secretary questioned whether O’Connor’s unusual gambit was a publicity stunt.
O’Connor was flanked by McColl, Burgreen and Councilman Ed Struiksma, members of the “emergency council” created after the state-of-emergency declaration, at the news conference. O’Connor denied that the event was staged to generate publicity for McColl and Struiksma, incumbents who face reelection primaries Tuesday.
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