Council Panel Urges Extra $40,000 to Combat Gangs : City government: The money would be added to almost $223,000 to counsel ‘high-risk’ youngsters.

A panel chaired by Los Angeles City Councilman Joel Wachs recommended Monday that anti-gang efforts in the San Fernando Valley receive a $40,000 boost in funding, smoothing the way for the move by urging identical funding increases for two other areas of the city.

The committee’s recommendation calls for $268,928 to be spent on Valley social service programs targeted at keeping so-called “high-risk youngsters” out of gangs. Originally, $222,928 was earmarked for the Valley.

But the recommendation by Wachs’ Arts, Health and Humanities Committee provided no guarantees of funding for Project Heavy, San Fernando Valley, a private social service agency that counsels gang members. Councilman Hal Bernson’s office had urged that Project Heavy get the additional funding.

Wachs, however, balked at dictating which Valley agency should get the $40,000. Originally, the city Community Development Department recommended no funding for Project Heavy, San Fernando Valley and picked seven other Valley-based agencies to share the money. The lead agency was El Centro de Amistad, a Canoga Park-based group that provides education, tutoring, counseling and legal advice to the Latino community.

Bernson’s pitch for additional funding for Project Heavy was based on police reports that gang-related crime more than doubled in the Valley in 1989. By that measure, Bernson contended, the Valley was not allocated its fair share of the $1.4 million in city funds earmarked for efforts to prevent high-risk youths from joining gangs.

Los Angeles Police Department crime statistics, released last month, showed gang-related crime in the department’s Valley Bureau increased 134% in 1989.

The Valley percentage increase was greater than that of the department’s three other bureaus. The Central Bureau reported a 55% increase in gang-related crimes; the West Bureau, a 34% increase, and the South Bureau, 6%.

After agreeing to recommend additional funds for the Valley, Wachs and Councilwoman Gloria Molina, also on Wachs’ committee, voted to support $40,000 in extra funding for the anti-gang programs in the South and Central bureaus.

The committee, however, refused to recommend additional funding for programs in the West Bureau.