VENTURA : Council to Consider Adviser on Gangs

The Ventura Parks and Recreation Commission is urging the city to hire a consultant to study the scope of the city’s growing gang problem.

The Parks and Recreation Commission voted last week to ask the City Council for $26,591 to hire Los Angeles-based Soledad Enrichment Action to assess current gang problems and suggest ways to discourage youths from joining gangs.

The council is scheduled to review the request tonight.

Although Ventura police have cracked down on gangs, their efforts have not eradicated the problem, said Recreation Supt. Bill Byerts.

The city now needs to focus more attention on preventing youngsters from entering gangs, he said.

“Up until now, the police have had the main responsibility for dealing with gang issues, but to reduce gang participation we need the efforts of departments in the city,” Byerts said.

The recreation department is the most suitable because it already offers social and health programs to the city’s youth, he said.

If the firm is hired, the consultants would interview community members to determine what kind of programs would best prevent youths from joining gangs.

“Our real target is the wanna-bes,” youngsters who associate with gang members and imitate them,” Byerts said. “We would want to find ways to pull them out of the streets into a more positive environment before it’s too late.”

Anti-gang programs could include physically challenging activities such as boxing, that are interesting to potential gang members and would get them off the street, Byerts said.

Soledad Enrichment Action has gained statewide attention for its work with gangs in South-Central Los Angeles, East Los Angeles and Pomona, he said.