Mayor Backs City Use of CRA Funds : Finances: Bradley, in a reversal, says he is ready to take about $25 million to protect police service.

In what appears to be a major capitulation to critics of his $3.8-billion budget, Mayor Tom Bradley on Friday said the city should consider raiding the treasury of the Community Redevelopment Agency to help prevent dramatic cuts in police service.

Just four days after releasing his proposed budget, Bradley reversed field and signaled that he is now prepared to take about $25 million from the powerful agency, enough to provide a minimum level of policing recommended by Police Chief Daryl F. Gates.

City Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky, who has led the charge against the Bradley budget, welcomed the mayor’s change of heart, but immediately upped the ante.

The influential chairman of the council’s Budget and Finance Committee advocated taking as much as $50 million from the CRA to help restore police, fire, park and recreation and library services.

Bradley’s surprise turnaround came as the council continued its assessment of a budget that projects a wide range of service cuts to close a projected deficit of nearly $183 million.

Bradley, in a letter Friday to CRA Administrator Ed Avila, said he made his decision to “maintain the city’s quality of life. . . . The goals of the CRA will be complemented by a strong law enforcement effort.”

Bradley denied, through his staff, that he was bowing to his critics. Deputy Mayor Mark Fabiani said the CRA funds had not been tapped earlier because agency officials failed to provide complete information about how the loss of the funds would affect the agency.

“The mayor has since determined that there are some sources of funds that could be used,” Fabiani said, “that will not damage the CRA programs the mayor cares about, such as affordable housing and homeless services.”

He added that the “outer limit” the mayor felt the CRA should contribute to the city is $26 million, $1 million more than suggested in the letter.

But Yaroslavsky and city budget analysts argued that the mayor was trying to minimize the scope of the assault on CRA funds. The agency uses its $391-million budget to finance everything from office towers and housing projects to day-care facilities and street improvements.

“At first the strategy at the CRA was: ‘We can’t help at all,’ ” said a high-ranking city employee familiar with the agency’s budget, who asked to remain anonymous. “Now they are saying: ‘We can help, but let’s not completely gut the agency.’ ”

Yaroslavksy, in a tense confrontation with Avila at an afternoon hearing before the Budget and Finance Committee, suggested that the CRA’s support of the city should go much further.

“The mayor is talking about $26 million,” Yaroslavsky said. “We are talking about a whole lot more. We are not just interested in restoring police and fire (service). We are interested in parks and recreation and 10,000 kids in an after-school program and library hours.

“This city cannot afford to run its basic emergency services while hundreds of millions of dollars are being siphoned off by the redevelopment agency,” Yaroslavsky added.

But Avila cautioned that other programs will be lost if money is taken from his agency. “You name it in our budget--child care, housing, seismic rehabilitation--all of that could suffer,” Avila said.

He promised to return to the council committee Monday with a detailed report on the impact of diverting funds away from such programs.

The chief legislative analyst’s office released a report Friday suggesting that cuts could be made without any CRA projects suffering.

The report by the legislative analyst’s office, which advises the council, showed that $180 million or more went unspent by the agency in each of the past three years. The report went on to say that up to $67.3 million in redevelopment funds could be taken in the fiscal year beginning July 1 without harming CRA projects.

The money could be used to pay for the expansion of the Convention Center, refurbishment of the Central Library and improvements on Figueroa Street--all projects that are paid for mostly by the city.

Those programs, totaling more than $55 million, are all within existing redevelopment zones and could be undertaken by the CRA because they further the agency’s goal of wiping out blight, Yaroslavsky said.

If CRA took over some of those expenses, more city funds would be available for police, fire and other services.

The possibility of taking funds from the agency has been on the table before. The CRA for years has been criticized around City Hall primarily for bankrolling major developers.

But previous attempts to take money from the agency have failed, as council members said they were hesitant because of state laws that limit how redevelopment money can be used.

A push to take the agency’s money gained momentum this week, when Gates and Fire Chief Donald O. Manning predicted that emergency response time would be slowed considerably under Bradley’s proposed budget.

The budget projected that the Police Department would lose up to 320 officers next year. That would bring attrition over two years to nearly 700 and drop the force to 7,654 officers. The Fire Department was asked to reduce staffing at 14 stations.

Budget analysts have said it will take $21 million in extra cash to sustain a 7,900-officer Police Department and a full overtime account--the minimum recommended by Gates. Another $26 million will maintain current Fire Department staffing.

The three-member council committee questioned Avila closely during a more than hourlong hearing, asking him to justify his budget. Yaroslavsky said the agency was trying to escape unscathed during a budget crisis that has been called the worst in the city’s history.

“You are asking for us to protect your growth programs, while we and the rest of the city are being asked to make do with less,” the councilman said.

Another committee member, Councilman Joel Wachs, supported the use of redevelopment funds. “I think possibly we are not even going far enough,” he said.

The third panel member, Councilman Richard Alatorre, said he thought the agency should contribute some money to bail out the city, but he urged caution.

“Those monies are there for some reason,” Alatorre said. “I think it’s important to look at those funds and where they are going.”