CANOGA PARK : Cuts in Anti-Drug Program Opposed

The Los Angeles City Council voted unanimously Friday to urge Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner to oppose a little-known panel’s decision to cut by more than $300,000 the funding available to a popular city anti-drug trafficking program.

The vote, taken without discussion, was directed at Reiner because one of his aides is chairman of the county Anti-Drug Abuse Steering Committee. In May, the committee voted to allocate $1.05 million in federal grant funds to the FALCON (Focused Attack Linking Community Organizations and Neighborhoods) program, run by the Los Angeles Police Department.

That was a funding cut for the program, which has been credited with curtailing drug sales in once-notorious Lanark Park in Canoga Park. Last year it got $1.4 million from the panel and had requested $1.75 million for this year.

Councilwoman Joy Picus, a strong advocate of FALCON who represents Canoga Park, called FALCON “one of the few programs where, when you put up money, you get results.”

Stephen Kay, the Reiner aide who chairs the funding panel, said earlier this week that the panel’s majority voted for lower funding because the city’s request was bloated with the costs of LAPD pension benefits.

The city’s FALCON unit is staffed with 16 people, half of whom are police officers.