Some City Officials Seem Ready to Reject Team Policing Plan : Rebuilding: Angry reactions to Weed and Seed program may jeopardize millions of dollars allocated to city, U.S. spokesman says.

In the aftermath of angry objections by residents to a federal anti-crime, anti-poverty program, some City Council members appear to be ready to reject a community-based policing plan that was to be tested in two areas hit hardest by last spring’s civil unrest.

But as concern over President Bush’s Weed and Seed program mounted this week, the federal official charged with its implementation warned that rejection of key provisions of the program might jeopardize millions of dollars already allocated to the city.

The community-based policing plan developed by the Los Angeles Police Department was to be funded by a $1-million Justice Department grant as part of the Weed and Seed program, a key ingredient of Bush’s urban aid agenda.

Weed and Seed is a two-pronged plan designed to first “weed” out criminals from crime-infested communities and then “seed” the areas with social programs. The City Council had approved two areas--a section of South-Central Los Angeles, and Pico-Union and Koreatown--as test sites for the program.

But community activists, concerned about the Justice Department’s involvement in administration of the program, are urging the City Council to reject the police plan and reconsider its earlier approval of the Weed and Seed program, which has allocated $18 million for social service organizations in the city.

Controversy over the plan boiled over at two packed, raucous public hearings this week held by the City Council’s Ad Hoc Recovery Committee, which next Thursday is scheduled to vote on the community policing anti-crime component of the plan.

Wednesday, at the Park View Plaza Hotel, about 200 Pico-Union and Koreatown residents offered their assessments of the plan.

“It may not be the best proposal, but it gives us some relief,” said Mike Hoyt, a representative of the Pico-Union Improvement Assn.

However, other residents complained of being locked out of the planning process. “We want to decide if it’s going to be; and if it’s going to be, what it’s going to be,” said Terry d’u Soleil, co-block captain of the Westlake Fiesta Neighborhood Watch Group. “It seems that the ‘if’ has already been decided for us.”

Similar concerns were expressed Monday night during an overflow forum held at Bethany Community Church in South-Central Los Angeles.

The increasingly bitter dispute over the controversial urban aid program reflects the growing chasm that has emerged since last April’s riots between those judged to be the “haves” and those that consider themselves the “have nots” in this city.

On one side, an unlikely coalition that includes groups ranging from the Revolutionary Community Party to the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, have denounced “Weed and Seed” as a dangerous precursor to a police state that is being forced on low-income residents.

Justice Department officials strongly deny those assertions and have accused the program’s opponents of waging a smear campaign, playing on the fears of residents.

The city has been caught in the middle, selling the program in a low-key campaign as providing desperately needed funds for social service organizations, while minimizing the Justice Department’s administrative role.

But Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas, chair of the committee, said public reservations had raised deep concerns about both the LAPD proposal and the Weed and Seed program in general.

“It’s not a done deal yet,” he said. “Law enforcement is obliged to listen to the community . . . and they have raised a range of issues here.”

Councilwoman Rita Walters, also a member of the committee, said: “If this were a grant to the LAPD where (Police) Chief Willie Williams was completely in charge without federal involvement, that would be one thing. But under the currently suggested plan, it’s quite another.”

U.S. Atty. Terree A. Bowers, in charge of the Weed and Seed program in Los Angeles, defended the federal initiative and accused its opponents of spreading misinformation. Bowers also expressed concern that Weed and Seed has become a political football.

“My concern is that L.A. is becoming so Balkanized, it’s impossible to get people to join together to implement beneficial programs,” he said.

Bowers said his office and the LAPD are willing to modify provisions of the police plan. But he warned that if the City Council rejects compromise, Los Angeles could lose funding for the social service component altogether.