IRVINE : Anti-Violence Panel Plans to Reconvene

Councilman Greg Smith received an unwelcome reminder of the city’s youth crime problem earlier this year when his 5-year-old son was attacked by a group of teen-agers on his way home from school.

The attack did not seriously injure his son, but it sparked shock and anger in the community. It occurred about a year after Smith and a group of residents completed a comprehensive report that studied ways to reduce youth violence in the city.

The incident has also added a sense of urgency to the Youth Community Task Force’s plans to reconvene this month and assess how its recommendations have been received.

No date has been set for the hearings.

“We want to do a recheck,” Smith, who is on the task force, said. “We want to examine what’s happened over the last year and whether any of our assumptions have changed.”

The task force delivered its report amid much fanfare at a joint session of the City Council and the Irvine Unified School District board. The increased concern about youth and gang violence was underscored in November, 1992, by a drive-by shooting near an alternative high school in the Woodbridge area.

The task force provided more than 50 recommendations for reducing youth violence, including beefing up security on campuses to teaching ethics.

The city and the school district have implemented some of the suggestions.

The school district increased the number of school safety officers on high school campuses and extended the program to some middle schools. It has also improved its ethics and nonviolent conflict resolution curriculum.

The City Council has allocated thousands of dollars to fund after-school activities and a program aimed at helping parents with troubled children. The city also plans to have the Police Department back up to full staffing by the end of the year.

“I think we are off to a pretty good start,” Smith said, adding that the next step might be to expand anti-drug programs in schools.

He said that the attack on his son prompted a flurry of calls from residents outraged by the incident.

“I think there is really a feeling in the community now that citizens are angry,” he said. “They are sick of it, and they’ve had enough.”