Council Panel Says LAPD Expansion Is Not Enough

Los Angeles City Council members reviewing Mayor Richard Riordan’s budget said Thursday that an expansion of the police force will not be enough to fight crime and they will consider increasing hours of operation at parks and recreation centers.

Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky made the proposal at hearings Thursday, during which he also suggested that the state help pay for programs it requires, such as refuse recycling.

The council’s Budget and Finance Committee, which Yaroslavsky chairs, is scheduled to vote next month on the $4.3-billion budget that Riordan presented.

That plan tilts heavily toward the Police Department, suggesting an addition of 450 officers in the fiscal year beginning July 1. It also promises to exempt parks and libraries from a continued hiring freeze that will shrink most other departments.

But with a hiring freeze continuing through July 1 even for parks, the mayor’s budget shows that service already will have been reduced from 38 hours a week to 25 hours at 35 recreation centers. Attrition also will mean that restrooms are cleaned less often--six days a week instead of seven--and lawns mowed less frequently.

Yaroslavsky said those reductions should be prevented.

“Our crime-fighting strategy has to be two-pronged,” he said. “We have to have more police, but we have to have positive, constructive programs in the parks and elsewhere to give kids alternatives.”

Councilman Richard Alatorre also supported attempts to restore park staffing to the levels of July 1, 1993, to stave off the service reductions. The lawmakers asked for a report on how much it would cost to make the change.

In another action, the Budget and Finance Committee asked for research into the question of how the city can force the state to provide more funding for programs that it requires.

The idea was inspired by Gov. Pete Wilson’s own demand this week that the federal government pay the state for the costs of supplying services to illegal immigrants.

Yaroslavsky said tens of millions of dollars could be obtained by the city if the state fully paid for the programs, including providing workers’ compensation.