Panel Urges More Funds for Anti-Gang Group

A volunteer group struggling to keep intact a weakening gang truce in the San Fernando Valley received help from a Los Angeles city budget panel that recommended Tuesday to more than triple its funding.

The City Council’s Budget and Finance Committee voted to increase funding for the nonprofit Valley Unity Peace Treaty from $40,000 to $140,000, an increase that officials say will pay for full-time gang mediators. The action must be approved by the full City Council sometime in the next month.

The truce among Latino gang members in the Valley began in October, 1993, but police say a rash of shooting deaths over the past 2 1/2 weeks indicates that it may be unraveling.

Steve Martinez, a former gang member and a leader in the peace treaty group, said the truce has been strained in recent weeks but is nonetheless still in effect.

“With truces it’s always an up-and-down ride,” he said.

Martinez added that he hopes the increased funding will help boost their efforts at keeping the peace.

“We are hoping that at least we won’t have to worry about making ends meet,” he said.

The city originally gave the group $40,000 last year to reduce violence by providing volunteers to mediate disputes and encourage gang members to concentrate on academic performance in school.

The funding came from L.A. City Stars, a $3.7-million program designed to provide city funding for youth programs and gang intervention efforts.

During the budget hearings in May, the City Council set aside an additional $1.4 million to City Stars, allowing the city to increase funding for some programs and provide funding for new programs.

Funding for the peace treaty group was increased at the recommendation of Councilman Richard Alarcon, who represents parts of the northeast Valley and has long supported the truce.

He said the increased funding will be used to hire three or four full-time mediators who will work the streets, talking to gang members about reducing tensions.

Alarcon said the handful of volunteers who are now trying to keep the treaty intact have worked on their own free time and have had to worry about paying the bills at home while facing the growing dangers of their work.

“Frankly, they are human beings who have put their lives on hold and given up their social needs to help provide order,” he said.

He acknowledged that the treaty is losing momentum, but he hopes the additional funding can help put it back on track.

Alarcon attributes the increased violence in the Valley to gang members who have recently returned from prison and were not involved in the start of the truce, as well as younger gang members who do not appreciate the guidance of older members.

The councilman recommended the increased funding long before the recent rash of gang shootings, but said the money may be arriving just in time to help quell the upsurge in violence.

“The peace treaty needs a minimal level of funding for it to function,” he said.

Police began to speculate that the truce was unraveling following the bloody weekend of Aug. 26 and 27, during which five killings took place in the San Fernando Valley.

In the first seven months of the year, Los Angeles police have tallied 27 gang-related killings in the Valley and have recorded a 23% increase in all types of gang-related crimes for the first six months of the year.

Police and others have blamed the upsurge, in part, on growing numbers of renegades who are not parties to the truce, and also on the burgeoning number of Asian and African American gangs.