Mayoral Hopefuls Differ on Best Way to Tackle Crime

The two Los Angeles mayoral rivals held dueling news conferences Thursday morning to discuss their differing crime agendas--one emphasized suppression while the other talked about prevention.

City Atty. James K. Hahn, standing outside the Los Angeles Police Department’s Harbor station, announced a new lawsuit aimed at curbing gang activity in Wilmington. Antonio Villaraigosa, meanwhile, appeared in front of freshly painted murals in North Hollywood to announce that he would create a $10-million “neighborhood enhancement team” to more quickly address such community nuisances as graffiti, among other things.

The candidates, who will face each other in a June 5 runoff, are circling one another on a few key issues, trying to stake out sufficiently distinct positions to offer voters a clear choice.

They also are attempting to frame their candidacies through endorsements, trotting out new backers every day.

Villaraigosa’s campaign stood to receive a boost this morning, when City Councilman Joel Wachs is scheduled to endorse his former mayoral rival. Wachs finished in fourth place in the April election with 11% of the vote and is thought to appeal to longtime San Fernando Valley supporters who could be among the most critical factors in the close race.

On Thursday, Hahn insisted his gang injunction was intended to fight crime, not collect votes. He brushed off any attempts to politicize his event, saying he is “city attorney until June 30 and I’m not going to stop doing my job until then.”

Fifteen gang-related deaths in Wilmington last year--including a Torrance landlord gunned down on June 3 after he washed away graffiti and put up a fence to protect his tenants--prompted the city attorney to file the lawsuit. If granted, a court order would impose, among other things, a midnight-to-sunrise curfew on the 40 defendants. It also would forbid them from associating with one another in public or using police scanners.

Hahn also dismissed suggestions that such court orders amount to racial profiling. He said Latino and black residents are being terrorized by gang warfare, and intervention is needed to protect them.

Named in a 191-page lawsuit filed Wednesday in Long Beach Superior Court are 40 members of the Eastside and Westside Wilmas, two gangs that have terrorized the Wilmington area for years, Hahn said.

Villaraigosa rejected the notion that injunctions represent the best way to attack neighborhood crime. Villaraigosa urged a “multipronged approach” that would include suppression but also would expand community policing--add foot patrols, create new parks and after-school programs and quickly address neighborhood nuisance problems.

“We need to bring people together with government to change the way we fight crime,” he said.

The so-called Chandler Outdoor Gallery, along 13 blocks of Chandler Boulevard in North Hollywood, is a prime example of the partnerships Villaraigosa wants to encourage: business owners, neighbors and artists who have worked together to paint murals and discourage graffiti.

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Times staff writer James Rainey contributed to this story.