Mayor focuses on crime

By Duke Helfand and David Zahniser

April 15, 2008 12 AM PT

Times Staff Writers

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa called Monday for homeowners to dip into their pockets once again to pay for the expansion of the Los Angeles Police Department, saying a significant increase in trash collection fees is necessary to continue adding 1,000 officers to the force.

Villaraigosa made his case for a 38% increase in trash fees -- which, if approved by the City Council, will have tripled since he took office in 2005 -- as part of his annual State of the City address.

In a speech devoted heavily to the fight against crime, the mayor vowed to carry out a reinvention of the city’s anti-gang programs. And he promised to push for higher fees on new development and new sources of funding for public transit.

One possibility would be placing a half-cent-on-the-dollar countywide sales tax increase for transportation on the November ballot, aides said.

“It’s true: We’re going to ask more of people,” Villaraigosa said during the 40-minute speech at LAPD headquarters. “But we’re going to prove the worth of their investment.”

The trash fee proposal quickly drew fire from neighborhood leaders such as James O’Sullivan, president of the Miracle Mile Residential Assn., who said Villaraigosa and the council had already increased the fee from $11 to $26 in the last two years to pay for the police buildup.

Another $2 increase is scheduled for July 2009.

O’Sullivan said he and his neighbors thought the increases would stop at $28 per month -- the maximum approved by Villaraigosa and the council in 2006.

“They’re breaking faith with all of us,” he said.

The mayor’s third State of the City address comes amid turbulent financial times for Los Angeles.

Villaraigosa already has announced plans to eliminate 767 city positions next year to help offset a $406-million shortfall, and reductions in some city services are expected.

Trash fees charged to the owners of homes and small apartment buildings would help the mayor maintain his priority: expanding the LAPD beyond 10,000 officers for the first time.

To preserve that plan, Villaraigosa would require homeowners to pay the full cost of trash pickup. They would see bills rise from $26 monthly to $36 during the fiscal year that begins July 1; apartments with four or fewer units would see resident rates rise from $17 to $24.

Large apartments are not served by the city’s collection system.

The mayor’s office did not say when the proposed increases would take effect.

If approved by the City Council, it would come on top of an array of other rate hikes and surcharges at the Department of Water and Power, which will leave customers paying at least 23% more for electricity and 10% more for water by summer 2010.

Council members said they would take a hard look at whether the city should impose another hike in trash fees. Several said they would like to see City Hall tighten its belt further before asking the public to shoulder more costs.

“There will have to be more cuts than fee increases,” said Council President Eric Garcetti.

Councilwoman Wendy Greuel added: “I think there will be healthy debate on the City Council about the cost-benefit ratio. What’s that money going to do?”

Villaraigosa also offered a preview of the arguments he plans to make to voters as he seeks a second four-year term next year.

The mayor highlighted his recent accomplishments on the environment, including passage of a diesel truck replacement program at the Port of Los Angeles.

He also mentioned that the city secured $150 million from the state to synchronize street lights.

As a director of the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the mayor said he would ask fellow board members to consider ways to privatize future transit projects.

Villaraigosa touched on other priorities as well, promising to unveil a plan next month for doubling the city’s use of recycled water, while touting his plan to oversee a handful of underperforming schools at the Los Angeles Unified School District, serving 17,000 students.

The program, which serves about 2% of L.A. Unified’s student population, will begin this year.

“We intend to show results and expand the franchise every single year,” he said.

Villaraigosa’s address followed one of the toughest years of his political career. Last summer, the mayor admitted having an extramarital affair with Mirthala Salinas, a Spanish-language television newscaster who had covered some of his political initiatives.

Although that relationship ended within months, Villaraigosa said as recently as February that the affair -- and the resulting end of his 20-year marriage -- had damaged his public standing.

As fallout from the affair dissipated, the city’s financial picture worsened dramatically, prompting the mayor to push for a hiring freeze and voluntary unpaid worker furloughs.

The vast majority of Monday’s speech focused on crime and the battle against gangs.

Hours before the mayor’s address, Deputy Mayor Jeff Carr said Villaraigosa would end one of the city’s most established anti-gang programs and move the money into 12 targeted “gang reduction zones.”

Carr said the program -- L.A. Bridges I, which works to keep youths from joining gangs, and L.A. Bridges II, which tries to get youths out of gangs -- would be phased out by Dec. 31.

The move caps a decade of debate over the initiative, which was created after the killing of a 3-year-old girl in Cypress Park in 1995.

Former City Controller Rick Tuttle and former Mayor Richard Riordan tried to dismantle the program in 2000, only to face a political backlash.

Scrutiny of L.A. Bridges intensified last year, after the head of one anti-gang program was arrested on charges of selling illegal assault weapons to undercover agents.

Last year, the Advancement Project, a civil rights organization, issued a report calling for an ambitious, expensive “Marshall Plan” to combat gang violence.

The mayor’s initiative would increase the yearly funding for the city’s anti-gang programs to $24 million from $19 million, Villaraigosa aides said.

“Maybe this is the down payment on the Marshall Plan,” Carr said.

Carr, who serves as the mayor’s “gang czar,” said the new approach would allow the city to send resources to the children who need them most.

He also argued that the change in strategy should not be seen as an indictment of successful existing programs.

Community groups that have administered the L.A. Bridges programs until now would have a chance to compete for city money as part of the reworked initiative, Carr said.

Councilwoman Jan Perry, whose district has been hard hit by gang crime, said she had not yet seen details of the mayor’s proposal.

The actual budget document will not be made public until next week. But she voiced concern about the future of high-crime neighborhoods that fall outside the boundaries of the mayor’s gang reduction zones.

“If you pull a safety net out from under a community, you better have something just as strong to replace it,” Perry said.

duke.helfand@latimes.com

david.zahniser@latimes.com

Begin text of infobox

Fee hike

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa called Monday for a 38% increase in the city’s monthly trash removal fee in the 2008-09 fiscal year to keep paying for his plan to hire 1,000 new police officers. Three other increases have already been approved as part of the Los Angeles Police Department expansion plan.

For single-family homes

* July 2005*: $11

* Sept. 2006: $18

* July 2007: $22

* Sept. 2007: $26

* July 2009 (pending:) $28

* 2008−09 (proposed): $36**

For apartments (4 units or less)

* July 2005: $7.27 (per unit)

* Sept. 2006: $11.88

* July 2007: $14.52

* Sept. 2007: $17.16