Mayor Plans Cutoff of Funds to Anti-Gang ‘Bridges’ Effort

LOS ANGELES —  In the wake of a critical audit released last week on Los Angeles’ anti-gang program, Mayor Richard Riordan on Tuesday said he intends to cut off funding to the initiative, starting in six months.

On Friday, city Controller Rick Tuttle issued a scathing audit stating the L.A. Bridges program is so poorly operated that it should be shut down and overhauled.

“The most serious observation by the Controller is that the program has yet to demonstrate measurable effectiveness in deterring youth from gang activity,” Riordan wrote in a letter to the City Council.

“Inasmuch as this was the major objective of the program, it is incumbent upon all of us to take a hard look at the future of this program.”

Riordan proposed funding the program through September, giving the city a chance to develop a new anti-gang initiative.

L.A. Bridges--which was started in 1997 and has cost the city more than $28 million--was intended to keep middle school students out of gangs by providing them with after-school sports, counseling, tutoring and anger-management.

Riordan’s plan is expected to come under fire from council members, who say the program should be fixed rather than shut down.

“It is clear to a number of us that the mayor had prejudged the Bridges program,” Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas said. “This just confirms what has been rumor for the past several months. . . . He wants his legacy to include abandonment of youth at risk in this city.”