SB Mayor Expands Crime Campaign (Press Enterprise 06302006) SB: The council backs the youth programs, spurred in part by the shooting of a boy!

The SB Mayor is off to a great Start, and I just hope that he stays on the track that he has modeled for SB and it works, so City's like Rialto can follow suit.

BSRanch
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Mayor expands crime campaign

SAN BERNARDINO: The council backs the youth programs, spurred in part by the shooting of a boy.

09:05 AM PDT on Friday, June 30, 2006

By CHRIS RICHARD
The Press-Enterprise

San Bernardino Mayor Pat Morris introduced an expanded crime-prevention program Thursday that increases youth recreation and jobs programs across the city with the help of local schools and community organizations.

Thursday evening, the City Council approved Morris's proposals, including $180,000 for summer youth programs. They include:

Free admission to the city's five public swimming pools for local youth. The city Boys and Girls Club and the Western Regional Little League also have donated the use of their facilities, Morris said. Parks director Lemuel Randolph said that the city would provide lifeguards for those pools.

New recreation programs at Arrowview, Curtis, Del Vallejo and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. middle schools, with four city recreation supervisors at each campus.

Open city community centers on weekends and extend pool hours by 2½ hours per day.

Summer-camp programs with weekend mountain excursions for children of low-income San Bernardino families, and a separate leadership program at the University of Redlands.

Sponsorship of a summer- jobs program for up to 80 children considered at risk of joining a gang.

Morris called the programs an expansion of the pilot project for Operation Phoenix, an effort to improve conditions in a crime-ridden midtown neighborhood through social services and community-based policing.

He had pledged such an expansion June 22, following the shooting death of an 11-year-old boy on Martin Luther King Middle School basketball court.

For the last two years, a national survey has listed San Bernardino as one of the most dangerous cities in the country. This year, the bloodshed is worse than it was in 2005. In the last six months the city has seen 34 killings, including seven juveniles.

Morris also announced that he has hired former Rialto City Councilman Kurt Wilson to head an "Office of Community Safety & Violence Prevention." Wilson will be responsible for creating a citywide system of crime-prevention programs, coordinating the efforts of social-service agencies, community groups and law enforcement agencies.

City officials already have pledged to expand the 312-officer Police Department by more than 10 percent, adding 40 officers.

Last week, Police Chief Mike Billdt proposed a plan to meet that goal. But City Manager Fred Wilson says the new hires could be the biggest factor pushing the city into a $13 million deficit by 2010.

On Thursday, Morris stopped short of endorsing one idea that council members have put forward recently: a property tax to cover police salaries.

"We're looking at all options," he said. "That is a possibility."

A half-dozen officers on loan from the California Highway Patrol and the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department are helping to patrol the city.

Earlier this month, representatives of five social-service agencies that serve inner-city neighborhoods issued a joint statement criticizing Operation Phoenix for emphasizing law enforcement over youth programs.

The Rev. David Kalke, executive director of the Central City Lutheran Mission, welcomed Morris' proposals in principle, although he had not had a chance to review them in detail Thursday evening.

"Anything that means increased programs for youth is good," Kalke said.

He added that he hopes the programs include support for community-based organizations that already provide youth programs.

Reach Chris Richard at 909-806-3076 or crichard@PE.com