Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout65A - PRELIM ACTION PLANREQUEST FOR COUNCIL ACTION CITY COUNCIL MEETING DATE: CLERK OF COUNCIL USE ONLY: JUNE 4, 2007 TITLE: PRELIMINARY ACTION PLANS TO HIGH PRIORITY MATTERS INCLUDING PUBLIC SAFETY, GRAFFITI AND CITY STREETS APPROVED ^ As Recommended RELATED ^ As Amended ^ Ordinance on 1~~ Reading ^ Ordinance on Intl Reading ^ Implementing Resolution ^ Set Public Hearing For / CIT MAN GER r~ RECOMMENDED ACTION CONTINUED TO FILE NUMBER Receive and file the attached Action Plans pertaining to Public Safety, Graffiti and City Streets. DISCUSSION On April 16, 2007 the City Council requested that the City Manager work with established City Council Committees to develop action plans related to (1) public safety, particularly gang violence; (2) graffiti; and (3) repair of City streets. Attached are plans for each of these three areas, which have been developed based upon input and review by the relevant City Council Committee, i.e., Public Safety, Neighborhood Improvement and Code Enforcement, or Transportation. Funding for all of the activities described in each plan has been incorporated into the FY 2007-08 Budget. FISCAL IMPACT There is no fiscal impact associated with this item. "Catherine ~andifor Assistant City Manager City Manager's Office 65A-1 ANTI-GANG PLAN The City of Santa Ana experienced an increase in gang crime in 2006 by 12 percent while the overall major crime decreased by 12.5 percent. Gangs are responsible for over 75 percent of our homicides and more than 70 percent of the shootings in the City. Santa Ana is not alone in the violent crime increase. The Police Executive Research Forum has been studying the alarming trends of violent crime in the United States. Nationally, violent crime increased last year, and many cities experienced double digit or even triple digit increases in homicides and other violent offenses. In February of this year, the Santa Ana City Council established the Early Prevention and Intervention Commission (EPIC) to address gang crime and gang-related violence using public and private partnerships. The Santa Ana Police Department uses a team approach to suppress gang activity. In 2006, the Santa Ana PD with help from the Orange County District Attorney's office, and the Santa Ana City Attorney's office implemented the first gang injunction in Orange County. Our Department is also in the early stages of establishing a Police Athletic League (PAL) to mentor Santa Ana youth. Santa Ana PD, in partnership with the Orange County District Attorney and Orange County Probation, has three tri-agency resource/gang enforcement teams (TARGET), which are housed within the Santa Ana police facility. The TARGET concept is a highly specialized team approach focusing on hard-core violent repeat gang offenders who possess leadership positions in criminal street gangs. TARGET'S goal is to incarcerate hard-core gang members before they commit further violent acts. Lessons learned have shown that neighborhoods where gangs dominate are victims of all types of crimes, not only the violent. As a result in addition to efforts such as TARGET, Santa Ana has a Street Terrorist Offender Program (STOP). STOP is currently comprised of six gang detectives who have a responsibility for monitoring and apprehending over 278 gang members who are currently on the TARGET list. An increase in proposed funding would assist the Department in establishing a new STOP team and strategies in the most gang-dominated neighborhoods in Santa Ana. These neighborhoods would be provided with gang prevention, intervention, and suppression services. These evidence-based programs are proven strategies that would build the community's capacity to reject gang activity and gang involvement. Budget Request: • One police sergeant; • Ten gang detectives. The detectives will be deployed among the Gang Assault unit (1), Graffiti Task Force (1) and the Street Terrorist Offender Program (8). The primary focus will be on establishing an additional uniform field team which will have suppression detectives working primarily in the evening hours when gang activity is the highest. This new team will work in conjunction with our existing STOP Team and Career Criminal Unit to address the approximate 3800 gang members and 90 individual gangs. They will be selected among the current officers who have gang expertise. These new detectives, in addition to their enforcement activities, will work closely with the neighborhoods that have been identified to ensure our efforts are targeted in the neighborhoods that are adversely impacted by gang activities. 65A-2 Anti-Gang Proposal Page 2 This request and plan of additional detectives and supervisor was fully discussed with the City Council's Public Safety Committee on Monday May 215` and they are fully in support of the request and the deployment plan. Funds for this proposal also have been included in the proposed budget for FY 2007-08. The new supervisor of this unit was selected this week, Senior Sergeant Lorenzo Carrillo, who is currently in the process of selecting his new team members. Please call me if you need any additional information. We look forward to implementing this project and continuing to make Santa Ana one of the safest large cities in the United States. PAUL M. WALTERS Chief of Police jc 65A-3 Graffiti Task Force Preliminary Action Plan June 4, 2007 The following information describes the City's current graffiti removal operations and preliminary action plan to advance the Graffiti Task Force Program. Current Operations • Continue expedited Graffiti Removal by beginning PWA crews at 6:00 a.m. Monday thru Friday to focus first on major arterials in an effort to remove the graffiti from commuter routes into the city. • Weekend contractor will continue to work the hours of 7 a.m. and 4 p.m. and locate graffiti by inspection and by information provided by the City's Graffiti Hotline to which he has access. • Continue answering Graffiti Hotline with a live person Monday thru Friday 7:00 am to 3:30 pm (877) 786-7824 - STOPTAG, with a standard that all calls for ground level graffiti to be removed by either City crews or the contractor within 48 hours of notification to hotline. • Graffiti Task Force will continue to meet monthly to assist all the agencies involved to shaze information and tools regarding graffiti. • Community Preservation will continue to deploy (5) inspectors to the graffiti abatement efforts. Inspectors are visiting the most frequently tagged properties and requiring building modifications to minimize access and requirin~graffiti removal within 72 hours. Since the program began in February all properties along I7 and Main St have been visited. Approx 4-5 school classrooms have been attended to discuss graffiti. Inspectors are also delivering to property owners: o Educational materials o Contact numbers o Paint possibilities The Police Department will continue their Gang Section -Graffiti Task Force Team to make arrests, probation searches and collect restitution from those apprehended. The Rewards Program will continue for information received leading to an arrest and conviction. The team continues to conduct presentations on graffiti to neighborhood and business associations. Action Plan PWA staff is working directly with utility companies to perform graffiti removal on their Above Ground Facilities (AGF). One Company, SC Edison has committed by hiring a third party contractor. Their contractor will have a crew available from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday to cover graffiti on their facilities within the Southern California Region (55,000 square miles). What this means for Santa Ana is they now have an 800 number that PWA dispatch can give information to that comes into them through the hotline. SC Edison is guaranteeing a 48 hour turn azound on calls that come in on their 800 number. 65A-4 Graffiti Task Force Preliminary Action Plan Page 2 A subcommittee has been formed by the Graffiti Task Force to look at a Public Education Campaign for the City's Graffiti program. The subcommittee launched an Art Contest with SAUSD student's to develop a logo and tag line for: Campaign literature City Web Site Marketing /Give Away Materials The subcommittee will be presenting the winners at the June 18 council meeting and officially unveiling on the City's website with a new page dedicated to the City's Graffiti Program in 7uly. The subcommittee will also develop a new brochure for the program to be completed by August. • In June, the Graffiti Trackers program will be launched which will exist of PWA, Pazks & Recreation and Police staff taking photographs of graffiti with GPS enabled cameras. The information taken from the pictures will expedite and increase the City's ability to process graffiti cases and prosecute offenders. • The Graffiti Task Force has asked CDA's Neighborhood Improvement section to become a member of the group to assist with enacting a volunteer aspect into the program. The group has met and will be working with a neighborhood and business association on a trial basis to see what can be set up as a volunteer program in the City. • The Police Department will continue in September working with the School District Police on giving presentations on taggers and graffiti to various schools in the city. 65A-5 Residential Street Repair Strategy Paving a Brighter Future The City of Santa Ana will soon begin a major investment to improve the pavement condition of residential streets. On June 4, 2007, the City Council will award a contract to slurry seal approximately 30 miles of residential streets. This preventative maintenance program will protect our streets that are in good condition, extend pavement design life, and prevent further detioriation. For Fiscal Yeaz 07/08 more than $19 million is proposed for neighborhood improvements. This is the largest expenditure for local street improvements in the history of the City. There is additional good news relative to new revenue available for local streets. New revenues include: • Governor's Infrastructure Bond -Passed in November 2006, will result in $11.2 million to Santa Ana over the next five yeazs. • Proposition 42 (sales tax on gasoline) -Will begin to generate $3.6 million per yeaz beginning in 2008 • Measure MExtension -Passed in November, will increase turnback funds to Santa Ana by an additional $3.4 million annually beginning in 2011. • Measure MExtension -Will also reduce local match requirements for grant funding from 50% to 25%. This will provide additional funds for local streets. • CDBG Funds -Police Facility loan paid off in FY 06/07, will provide potential for new CDBG loan of up to $13 million (lump sum) During the next five yeazs our proposed strategy is to combine these revenues with bonding for a total investment of $100 million for our residential street improvements. The City Council will consider this funding option in August 2007. The priorities for the $100 million initial investment will be focused on residential neighborhood asphalt streets (see attachment). The purpose of this initial expenditure is to stop the decline in the condition of our streets by attacking signs of pavement deterioration as early as possible and avoiding premature reconstruction costs. We are also analyzing alternative construction methods and materials to spread this program comprehensively throughout the city. At the end of the five yeazs, we will still have a $6 million per yeaz program continuing after the bond revenues are spent. This is 3-5 times the size of what we have historically had available for local streets. C:\Docutnents and Settings\CStandiford\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\OLK101\Residential Street Repair Strategy Goad News (2) (2).doc 65A-6 Residential Street Repair Priorities for Five Year Initial Investment Cost in Millions Comments 308 Total estimated backlog in local street repair. _38 Industrial street repair (postpone and consider localized assessment district with City sharing costs with property owners). -44 Concrete street repair (postpone and only do localized repairs for now). _85 Reduce total residential street reconstruction costs of $160 million by 55% thru alternative treatments. Reduce scope of miscellaneous concrete repair including sidewalk, curb and -35 gutter of $64 million by 55%. Only do critical concrete repair work such as raised sidewalk sections and curb problems that cause standing water and/or safety hazards. -12 Delete neighborhoods where significant improvements were made in past 6 years. +6 Include high profile streets, i.e. Plaza Drive, Susan Street, Eastwood, etc. 100 Grand total investment in our residential streets over the next 5 years. ATTACHMENT 5/30/2007 65A-7 65A-8