Delgadillo, Villaraigosa and L.A'.s 2008 Anti-Gang Tax

You have to wonder if Antonio Villaraigosa and the Los Angeles City Council will come up with another "anti-gang program" that fails to woo a single kid away from gangs, now that Antonio Villaraigosa and Rocky Delgadillo are openly showing how much they loathe one another.

If you didn't catch it, the Los Angeles Times ran a story that revealed the growing hatred between Villaraigosa and Delgadillo.

The article explained that Villaraigosa vetoed Delgadillo's request for money to hire an outside law firm to fight a lawsuit against the city involving the disabled.

But the lead was buried in a quote from Matt Szabo, mayoral spokesman. Szabo revealed how much the Mayor hates the City Attorney: "We're glad the city attorney agrees with the mayor's veto of his own proposal," Szabo sniped.

Let me get this straight. Villaraigosa and Delgadillo — who are barely speaking — are going to work together to keep kids out of the city's warring gangs?

Now, LA voters are supposed to approve a new $28 million property tax (Measure A or Proposition A ‚ it's being called both) to pay for a yet-to-be-revealed anti-gang plan crafted by City Hall, with these two guys in an escalating personality war of their own?

This huge gift of taxpayer money, if voters back the November 4 property tax, and that is questionable given voter fear of incurring more debts, will clearly not be used in coordination with the City Attorney.

Not with these two guys pissing on each other publicly these days.

Delgadillo has screwed up a lot of stuff, like encouraging illegal billboard proliferation that has turned LA butt-ugly. But his gang injunctions against 11,000 named bad actors have reduced the gangs' ability to terrorize kids in several LAUSD schools and in bad pockets of the San Fernando Valley and South LA.

Apparently pissed off that the Los Angeles Daily News is urging voters to reject the property tax on November 4, Jeff Carr, the mayor's anti-gang advisor, wrote a preachy Letter to the Editor of the Daily News claiming that "we do have a plan."

Maybe or maybe not.

The still-secret Villaraigosa Anti-Gang Plan, whatever the hell it is, should have been fully vetted by the public, in public hearings Downtown, long before the November 4 vote seeking a citywide property tax increase.

Especially since the last City Hall anti-gang plan, the disastrous LA Bridges, turned out to be a contract-laden gravy train having zilch to do with preventing children from joining gangs. It even poured money into the hands of active gang members, as the Weekly revealed two years ago.