(March 24, 2008) -- A large crowd (estimated in the hundreds over several hours) came to Central LB's Ernest McBride Senior Park (Cal. Rec Center) on Saturday Mar. 22 for a "Weed and Seed" event combining family activities with City Hall outreach as Easter and Spring Break arrived.

The "Weed and Seed" strategy aims to weed out crime and seed community revitalization and the March 22 event featured food, jumpers, arts and crafts, music, a Spring Egg hunt...and community resources including a new computer lab and a parent workshop on discipline and healthy eating.

Organizers of the March 22 event included LB's Dept. of Health & Human Services and Dept. of Parks, Recreation and Marine in collaboration with the city's Youth and Gang Violence Prevention Task Force.

The event took place less than a mile due west from the spot where Jose Bailey, age 11, was murdered outside his home at 15th St/Cherry Ave. on March 16.

City Hall's website says the federal grant, worth up to $1 million over five years, is to "implement a community-based, multi-agency approach to law enforcement, crime prevention, and neighborhood restoration in an area responsible for 28 percent of violent crime citywide."

This writer has consistently urged the LB City Council to provide taxpayers with a higher ratio of police to population. LB's thin blue line needs to be strengthened...especially because the Weed and Seed strategy aims to combine police resources (weed) with supportive community resources (seed):

[city website text] WEED:

Law Enforcement – Crack down on crime; implement stings for drug arrests; and reduce crime. Involves: Police Department, City Prosecutor, L.A. County Probation and District Attorney, State Department of Correction and Rehabilitation (Parole), Federal Drug Enforcement Administration.

Community Policing – Increase community patrols; make themselves known to community representatives; and educate community on how to assist in their own law enforcement. Involves: Police Department, Community Development, community providers, and residents.

SEED:

Prevention, Intervention and Treatment – Social services programming to increase outreach and prevention based strategies to reduce crime and improve quality of life in impacted areas. Involves: Health Department, Parks Recreation and Marine, Library, Community Development, community providers.

Neighborhood Restoration – Neighborhood based activities (community clean-ups, property renovation, etc) to improve the quality of life and empower residents to take back ownership of their neighborhoods. Involves: Community Development, community providers and residents.

...The Weed and Seed initiative is designed for neighborhoods with persistent high levels of serious violent crime and corresponding social problems that without proper intervention often lead to increased levels of violent crime, drug abuse, and gang activity. In Long Beach, the designated area is Long Beach Police Beats 4 and 5, which encompasses the area east of the Los Angeles River, south of Hill Street, west of Cherry Avenue and north of Anaheim Street.

This area is home to 45,887 people, approximately 10 percent of the city's residents. The median household income is $21,728, and the majority of residents, 52%, earn less than $15,000 annually...

The Weed and Seed program is composed of representatives of the following City Departments: Health and Human Services (Health Department), Community Development, Parks, Recreation and Marine, Library Services, Planning and Building, Public Works and Police Departments; City Manager's Office; Office of the City Prosecutor; United States Attorney; federal Drug Enforcement Administration; Los Angeles County Probation Department and District Attorney; State Department of Correction and Rehabilitation (Parole); social service agencies; faith-based and community based organizations; and residents.

The Health Department is the lead entity coordinating the grant and will be working through the newly developed Weed and Seed Steering Committee, an Ad Hoc Committee of the Youth and Gang Violence Prevention Task Force, which formed as a result of the Youth and Gang Violence Report to the Mayor and City Council from the Human Relations Commission in 2003.

The Co-chairs of the Steering Committee are Dr. Lydia Hollie of the Youth and Gang Violence Prevention Task Force, and Ted Marquez, Acting Law Enforcement Manager, United States Attorney's office.

Task Force chair Dr. Lydia Hollie, a key participant in the process, said Saturday's event was one of many that the grant (Congressionally budgeted money awarded by the U.S. Justice Dept.) could provide for LB's 6th District and surrounding community.

"The Weed and Seed grant was written from the bottom up, not from the top down and it was written with the needs of the community in mind. The community will continue to be engaged throughout the delivery of the Weed and Seed programming," Dr. Hollie said in a City website release.

Vice Mayor Bonnie Lowenthal attended...and said the event was important for the 6th and 1st Council districts, calling the Weed and Seed program an ideal joint venture between the LB's Health Department, other city departments and the Council districts involved.

6th district Councilman Dee Andrews told the crowd that the Weed and Seed program for providing a view of jobs, families and what the community could be.

The LB Police Officers Association (POA) served-up hotdogs (West Division Commander Bob Luman was observed manning the grill) and a DJ served up music.

The grant's first year award of $175,000 will be used by LB's Health and Police Departments. The federal grant is renewable for up to five years based on grant recipients reaching designated milestones, City Hall's website says.

Prior to this event, Weed and Seed provided dollars to the Task Force to continue a conflict resolution program that featured Officer Ty Hatfield and his wife as well as Lt. Bob Smith to discuss families and their interaction, an event held at NLB's Houghton Park.