By Olin Ericksen
Staff Writer

February 1 -- While gang violence persists in Santa Monica, the host of new faces gathered at St. Anne's Church Tuesday night revealed that a different cast of leaders is tackling the decades-old problem.

Looking at the crowd -- and hearing a promise to move forward -- renewed Mayor Richard Bloom’s faith that keeping youths from joining gangs and lifting those out who are already entrenched in the violent street life is not an intractable problem.

"I'm struck by the fact that we have here all the pieces," said Bloom, one of four City Council members who attended the second community meeting on gang violence hosted by the faith-based group LA Voices. "We have the ability to not just move forward, but leap forward."

Since State Senator Sheila Kuehl hosted two conferences in 2005 to launch a community-wide action plan against gang violence, a new city manager, police chief, school superintendent, college president, chamber of commerce president and planning director have come to town.

But the goals remain unchanged. From helping at-risk youths in schools and boosting parent-teacher ties, to enhancing job opportunities, increasing regional coordination among police and promoting healthier relations within the community, several high profile speakers shared their thoughts on how to halt the violence.

Perhaps the most visible and influential player to address the issue Tuesday is also the newest high-profile official in Santa Monica.

New Police Chief Tim Jackman promised to promote a better model of policing communities -- especially the Pico neighborhood -- and concentrate on prevention and intervention strategies, not just enforcement.

"I stand up here as a policeman that, over my career, has put thousands in jail, and I wish that I had never arrested one of them. I wish I was out of a job," Jackman told the largely Latino crowd, drawing chuckles.

While the meeting was Jackman’s "first opportunity to talk to the community in a setting like this," the new chief said he has been walking the streets and talking to residents, something he did as a beat cop in Long Beach for nearly a decade.

"I ask you to walk with me,” Jackman encouraged those in attendance.

The meeting also signaled a possible cooling off of tensions between the police and School Board member Oscar de la Torre, who is perhaps the city's most outspoken and controversial advocate for change in tackling gang violence.

Jackman not only sat on the same panel as de la Torre, who heads the Pico Youth and Family Center, which services at-risk youth, he agreed that better prevention and intervention strategies are needed.

"I agree with de la Torre,” Jackman said. “I don't think that we can arrest our way out of the problem."

Jackman also agreed with others on the panel that there is a need to explore ways to provide better job and educational opportunities for at-risk youth.

"Eighty percent of the people that go to state prison are illiterate," he said. "If we can teach them to read, then we can keep them out of jail."

Asking nearby police departments to work with Santa Monica on a regional approach to gang violence will also be a priority, Jackman said.

"I commit to you that I am working on that," he said. "I pledge to do whatever I can to help and use every bit of my power."

Jackman wasn't the only new face to commit to the process launched at the 2005 gang conferences.

Jim Lynch, the new president of the Santa Monica Chamber of Commerce, said he and the chamber stand ready to help.

"We're on board as a partner," said Lynch. "The chamber is partnered with LA Voices, and we have worked to put programs together to get kids jobs."

Beyond just offering jobs, he said the chamber should work to help teens apply, prepare, and learn how to interview for employment, as well as how to conduct themselves once they are hired.

"We'd like to do what we can for kids to be able to find work… which offers other things besides money, such as dignity and self-respect," Lynch said.

Despite the hopeful talk, a presentation on the strides taken by action partners – such as the school district, City, police and others – shows much is left to be accomplished.

"Coordination is really the name of the game in youth planning," said Scott Wasserman, a Human Services Administrator at Virginia Avenue Park charged with updating the progress.

The most recent report, updated last November and briefly detailed Tuesday, shows that a wide array of programs to reach out to at-risk youth, both during and after school, has met with varying degrees of success.

Increasing hours of operation at Virginia Avenue Park through a federal grant and the successful launch of a community day school – a sort of last stop for youth who have had brushes with law enforcement – are two bright spots.

Yet much work remains, and it will take the whole community to work together, said Wasserman.

"Youth violence is community problem and a community issue," he said.

Jared Rivera, executive director of LA Voices in Santa Monica, said his group would continue to organize in the city and focus on gang violence as a regional problem.

"In LA County there has been a lot of strides to bring down crime overall, but gang violence has specifically lagged behind," said Rivera, whose group works with 240 congregations in 17 states.

"I think what you see now is people looking at issues from a more regional perspective, Rivera said. “I think there are recognitions that… the gang violence does not just exist within Santa Monica, but there are tensions here from other cities and all these factors are coming together.”

Rivera doesn’t agree with those who say the problem is intractable.

"From a faith perspective, we have a lot of examples of things that couldn't be done that were done," he said. "But clearly, we can do better than we are doing."