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Council Approves Flintridge Center’s Gang Intervention Funding, but Not Without Drama

Public Safety Committee machinations belie unanimous vote of the Council for parole integration funding

Published on Wednesday, March 1, 2017 | 6:18 am
 

When the Pasadena City Council quietly and unanimously approved $85,000 for parole reintegration services at the Flintridge Center on Monday evening with only a question and a comment from Councilmember Tyron Hampton the routine expenditure barely drew a glance from the departing crowd, following their public testimony on Pasadena’s relationship with ICE and immigration enforcement.

The approved funds will provide stopgap funding for the Center, which was awarded a $170,000 grant in April, 2016 from the Pasadena Police Department through the Los Angeles County Police Chiefs Association, for the purpose of funding gang intervention, suppression and prevention.

The Flintridge Center was selected as the agency to carry out the contracted work, but their current funding was due to expire at the end of February. The 2016 grant would not take effect until June 2017.

The staff recommendation was for the city to provide funding for a period of up to five months to avoid a gap in the existing reintegration program, explaining, “While it is anticipated that Flintridge and the City will be successful in obtaining new grant funds, in the event the grant is not received, staff will reevaluate as to whether ongoing funding should be recommended.”

But the Council’s decision to approve the funding belied considerable, though low-key, drama, as Councilmember Hampton, appearing unfamiliar with the details of the Center’s operations, pressed representatives and graduates of the program to justify the expenditure at last week’s Public Safety Committee meeting.

Following a presentation by City and Flintridge Center staff on the value and uniqueness of the Flintridge Center Parole Reintegration Program, Hampton asked about the presence of “similar organizations” to perform the work, since the stopgap grant was to be awarded without competitive bidding. (The program had been granted an exemption from the Competitive Selection process, pursuant to Pasadena Municipal Code Section 4.08.049(8), which allows no-bid contracts for programs “for which the City’s best interests are served.”)

“Reducing incidents of community violence requires a multi-prong strategy, one which encompasses awareness, intervention, and prevention,” said the City’s staff recommendation. “Additionally, as a result of a recent sentencing reform through Proposition 47, there is a need to add the reintegration of formerly incarcerated persons to this strategy to ensure they do not fall back into anti-social patterns of behavior.”

Also, according to the City staff report, “Since April of 2016, 468 community members have been provided reintegration services through the program. Of these, 81 are still under case management to assist with the transition back into their community. The majority of the community members receiving services are Pasadena residents.”

The report added, “The City of Pasadena has numerous non-profits—that provide a variety of services to formerly incarcerated individuals, but only a few offer some of the direct reintegration services provided by the Flintridge Center.”

Following Hampton’s questioning of two representatives of Flintridge, a visibly perturbed John Kennedy, chair of the Public Safety Committee, told him tersely, “I think you need more information,” then added, to the committee, “I absolutely support this minuscule amount of money for a momentous problem.”

City Manager Steve Mermell then explained to Hampton that the City felt that Flintridge Center was the only organization in Pasadena capable of performing the work of the contract.

Dominic Correy, a representative of State Senator Anthony Portantino’s office, and a graduate of the Flintridge Center’s parole reintegration program, then spoke out to the committee in favor of the program.

Hampton said he “would probably vote” for the funding once it came to council, but said he was concerned over its “no competitive bidding” status.

“I do this with every expenditure,” he said, after the meeting.

Eventually, a clearly frustrated Kennedy asked Hampton if he would allow the recommendation to simply move out of the Public Safety Committee to be considered by the full council, and Hampton agreed, setting the stage for the unanimous approval on Monday evening.

Following last week’s meeting, Daniel Torres, a job development specialist with Flintridge, said he was not surprised at the Councilman’s reaction, but felt confident that the funding would be approved.

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