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A summary of selected City Hall actions this week affecting central Los Angeles.

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CITY COUNCIL

* GANG PROGRAM FUNDING: Approved a $1.8-million contract with the County of Los Angeles for the continuation through Oct. 1, 1995, of the Community Youth Gang Service Project. The county contracts with the Community Youth Gang Services Corp., a nonprofit organization, for administration of the program, which deploys mobile teams in efforts to reduce gang violence. A spokesman for the Los Angeles Police Department said the project has been effective in reducing gang-related crime in targeted areas.

* RAILROAD CROSSING STUDY: Instructed the Department of Transportation and the Bureau of Street Maintenance to conduct a study of the city’s railroad crossings to determine the number that need repair.

HOW THEY VOTED

How South-Central and Eastside City Council representatives voted on selected issues.

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* CONTROVERSIAL MURAL: Denied a motion that would have instructed the Cultural Affairs Department to find another location for a controversial mural depicting the Black Panthers that is to be painted on a wall at Jefferson Boulevard and 11th Avenue. The mural, which is titled “To Protect and Serve” and depicts several armed Black Panther leaders, is sponsored by the Social and Public Arts Resource Center. Councilman Nate Holden, in whose district the mural site is located, made the motion seeking another place for it. “This is worse then hollering fire in a crowded theater,” Holden said. Would they allow a mural of Nazis on Fairfax Avenue?” Opponents of the motion stated that since the Cultural Affairs Department had already issued a permit for the mural, the arts resource center had the right to locate it where originally planned. In voting against the motion, Councilwoman Jackie Goldberg criticized the Holden’s proposal as “bordering on cultural censorship.” Additionally, an amendment to have the mural located in the California Afro-American Museum was defeated. Funding for the mural will be provided by the arts resource center, which had earlier withdrawn the work from its list of city-funded projects. Motion failed: 2-8. Voting Yes: Holden, Rudy Svorinich, Jr. Voting no: Mike Hernandez, Goldberg, Mark Ridley-Thomas, Rita Walters. Absent: Richard Alatorre.

* AFFORDABLE HOUSING: Authorized the city to provide a $546,000 acquisition and pre-development loan to the Hollywood Community Housing Apartments, a 27-unit low-income housing project at 1626-1632 Normandie Ave. The building, which was boarded up in 1992 because of deteriorated conditions, requires seismic reinforcement, a new roof, flooring, kitchen and bathroom fixtures, and replacement of electrical, mechanical, plumbing and fire sprinkler systems. Passed 12-0. Voting yes: Goldberg, Holden, Hernandez, Ridley-Thomas, Svorinich, Walters. Absent: Alatorre.

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