Gang plan: Accord or faceoff?

It could be a compromise or it could be a showdown today when City Council leaders propose their version of how to reorganize gang intervention programs. Kerry Cavanaugh in the Daily News.

City officials agree that Los Angeles spends millions of dollars each year on gang-prevention and -intervention programs, without tracking how the money is spent or whether the programs deter gang crime.

But for the past two months, Controller Laura Chick and Councilman Tony Cardenas have battled over the best way to reform the system.

Cardenas has challenged that proposal, saying it would consolidate power with the mayor and diminish council and public oversight. He wants to create a new department to oversee gang-intervention and -prevention programs.

Now, with Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa planning to unveil his reorganization of gang-intervention programs Monday duri