LOCAL SPIN 07.11.13 - Councilman takes aim at parents: good, bad, indifferent.

I got into a Facebook argument (I know – arguing on the Internet is really the dumbest thing in the world, and yet there I was) about parents and parenting, specifically public-school parents versus private-school parents. My take: I’ve had kids in private school, I’ve had kids in public school and you can find bad kids and lousy parents in both. The other guy – a friend of a friend – had this take: charge public-school parents tuition so they will take responsibility for their kids.

It was a discussion launched a few hours after a press conference July 8 by Salinas City Councilman Tony Barrera, whose East Salinas district includes Closter Park.

It was at that park – a place that has long been a community asset but is increasingly plagued by violence – that 18-year-old Miguel Angel Chavez-Zavala was shot to death while sitting in the bleachers at the baseball fields. Police say the teen had absolutely no gang ties and had never been in trouble. It was the middle of the afternoon on July 2 when he was set upon by at least one gunman – witnesses say they saw a few people running from the park after the shooting.

It was also at the park that Barrera, fed up with violence, told parents it was time they started acting like parents.

It’s not that he has all the answers, Barrera tells me later. It’s that he’s frustrated nobody even seems to be asking the questions. Questions like, “Hey, son of mine, whatcha got in your backpack?” and “Greetings, my precious daughter – I’m curious: What might be stashed under your bed?” And other questions, including, “What homework do you have?” followed by, “Really, huh, because that’s not what your teacher told me.”

Chavez-Zavala’s only crime was being a teenager in a park on a hot summer day. Barrera’s self-questioning started when one of his own neighbors came to him after the murder and asked, “What are you going to do about this problem?”

He says the question left him stunned.

“You’re a parent, I’m a parent and we both know, sometimes it’s difficult,” Barrera tells me. “But there’s a 70-percent rate of recidivism in juvenile hall, and they are escalating their crimes. We all need to be more vigilant. Being your kids’ best friend isn’t doing it.”

Salinas has been well known for approaching the problem of youth violence with a variety of nonprofits, grants, community policing and political rhetoric. Former Salinas Mayor Dennis Donohue suggested a few years ago that the best way to keep East Side kids from getting involved in gangs was to put the abuelas, or grandmothers, in charge. Grant funding is getting harder to come by, budget constraints have all local police departments reeling, and there aren’t enough abuelas in the world to cure what ails all of us.

In Salinas, for example, if a public-safety tax measure slated to go before voters in November fails, Police Chief Kelly McMillin is looking at a seriously underfunded department and layoffs. (He gave a PowerPoint presentation in April featuring one slide that read, “The City is Falling Apart.”)

Over at Second Chance Youth Services, the Salinas-based nonprofit that offers everything from youth counseling, parent education classes and tattoo-removal assistance, founder and Executive Director Brian Contreras started the year with 15 employees. Then, due to attrition and the end of a few programs, they were down to 12 employees. Within the past few weeks, five of those 12 were given layoff notices. Contreras says three employees given layoff notices might be retained when some promised foundation money comes through, although he’s not entirely sure when that will be – hopefully in the next few weeks.

Last year, Second Chance’s budget was about $1.4 million. The loss of a few grants took it to $1.1 million. Without the promised funding, the budget would be down to about $700,000.

Contreras agrees it’s nobody’s responsibility but parents’ to look out for their children, but sometimes parents are at a loss.

“We can’t have blinders on. We look at other children and say, ‘Wow, they’re so bad,’ but we never look at our own that way,” Contreras says. “We have to start holding our children accountable at a young age.”

There’s a lament common among parents of all socioeconomic statuses, and that is the lament of the working parent. Some have more than one job, some have one job that takes up a lot of hours. Barrera says it’s not an excuse to ignore the problem child in front of you.

“I don’t know what the answer is,” he says. “I know I just needed to stir up the pot.”

Consider it stirred, councilman. If nothing else, it was a good way to start (and restart) the discussion and put us all on notice.

And I checked under my youngest kid’s bed: Now I know where my tall drinking glasses went.

Mary Duan is the Weekly’s editor. Reach her at mary@mcweekly.com, twitter.com/maryrduan.