FEDERAL FOCUS ON CITY DRUG PROBLEM HAS MANY PAYOFFS

NEW BEDFORD -- Plagued by drugs and one of the nation's highest murder
rates, city leaders in Youngstown, Ohio, went to the top for help in their
fight against crime. The mayor wrote a letter to President Clinton.

And the president responded, sending a team to the city last winter from the
Office of National Drug Control Policy.

A similar plea from New Bedford Mayor Frederick M. Kalisz Jr. to Mr.
Clinton's drug czar has led to similar results. In only the second such
visit ever, a team from the White House drug control office plans to swing
through town sometime this spring to help local leaders in their war on
drugs.

The potential payoffs of such a visit are high, according to Youngstown
Police Chief Richard Lewis.

"It made our position known nationally," he said. "And they showed us where
to look for assistance through grants and funding from private foundations."

The federal team helped Youngstown win a $175,000 grant for revitalizing a
crime-torn neighborhood and gave local leaders a say on a federal audit of
its community policing grant, he said.

Like New Bedford, Youngstown has seen better days. The city's population has
been halved since the 1970s when the huge steel mills that once drove the
economy closed, putting thousands of people out of work. Crime has become a
serious problem for the city of about 90,000 people, as has drug use,
particularly crack cocaine, said Chief Lewis. Last year an estimated 90
percent of the city's 49 homicides were drug related, city officials said.

The so-called Weed and Seed grant from the Department of Justice will pay
for stepped up police patrols and enforcement of housing codes to help weed
out the negative elements in a deteriorating neighborhood, the chief said.
The money also will pay for improvements such as better street lighting and
sidewalks, rehabilitating housing and providing safe havens and GED programs
for children and young adults.

The team of half dozen people spent two days in Youngstown, Chief Lewis
said. The visit included interviews with local representatives of federal
agencies, such as the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration which recently
opened an office in Youngstown. The federal team also toured city
neighborhoods.

Based in the White House, ONDCP coordinates federal, state, and local
efforts to control illegal drug abuse and devises national strategies to
carry out anti-drug activities. Announced by Vice President Al Gore last
winter, the agency's strategy includes reducing the availability and use of
illegal drugs by 50 percent.

Dennis Greenhouse, acting associate director of the Office of National Drug
Control Policy, said he expects to bring a group to New Bedford sometime
within the next couple of months.

"Our hope really is to learn firsthand what the situation is in New Bedford
and to see how the federal government can assist," he said. "We may offer
some recommendations to the mayor. Hopefully, this will provide him with the
necessary information and tools."

The team will include representatives from White House Office of National
Drug Control Policy, the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Department
of Health and Human Services, Mr. Greenhouse said. The participants will
interview local officials and hold meetings to assess the status of the
city's drug problems.

George Kosnik, branch chief of the law enforcement branch in ONDCP's bureau
of state and local affairs and a former New York City Police detective, will
coordinate the effort.

"We will look at the way drug treatment is provided in the community, the
kind of drug prevention activities going on and the extent of task force
cooperation between federal, state and local law enforcement and the kind of
community anti-drug work going on," he said.

"The most important thing is to get a feel for how well it's coordinated.
Often it may be that there are many wonderful efforts under way and they
just need some glue."

Although the team's visit to Youngstown resulted in grant money for that
city, Mr. Kosnik said he could not predict outcomes for New Bedford until he
had met with local leaders.

"We tried to help maximize federal resources going into Youngstown. We want
to try and do the same thing in New Bedford," he said.

New Bedford Mayor Frederick M. Kalisz first asked the drug czar for help
last winter at a White House briefing during the U.S. Conference of Mayors.
He followed up with a memo outlining the city's drug problems and its
efforts to combat them.

New Bedford leads the region in the quantity of illegal drugs seized
annually, the mayor wrote. Some 80 percent of crimes prosecuted by the
Bristol County District Attorney's Office are drug related and city
residents have identified the drug problem as their No. 1 quality-of-life
concern. Located on the drug pipeline between New York and points north and
east, the city "serves as a natural and convenient distribution point for
illegal drug sales," he wrote.

Anti-drug efforts include the Police Department's Organized Crime
Intelligence Bureau, patrols in public housing units, DARE, neighborhood
associations and crime watch groups.