> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.smdp.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Cloud over Pico youth center passes - URL: https://www.smdp.com/cloud-over-pico-youth-center-passes/ - Published: 2004-06-21T15:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-23T04:33:31.000Z - Author: John Wood - Tags: Community, Pico, #archive-import, Homeless *New board to take control of Pico center in September* CITY HALL — A muddled controversy surrounding the Pico Youth & Family Center appears to have passed, with officials agreeing to continue funding the center if a full-time board of directors oversees its outspoken director. Members of the City Council voted unanimously last week to give the youth center $290,000 for the coming year, the same amount given this year. That funding had been jeopardized by questions about the role played by director Oscar de la Torre, also a local school board member and vocal critic of City Hall. Established in the wake of four homicides that occurred in eastern Santa Monica in the summer of 1998, the grassroots center is designed to serve as a place of empowerment and education for young men and women. It serves 200-plus youths. A handful of those turned out for the council meeting, where they carried signs that read “Invest In Youth” and “Why Are You Forgetting About Us?” “The youth center, like education, is an instrument of empowerment,” said 18-year-old youth center member Alejandro Aldana, who graduated from Santa Monica High School on Thursday. “Some would say it gives a voice to the voiceless.” Like those on all sides of the debate, Aldana said he was looking forward to forging a stronger relationship with City Hall. That might happen in September, when officials hope to eliminate a third party that has been administering the grant money to the center until its own board of directors is in place. City officials believe that having a local board govern the center will increase its usefulness to the community. The Pico neighborhood, a working-class section of town with a large number of youths, single mothers and minorities, has been a constant hotbed of violence, and much of the crime is associated with gangs and drugs. Shots were fired on 17th Street as recently as last Monday. Though it’s actually located in Sunset Park, the center at 828 Pico Blvd. was established for at-risk youths in and around the Pico neighborhood, especially those aged 16 to 24\. It has been open during an overall decline in crime in Santa Monica. Whether it played a significant role in that decline is disputable. Santa Monica Police Department Chief James T. Butts credits much of the improvement to his neighborhood-centered policing program, which assigns various sections of town to specific officers. Some others believe the decline in violence is partly due to a voluntary ceasefire between rival gangs responsible for much of the bloodletting. Butts, frequently criticized by de la Torre for not solving the violence problem in the Pico neighborhood, declined to comment on de la Torre or the Pico center, but, in general, said youth centers are essential to the community. “One of the most important things that you need to grow up as productive and responsible adults are institutions that provide direction and foundation and acceptance,” Butts said in a Friday interview. “It’s important that those institutions model positive behaviors, and this is one of the main reasons that you see youths involved in gangs, because they lack those structures in their lives to provide them acceptance, support and positive direction. “There are times when institutions or organizations can provide guidance later in life for kids that have gone the wrong way, and that’s one of the primary reasons that we operate a (Police Activities League) center — it’s to give our youths a place to go and receive that acceptance and guidance,” Butts added. “An organization such as the one you discuss has the capacity to perform a similar role, if it’s managed properly and led properly.” Questions surrounding de la Torre were raised this spring by City Hall staffers, who received a handful of complaints that de la Torre was using his time as director to conduct school board business, or vice versa. In a May 3 staff report, staff outlined several possible remedies to the situation, including heavily scaling back the programs offered through the center or replacing de la Torre altogether. That suggestion was met with staunch opposition from members of the center’s advisory board — the predecessor to the board of directors — and was opposed by many youths who use the center, all of whom praised de la Torre, a Samohi alumnus, for his leadership and dedication to the community. De la Torre said he felt he was subjected to extra scrutiny for political reasons. He said the suspicion of foul play was raised by a handful of events, including his visit to Olympic High School after the announcement that its principal would be reassigned, his involvement in a pro-labor rally outside a local hotel and the fight against a homeless shelter at Cloverfield Boulevard and Michigan Avenue. None of those events constituted a conflict of interest, said de la Torre, who added he keeps distinct his two roles and accounts for every penny spent by the center. In addition to the $290,000 in city funds, the Pico center receives $80,000 annually from St. John’s Health Center. De la Torre is paid a salary of $58,000. “To me, it’s a misperception that public money is being utilized for political purposes. It’s a total misperception,” de la Torre said. “Somehow, I’m behind everything that comes out of the Pico neighborhood. So city staff was upset, and they wanted to put me on a short leash... Why are you looking at my time, when I’m busting my ass day in and day out, trying to do the hardest work in the city?” > “SOMEHOW, I’M BEHIND EVERYTHING THAT COMES OUT OF THE PICO NEIGHBORHOOD.” — Oscar de la Torre, Director, Pico youth center Still, de la Torre praised the council for continuing to fund the center. “Really, I am thankful,” he said. “They don’t have to do this.” City officials maintained they were simply following routine by looking into the center. They added that they have dedicated more time to the center in order to help it through the formative phase of assuming control with its own board. “We haven’t had a situation where there’s been an elected official who’s also been a director of a significant organization that the city basically started,” said Tracy Scruggs, supervisor of human services. “There’s no red flag or anything like that. It’s a concern that, given his two roles... It’s a fine line.” Still, Scruggs said there’s a reason de la Torre has the job. Back when the center was formed, there had been discussion of doing things differently. “Rather than going with a nonprofit with 25 years of history, we went with a group of people with an idea,” Scruggs said. “And because of that, we have been more actively involved, trying to get them started. “They might call it scrutiny,” Scruggs added. “I would call it support.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/55/9f/559f9abc-8372-4a2e-8c2d-27386da4e363/content/images/2026/10/062104-01_01-7.jpg) Members of the Pico Youth & Family Center pose for a group photograph after speaking to the City Council last week. (Photo: John Wood/Daily Press) *Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on June 21, 2004.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/062104.pdf?ref=smdp.com)