HAHN: HIKE FEES, HIRE MORE COPS.

Byline: Rick Orlov Staff Writer

Los Angeles Mayor James Hahn on Wednesday defended his plan to sharply raise trash collection and other city fees as a way to beef up the Police Department and improve public safety.

``I want us to stop crime everywhere in this city,'' Hahn said during his monthly ``Ask the Mayor'' show on radio station KFWB-AM (980).

``We will make it happen by putting more police officers on the street. We gained 325 officers this year and we want to do the same this next year. It is all about making the city safe.''

The LAPD has grown from a recent low of about 8,700 officers to more than 9,100 - 900 below its long-authorized strength. Hahn wants to add 500 more this year and continue growth in future years.

``If you look at New York City, they have twice the population, but four times the number of officers,'' Hahn said. ``We need to add more officers to make the city safe.''

To pay for those officers, Hahn has proposed an increase in a number of fees - including raising the monthly sanitation equipment charge by two- thirds from $6 to $10, hiking the sewer service charge by 62 cents a month, and increasing golf greens fees by $5, amounting to about a 20 percent increase.

Hahn said the increases were in areas that have been exempted from fee hikes for a number of years, and also to reflect the costs of delivering services.

The mayor said there already has been an improvement in fighting crime, citing the 21 percent drop in homicides during the first three months of the year.

But more needs to be done, he said, particularly with gang-related crime.

``It's just a tragedy how many young lives are lost on the streets of Los Angeles to violence,'' Hahn said. ``Who knows what it's about?

Drugs. Insults or turf. It just hurts so many people.''

While calling for fee increases, Hahn said he is also cutting $42 million from the city budget and eliminating 400 of the several thousand vacant positions as the city continues a hiring freeze for most departments.