Patrick's cut of antigang funds stings

That crashing sound on Beacon Hill was not the governor's new Cadillac clipping a pillar under the State House archway. It was Deval Patrick's inspired campaign rhetoric colliding with the dispiriting reality of the budget he filed as his first major move in office.

The gulf between high hopes and numbered line items has left plenty of disappointment to go around. But the frontline soldiers in efforts to curb youth violence may have a special place among those feeling aggrieved by the budget choices made in tight times.

Last year, with Boston withering under the barrage of rising gun violence and other cities grappling with emerging gang threats, the state pumped $11 million into antigang efforts. The money was shared by law enforcement agencies and community organizations that try to steer at-risk youths toward productive -- and peaceful -- pursuits. The funding came on the heels of passage of a tough new witness intimidation statute designed to combat the scourge of threats and scare tactics used by gang members to scuttle court cases.

Youth workers say the antigang grants provided a sorely needed infusion of funding for violence prevention efforts, programs that took a huge hit during the 2002 recession. With Patrick's election, those doing the hard work with tough teens had high hopes for even stronger state support.

Patrick's campaign issue paper on public safety called violence prevention efforts the "best and cheapest form of public protection," and he vowed to make Massachusetts a leader in forward-looking policies that aim to prevent violence instead of dealing with its aftereffects.

But in trying to close a $1.3 billion budget hole, Patrick has created a huge one when it comes to violence prevention programs.

"We were shocked," said Emmett Folgert , describing reaction to Patrick's elimination of the $11 million in antigang funding. The veteran director of the Dorchester Youth Collaborative, a Field s Corner outreach program, said the money not only helped Boston, which received $3 million, but began to seed new prevention efforts in New Bedford, Fall River, and other cities dealing with youth violence problems. "To abort these new programs that have already achieved success and community support is unthinkable," said Folgert.

The state's new public safety secretary, Kevin Burke , said the administration hopes to restore funding to youth outreach programs "as revenues improve." He said Patrick's focus in this budget was "more bodies for policing."

Patrick pledged during the campaign to add 1,000 officers statewide. He pared back that pledge to 250 new police officers in his first budget, but even that figure is in question, since $20 million of the $30 million he has earmarked for new hires comes from an existing pool of grant funding for local departments.

Somerville Mayor Joe Curtatone , who worked with other Massachusetts mayors to push for the anti gang funding last year, said everyone wants more police. But funding community groups as well as police "facilitates a problem-solving approach and not a reaction-to-crime approach," said Curtatone.

Cambridge state Senator Jarrett Barrios , cochairman of the Legislature's Public Safety Committee and a sponsor of the antigang funding, said he was dismayed at the cut. Directing spending entirely toward police hiring, he said, is a "dramatic shift away from the 'broken windows' theory" of preventing big problems by nipping them in the bud.

The Legislature will have its say with the budget, and Barrios said there is support there for restoring the funding.

In October, Patrick met with about 100 community leaders from Boston and other cities who gathered at Roxbury Presbyterian Church to discuss the youth violence problem. He promised to meet with the group again after taking office, should he win.

They're anxious to talk.

Michael Jonas can be reached at jonas@globe.com.