New London - The City Council did not vote Monday on recommendations of the Safe City Commission but rather sent a list of 10 proposals aimed at curbing violence among the city's youth to committee for further discussion.

"This is why New London is where it is,'' said Councilor Michael Buscetto III following a heated discussion on postponing the vote. "This is why new leadership needs to take place."

Buscetto, who is running for mayor, organized the Safe City Commission, picked a majority of the 20 members and held meetings every Monday for three months.

The 6-1 vote to send the recommendations to the Public Safety Committee for further discussion outraged Buscetto, who accused his fellow councilors of playing politics.

"It was so important to all these councilors that no one came to these meetings,'' he said. "Now we're up here tonight and everything is so important. I think this is a mistake."

Councilor John Russell made the motion to send the item to committee and appeared to chastise Buscetto for trying to force the council to vote without properly vetting the initiatives.

"That's the way it's supposed to be done,'' Russell said of discussing issues in committee before a full council vote. "Some people want to scoff at the rules, but that's not the way it's going to be done tonight."

Councilor Wade Hyslop agreed.

"Such an important issue needs to be discussed and flushed out,'' he said.

Councilor Rob Pero, who began questioning the $74,000 needed to fund some of the proposals, stopped after Buscetto commented that no councilors attended the Safe City Commission meetings.

"These attacks have to stop,'' said Pero, who is also running for mayor.

Buscetto responded that he wasn't attacking anyone and both men began talking at once, until the mayor called a five-minute recess. There was no comment on the vote when the council reconvened.

Buscetto's committee, which was formed earlier this year following the October killing of a downtown resident and the subsequent arrests of six city teenagers, recommended creating a youth intervention center, raising expectations at home and in the community and requesting $74,000 for new and existing programs.

The committee also recommended a request for $15,000 for a part-time Out of School Time director, who would serve as a liaison between the city's youth organizations and the city government; $35,000 to fund groups that provide youth programming, such as New London Youth Affairs, Writers Block Ink, Camp Rotary and a Safe-Walk Ambassadors program; and $24,000 for job training for 20 at-risk youth enrolled at New London Adult Education.

k.edgecomb@theday.com

SAFE CITY RECOMMENDATIONS

1. Update curfew laws

2. Look into creating a youth intervention center

3. Open discussion with the community and the police

4. Work more closely with students with academic and behavioral issues

5. Allocate $15,000 to hire part-time Out of School Time director to be liaison between youth and city government

6. Ask businesses to install surveillance cameras and increase lighting problem areas

7. Improve and expand SEAT bus routes in the city

8. Allocate $35,000 for new and existing youth programs

9. Allocate $24,000 for job training for at-risk students enrolled in New London Adult Education programs

10. Support the Boys & Girls Club of Southeastern Connecticut