Wheaton mall, county must act to return sense of security to shoppers

Wednesday, March 8, 2006

I am writing in regard to the story about the family being caught up in a gang fight at the Westfield Wheaton mall (‘‘Family caught in gang fight,” March 1).

As the report noted, this is the third gang-related incident at this mall. I can tell you that these incidents and others experienced by my neighbors make it quite clear that there is an issue of safety at the mall. My neighbor recently had her purse stolen while she was having lunch with friends and two other neighbors have had issues with vandalism to their cars parked in the garage.

I live near the mall. I can walk there anytime I want. The Metro is 10 minutes from my house and the fastest route is through the parking lot. But I don’t walk to the mall or the Metro because the mall and the parking lots make me uncomfortable. If I can avoid the place, I do. On the rare occasions that I do go to the mall, I inevitably run into gangs of teenagers roaming through the hallways and stores. Many are disruptive and rude. Discussions with my neighbors tell me that I am not alone in this view. More than one has told me they would rather go to Montgomery Mall, which is miles away instead of patronizing the Wheaton mall next door.

Indeed, as I look around at the shoppers, I wonder who they are because they are not my neighbors. Certainly those living in the neighborhood are aware of the high Metro rider traffic the mall generates. People stream from the Metro, illegally cross the street in the middle of traffic on Veirs Mill Road, and head into the mall.

I once raised the gang issue with the Montgomery County police deputy chief after a town meeting. She told me that it was nothing to worry about and that every city has gangs. She also said that gangs generally do not commit crimes against average citizens. But this is not true. As the latest incident makes clear, even if the gangs are after each other, innocent bystanders can get hurt.

Moreover, the perception about the mall is not going to change so long as we keep reading about gang-related incidents whether they impact the public at large or not. I might add that because we are near the mall, we have had carloads of gang members drive down our street on a number of occasions. That is highly disturbing whether they are looking for us or not.

I for one simply refuse to accept it as an answer that gangs just exist and we might as well get used to it.

I have a simple solution that does not address the entire situation but it could take it a long way to making the mall a place that the neighbors are comfortable visiting. Westfield should have a policy of not allowing anyone under the age of 16 into the mall without a parent or other adult supervision. I understand that this has been used in other malls across the country. Of course, one problem is that Westfield is clearly marketing to the teen market. Most of the stores are geared to this population. I have even seen what could amount to gang wear being sold in one store. But if that is the strategy, then they need to realize that we adults are just going to avoid it, Macy’s or not. There are plenty of other malls that we can patronize.

No matter what, Westfield needs to take some action. The county needs to realize that Westfield’s local neighbors think the mall is a magnet for trouble and we do not appreciate that it is casting a negative light on Wheaton as an undesirable place to live. How can we defend our town as the wonderful place that it is if incidents like these continue to occur?

Marsha Kostura Schmidt, Silver Spring