| Opinion - Friday, March 7, 2008
Heightened call for a teen center
The mini-epidemic in shooting deaths of young
Mountain View residents is disheartening and has caused some
soul-searching in the community.
This city is not accustomed to seeing murders at
all, and many residents are shocked at seeing two, twice last year's
total, within the first two months of the year. Two suspects have been
arrested in the Feb. 7 killing of Jeffrey Johnson, 20; but police have
no leads in the mysterious death of Jose Merales, 17, who was gunned
down Feb. 26 near his Higdon Avenue home.
From all accounts, Merales was well-liked,
although he had recently left Alta Vista, the continuation school he
attended, and was known to have had several encounters with police.
Whatever explanation is ultimately given for
Merales' death, city leaders and law enforcement personnel are sure to
agree that there is too much firepower on our streets, and that too
many of these incidents trace back to an egregious and pointless
motive: gang disputes.
As documented in last year's Voice series
"Gangs in Mountain View," youth are often exposed to gangs around
middle school age. The pressure on young men and women to join them is
tremendous, and those who turn from them down are likely to feel the
sting of retaliation.
In a January case, Jacob DeWitt, 19, who grew up
in Mountain View, was arrested and charged in a gang-related knifing
incident that could put him behind bars for many years.
One Mountain View group working to keep kids out
of gangs is Mesa de la Comunidad, which sponsors local events for
youth, particularly Hispanic youth. Mesa is on the right track, trying
to reach kids before they turn to gang activity, but its efforts can
only scratch the surface.
That's why Mesa president Oscar Garcia told the Voice
this week that the city needs to "streamline" the approval process for
establishing a new teen center near Rengstorff Park, which would offer
the city's youth a place to go and things to do after school.
"We, as a community, need to create a place for
kids that want to be part of PAL [the Police Action League] or an
after-school activity that is much more appealing than what the gang
life can provide them," he said.
To that end, 200 Latino youth and their parents
crowded into the basement of St. Joseph Church last May to advance the
idea that the city needs to get moving on planning for a teen center.
This is a good idea, and a new teen center
should be put on the fast track, especially in light of 2008's rocky
start, with groups like Mesa and PAL (spearheaded by police Chief Scott
Vermeer) leading the way. Note that the city need not wait for a whole
new building to establish a teen center: Let's set up a temporary
location right away to provide some after-school outreach programs for
teens.
No strategy is guaranteed to halt violence, but we know at least one simple, straightforward way to move in that direction.
| 