Publication Date: Friday, April 09, 2004
Fears of drug violence pervade city
Fears of drug violence pervade city
(April 09, 2004) Survey shows residents afraid in their own neighborhoods
by Don Kazak
Two dozen people linked arms and marched through the streets of East Palo Alto Wednesday evening, protesting an increase in violence that some fear could spark a repeat of the early 1990s, when the city earned its unwanted reputation as the homicide capital of the country.
A spike in drug-related shootings last year has awakened fears that crime is once again asserting itself in East Palo Alto. A survey was released Wednesday that showed that residents feel their streets are unsafe to walk.
Sixty five percent of those polled said they feel unsafe or very unsafe walking on the streets of their neighborhoods. The survey was compiled for the non-profit agency One East Palo Alto, which is working to form neighborhood block clubs in the most dangerous areas of the city
Mayor Donna Rutherford and Police Chief Wes Bowling reassured residents at a press conference late Wednesday that the city is doing everything it can to quell violence.
But Bowling later admitted that he doesn't have enough officers to effectively reduce drug dealing and its related violence.
"We have the resources to address the bare minimum," Bowling said.
Statistically, the city is still a long way from the dark days of 1992, when there were 42 homicides. There were six homicides in 2003 and one so far this year.
The march was partially inspired by the death of 23-year-old Jaiel Sims, who was killed by a stray bullet meant for someone else outside an East Palo Alto store. Sims, who lived in Stockton, was visiting family members.
"He was in the wrong place at the wrong time," said Mary Baker, the young man's step-grandmother. Sims was listed as a participant in a 1993 youth congress in nearby Belle Haven in eastern Menlo Park. A statement issued by the conference called for "a strong crackdown on drugs."
Baker has formed Mothers Against Violence in response to Sims' killing. Baker led the police-escorted march that traveled from City Hall to the street-corner a half-mile away from where Sims was killed.
Some of the men arrested earlier are now getting out of prison and returning to the city, San Mateo County Supervisor Rose Jacobs Gibson noted. A multi-agency strike team arrested 1,000 people in two years, ending in 1994.
Carolyn White, a friend of Baker's, noted that young men getting out of prison need help in turning their lives around. Without help, White said, the young men "are going out the door backwards" and may return to crime.
Bowling agreed. "Who are they going to turn to when they get out of jail?" he asked. "We have to make sure they don't do the same old things."
The increase in violence late last year was largely gang-related, between groups of young men battling over territory, Bowling said. "It's the Sac Street boys versus Midtown versus the Gardens," Bowling said, naming different neighborhoods. "Sac Street," for Sacramento Street, was the most notorious city gang a decade ago.
There were 90 shootings in the city in 2003, half of them in the last three and half months.
"We've made a significant number of arrests," Bowling said. In particular, two leaders of the Sac Street gang were arrested for an Oakland homicide. "We're working to identify all the members of the gang and find out if they were involved in any of the shootings."
Bowling said that agents of the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms are working with police to trace guns the police have confiscated and also trace bullets and shell casings found at the scene of shootings.
Don Kazak can be e-mailed at dkazak@paweekly.com
E-mail a friend a link to this story. | 
