January 27, 2008
Dear Fellow Residents:
It’s the obligation of the HOA to inform residents of important situations related to the safety and security of our community. Early Saturday morning between 1:30– 2:00 a.m. there were a series of gun shots on Molino Street at the north end of the property.
What we know is a late model silver Mercedes or BMW drove down the street and someone inside shot at three vehicles parked in front of 500 the building. These were all resident’s cars, luckily no one was injured. This situation has been turned over to the LAPD for their investigation. If you have any information about this please contact the HOA immediately.
We feel it’s the responsibility of the Board to take the necessary steps to provide the safest environment possible here in our community.
In the last several months there has been an escalation in crime in our community. We’ve had internal and external building vandalism, car break-ins on the streets surrounding the building, on the rooftop garage and across the street in the shared parking structure. Everyday there are people loitering around our property who are not residents and not guests of residents.
For the time being we will have a professional security officer placed on site during the evenings and weekends. We are also gathering bids and evaluating the possibility of installing a security camera system on the exterior of the property and common areas. We’re also looking into additional street lighting around MSL.
Thank you for your understanding,
MSL HOA Board
I would like to start out by saying, I appreciate the hard work our HOA menbers have put in, solving the tricky problems inherent with community living.
However, I disagree with the letter posted on my door this morning.
I would like to offer a counter position, which I feel may help to frame the conversation we should have as a community.
The statement: “In the last several months there has been an escalation of crime in our community.” This is based on what. From what date until now do you see an increase in “crime” in this community.
I’ve lived in this community for 8 yrs. There has been a steady decrease in “crime” in this community since the 90’s until now. Furthermore, the term “crime”, to me is a bit strong when we’re are talking about mostly car break-ins, graffiti, and tapering with garbage door locks.
This incident of “shooting up a prius” is the first case I am aware of, where shots were fired near this building in the 8 yrs I’ve lived here.
As far as hiring private security, it does not prevent any of the above mentioned crime. There was a professional security guard who witnessed the entire incident saturday morning. He saw the whole thing. Oh, but not the license plate number. Oscar was also on duty a block away, not to mention the 5-7 other security guards for the film shoot near by. And the BID who we also collectively pay annually for so called security.
Security is a state of mind, which comes out of residents being active and aware. Know your neighbors. Know your neighbors neighbors. Walk around your building. Talk to the people you see on the street. We need to reflect what we consider to be exceptable behavior in our community. And oh yeah, park in the provide gated , locked, secure, parking, that ny it self will eliminate 99% of the so called “crime” we are experiencing.
Before we spend a bunch of money we don’t have on a couple of more guys sleeping in white cars around the building, we need to have a dialogue about the idea of security.
I would like to know how much of our money you propose to spend on this immediate troop build up, and “big brother” camera set up.
They both cost money, and they both don’t work to prevent crime.
We’re not in Kansas any more. Hollywood, Silverlake, Echo Park, West Hollywood, Venice, all have higher incidents of the above mentioned crime than we do. We live in a very safe community. But its not suberbia. If you want to live in a community were no crime exists, go south on the 5 about 50 miles to Mission Viejo. No crime, and at least 3 nearby Chuckie Cheese pizza fun-time places.
We should be not be asking ourselves, how can we feel more secure, we should be asking, who in this building ownes silver Prius’s. Theres at least 4 maybe 5 out there. Any Prius people have any on going issues with a certain someone in a late model silver Mercedes or BMW. People shoot guns at people they know (and cars in this case).
Lj, while I agree with much of what you have to say here, where did this “shooting up a prius” slant come from? Three different vehicles were shot at and your last paragraph is way out of line! Also, most people have been here less than two years and car break-ins (and shootings) are more prominent in the past year than in the first. I happen to feel this incident was a one-time event and the beefed up security is “for the time being.” Extended security and/or camera surveillance is a costly endeavor and will be discussed at length before being installed.
Hello,
I agree with Bob, but I also wanted to address a few points in LJ’s post as well that were ‘mis guided’ in nature.
1. “‘big brother’ camera set up”
Honestly, a camera is much more accurate and less biased than enacting some ‘random’ ‘illogical’ Auto ownership demographic profiling technique. I.e. LJ’s statement to Residents:
“we should be asking, who in this building ownes silver Prius’s. Theres at least 4 maybe 5 out there. Any Prius people have any on going issues with a certain someone in a late model silver Mercedes or BMW. People shoot guns at people they know (and cars in this case).”
**Is that a proven crime fighting technique? Identify persons cars who were shot at, and accuse them publicly of being directly involved? Do you have previous experience in your automobile being shot at? (that’s me being /sarcastic – lol)
2.”They both cost money, and they both don’t work to prevent crime.”
Cameras do work effectively to deter crime and are a ‘proactive’ measure – many studies confirm this in multiple dwelling units (were not talking about City Hall/Skid Row type monitoring here). And you are right, cameras won’t ’stop’ or ‘decrease’ crime in our area per say, but it will deter others from doing those crimes HERE.
Guards also are a ‘pro active’ measure, and a better choice than doing “nothing” – at least while the incident is being investigated.
It seems to me that everyone involved is trying to do the right thing, and no one wants MSL to be set up like a “Police State”, or “Big Brother” operation. I will support anything that will help “deter” crime in and around Molino Street – to preserve my home and investment.
I also wanted to commend the Board for being pro-active in telling the community as soon as possible; and asking for continued resident involvement and feedback.
LJ - I don’t have anything against you or your beliefs, I just feel your post is a bit ‘mis-directed’ in nature. We all must get along, and profiling all Prius drivers would preclude me from inviting a bunch of friends over on the weekends (thats a joke).
Thanks for listening everyone, and I’m happy no one was injured or hurt…be safe out there.
-Jeremy
I have lived at the building for 2 years, and park my car on the street every night. Before I lived here, my friend rented unit 213 in the 530 building for about 3 years before the conversion to homes. The fact is crime has decreased dramatically, foot traffic of homeless people has also decreased dramatically.
I don’t want a security guard here, or camera’s installed. I know neither will create any change, other than raising everyones dues. The gunshots still would have occurred. Security guards are legally only allowed to call the police. They are not even to initiate any contact (as this raises a workers comp issue for the employer), and security camera’s are only effective if someone is monitoring them 24/7 (even with that coverage they can only call the police).
Not to mention we have a secured parking lot on Molino where cars have been broken in to, which calls into question the idea that security is a deterrent.
The police arrived in about 5 minutes of the gunshots, and I am both grateful and impressed for the response, but in that time any perpetrator has escaped. This means the crime is completed, and I paid for someone to call 911 (this will never be worth $9.00 for an unarmed to $50.00 an hour for an armed guard). My uncle owns a very large security company, for which I did collections at a few years, and I know a security guard is legally allowed to call 911.
This leads me to believe that our best response is to become more active ourselves. If we hear something suspicious, call the police, it is easy I have done it, and they respond.
Steve Gentry
530-110
I appreciate everyone’s quick response to this incident. However, I’m not sure why we are not having an HOA meeting amongst all the members of the MSL. Why have the board members made this decision and have not scheduled a meeting? It seems to me that this is something that is worth breaking our quarterly meeting cycle to get together and discuss this matter as a community. The board is suppose to be here representing all the members of this HOA. It seems to me that at the moment that is not happening. We as a community already voted against paying for security. I don’t feel that adding a security guard who’s being paid a minimal hourly wage will stop incidents like this from happening. In fact, there was a security guard standing on the corner when this incident happened. And I do agree that this is an isolated incident. This is not a common occurrence. So why do we need to pay for security “for the time being?”
We cannot control what happens outside these walls. We live in the city. This is Los Angeles. We need a dialogue amongst all the members of this HOA regarding this incident. Why is the board not calling a meeting so we can do this?
Hello Neighbors,
I would like to share my thoughts regarding Saturday’s shooting with my neighbors as my car was one of three involved in the incident. Do I think I was directly targeted? Not at all. Do I think the perpetrator was looking for a silver Prius? Not at all. An incident such as this is a great opportunity for the community to unite and not become divisive. Added security is certainly a welcome discussion. Whether or not the community decides collectively to implement such measures remains to be seen, but again, we should make these decisions together. We should hear from the residents as to what are the pros and con’s of extra security, how would it impact the community, etc.
I have always taken great pride in being fearless and care-free. Life in the Art’s District has always reinforced this by virtue of being safe. We boast some of the lowest crime statistics in Los Angeles. However, for me, the greatest crime that occurred on Saturday morning was that my sense of safety was taken. There is no price too high to get that back, if it is even possible. I refuse to live in fear.
Kate Salvino
500-105
p.s. the police responded to another call by MSL residents last night for possible violence…