Neighborly Vigilantes

We are horrified at the increasing number of violent acts in the Los Angeles area, especially in the San Fernando Valley. It really doesn’t hit home until it affects one’s family personally.

The evening of Oct. 8, our son’s four-wheel-drive vehicle was showered with shotgun blasts in the driveway of our home on a relatively quiet residential street in Reseda. Homes here range from $250,000 to $500,000 in a well-integrated neighborhood.

Although four neighbors did call police (and we are grateful they called), not one neighbor came outside, even after the police arrived.

This was an unprovoked assault. We have lived and worked in this neighborhood for many years and have seen the neighborhood prosper and now decline as apathy appears on the increase despite the higher prices of newer homes in the area.

What does it take to wake up to the fact that violence is not just an “inner city” problem, it is a problem for the Valleyites as well?

What we have worked to leave for our children’s future may be nothing more than a ghetto in a few years if violence is not brought under control.

We all need to stop living isolated lives and remember what “neighborhoods” are all about--people caring for and about each other to make this world a better place.

ROGER M. TENN and FAMILY, Reseda