Closing Teen Centers Sends Wrong Message

Your story “Lack of Support Closes Teen Center” (Nov. 12) is the last straw!

Teen-agers want a place where they are comfortable to be themselves--where they have people to talk to who will understand and be there for them. They need a place just to hang out. What message are these young people receiving when we give them what they want and then take it away?

Undeniably, crime is a problem in Los Angeles. After I’d moved to Studio City two months ago, I was walking down Ventura Boulevard with two friends at approximately 9:30 p.m. and we were egged by a car full of teen-agers! This was my “Welcome to Los Angeles. This is your home now.” I feel that I should be able to walk around in my neighborhood without threat to my safety. Maybe if these kids had some place to go, my friends and I wouldn’t have been bombarded.

I hope the newly reelected Gov. Pete Wilson will pay attention to the fact that helpful centers, such as the one in Glendale, are losing their funding and being shut down. There are a lot of kids who teeter on the border of doing the wrong thing and these centers give them a push in the right direction. If Gov. Wilson wants to control crime, then he better invest some money in our youth.

TRACY A. SULLIVAN

Studio City