Story missed reasons for increase in gang activity

As usual The Herald completely neglects the elephant in the room with its article on the increase of gang activity in south Everett ("Gang activity on upswing in Everett," Feb. 18). Everett will only see an increase in the future. There are two reasons and the report missed both of them.

With Everett's growing sanctuary status there will be an increase in gang enrollment. Race and ethnicity play a big part in gang violence, especially in south Everett's situation. I know every kid in a poor or unsupervised household regardless of race has a potential of getting involved in gangs, but Everett providing a haven to people who are already breaking the law living here is only increasing our gang problems in Everett. Police presence is not tolerated in the Casino Road area. They have program after program, hundreds of thousands of tax dollars dumped into community and police relations and what does Everett get in return? More shootings and gang violence. Community centers don't help much in this case. Illegals do not want to call the police. Why doesn't The Herald address this?

The next reason gang violence will be on the rise is because parents let their kids have too much privacy and don't know where and what they are doing at night and after school. They rely on programs and community organizations to raise their kids. The majority of gang members are from single-parent homes. The story elaborated on the fact kids need mentors but avoided the real reason and that is these kids need their dads to be involved in their lives and not just to help with those difficult math problems.

Everett is a sanctuary city and it is pathetic articles like these that are a disservice to the public and just plain deceive the community about what the real problem is and how to solve it.

Lisa D'Andrea

Everett