Thread: N.Va. Community's Evolution Varies by Viewer

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 05_pf.html

Washington Post

N.Va. Community's Evolution Varies by Viewer
Some See Safe Haven; Others Live in Fear

By Stephanie McCrummen
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, March 15, 2005; B04


The neighborhood called Irongate is a horseshoe-shaped subdivision of brick- and vinyl-sided townhouses in the dense middle of Prince William County, behind the Dollar Tree, the Starbucks and the constant traffic of Sudley Road.

It is a community of families -- construction workers, teachers, middle managers, security guards-- where the local 7-Eleven has recently become Arbol de la Vida Pentecostal Church, where a man named Candido Guerrero, in a white cowboy hat, walks down the sidewalk past families named Purschwitz and Chhoeut.

Residents here, who are increasingly Honduran, Salvadoran, Mexican and Peruvian, among other groups, say it has almost always been a diverse and dynamic sort of place, one that has tended to reflect the ups and downs of the wider world.

Even so, recent months have been rather jarring.

In August, four members of the gang called Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13, sealed off a townhouse, and one of them shot to death a man who was visiting there, a fellow gang member they suspected of cooperating with federal authorities, the county prosecutor said. In January, a 14-year-old boy shot a 16-year-old in the face at a bus stop after school, an incident police said was over a compact disc, not gangs. And last month, a 14-year-old member of a local gang called South Side Locos was beaten nearly to death with crowbars and baseball bats by four young men who police said were members of MS-13.

There have been a few street robberies lately, car windows smashed, bicycles and Christmas trees stolen and fistfights, incidents that, in the grand scheme of things, represent perhaps a tiny increase in crime, though hardly a trend, Prince William police say.

To residents of one melting pot neighborhood of Northern Virginia, though, it is, of course, the small scheme of things that matters: how it feels walking home from the Food Lion at 2 p.m. or taking the garbage out at night. And in that sense, some say, things feel somewhat altered.

Dorka Calderon locks her bike in the front yard now. Concepcion Cortez tells her son: "Don't go past here; don't go past there."

And yet, depending on who is speaking, the meaning attached to it all varies widely: Irongate is fairly friendly or increasingly hostile; it is getting cleaner or getting dirtier; it is a pretty nice place to live, despite the recent violence, or it is under siege. Perceptions shift from door to door.

"I feel fine here," said Rosa Galo, 26, a stay-at-home mother with three children, ages 6, 2 and 1. She has lived in Irongate four years with her husband, a bricklayer.

The family lives on Community Drive, one of the two main streets in Irongate, lined with trees and similar-looking, two-story townhouses. Their home is in the middle, by the pool, where teenagers tend to hang out on warm evenings, but Galo said she didn't know about any gang problems, and she walks to the store without worry. She noted that a student brought a gun, which turned out to be a toy, to the elementary school once. Otherwise, she said, "we haven't had any problems."

Less than a block away, however, Joy Banegas, 46, an elementary school teacher, said she sees a neighborhood that seems to be slipping steadily.

"There's a very laissez-faire attitude," she said. "It's not the same. It's not safe around here anymore."

She moved to Irongate in 1988 because, she said, it was a family-oriented place where neighbors tended to be involved. It was racially diverse then too, mostly black and white.

Neighbors gathered at the pool, and they held block parties. When such problems as drugs and prostitution intruded, people got together and formed orange-vested patrols.

When Banegas looks around now, though, it is her perception that people don't care as much as they used to and that residents are less involved. Homeowners' association meetings, she noted, are usually attended only by the association officers.

One night last summer, Jose Escobar, 22, was killed a few doors down, and Court C became all screaming sirens and yellow tape, which only confirmed her observations. Banegas holds her purse closer now, and she gets her key out before heading for the front door.

"I don't want to give the impression that our neighborhood has gone down because of Hispanics," she said. "But now, you can't speak to your neighbors because they don't understand you. I don't speak Spanish . . . and everybody is so busy."

She struggles to understand what is going on, why people blare music or sit on her fence.

"We should be respectful of one another," she said, "and I'm afraid that's where we're losing ground."

On a Wednesday afternoon in Irongate, though, it was difficult to draw many conclusions. Lawns were tidy, except for a soda can here or there. Some shopping carts were left around, a sign of the ingenuity of people who don't drive, or perhaps carelessness. Daffodils were blooming, and some yards had bald spots. People had hung Easter bunnies and new ceramic numbers on doors that could use some paint. Gang symbols were spray-painted on a shiny slide and a worn wooden fence, long stretches of which were clean.

It was a Rorschach test, in other words, a place where people could interpret what they see individually.

About 3 p.m., school let out, releasing a flood of children onto the sidewalk. Eva Marun, 30, met her daughter Daisha, 7, for the walk home.

"Everything is definitely calmer and safer than New York," she said, explaining that she had recently moved into a townhouse, which she rents for $1,300 a month. "People here seem nice, but basically I keep to myself."

Dorka Calderon, whose bike was stolen recently, said that things actually are much better on her court these days.

It was sunny out, and she sat on her steps with her front door wide open. She and her neighbors have gotten together to clean up yards, she said, and she feels comfortable walking around, though she does so cautiously.

Calderon, 32, who is Peruvian, speculated that some of the problems stem from cultural differences between how people lived in their native countries and how people live here.

Overall, she said through a translator, "this neighborhood is fine."

Cindy Boyd, though, said she stays shut in her townhouse most the time. Since the slaying, she and her husband have gotten a dog for protection, and she drives her daughter to school, rather than let her walk the few blocks.

"I'm afraid of getting caught in the crossfire," said Boyd, 40. "I used to walk the dog, but it just got too bad. One guy said we should sit on the front porch and watch what's going on, but I don't like sitting outside. I know they're trying to clean it up, but it just seems like there's more and more crime. Just looking around, there's more teenagers hanging out on the corners, mostly at night."

Maj. Ray Colgan, assistant chief for criminal investigations for the Prince William police, said that in reality, there has not been a significant increase in crime in Irongate.

While a few documented gang members live there, he said the three incidents, for which most arrests have been made, were hardly harbingers of some dark future.

"Numbers-wise, I don't see anything different from where it's been," said Colgan, who added that the department patrols the area regularly and has deployed a street crimes unit there. "It's a matter of perception."

Robert J. Sampson, a professor of sociology at Harvard University, said in his studies, perceptions of order and disorder in neighborhoods tend to be influenced by racial composition: the more Latinos or blacks who move in, the more people, including Latinos and blacks, tend to perceive that things are getting worse, even if they are not.

In fact, his research has found that neighborhoods with high concentrations of first- and second-generation immigrants often have low rates of violence.

"I'd say it's not just the [crime] that is important but the meaning people give to it that is equally important," Sampson said. "People will say, 'Well, this is what's going to happen to the neighborhood,' so they leave. But suppose people stayed and fought the problem?

"That's the irony of perceptions -- we saw this historically in U.S. cities. People would say, 'Well, this is what's going to happen to the neighborhood,' so I leave, and I make it happen," by shifting money and commitment elsewhere.

People always have come and gone in Irongate, but many are leaving now specifically because they believe things are getting worse.

Michelle Cowin-Gantz will soon be among them. She is moving farther west, to a house with an acre of land. At Irongate, her three children -- 14, 9 and 5 -- are not allowed to play outside unless she is watching. She doesn't take the garbage out at night because she is afraid. "And if you drive around," she said, "it's just dirty."

"This neighborhood has served its purpose for me," said Cowin-Gantz, 37. "I wanted to buy a house, go to graduate school and in the meantime, my kids learned to appreciate different cultures. But this is too much."

"These people over here," she said, pointing to the house next door. "There are 15 in the house. I don't know, I don't know what I'm trying to say. . . . They're here more for economic reasons. They're not devoted to the community," she said and added: "Not that I am."

Staff writer Lila de Tantillo contributed to this report.


In the Irongate neighborhood of Prince William County, some mothers say they feel right at home. Others fear letting their children out alone.

Candido Guerrero and grandson Manuel, 14, walk through Irongate, where gang-related incidents have some residents wary, though police say crime has not increased significantly.


© 2005 The Washington Post Company

Maj. Ray Colgan, assistant chief for criminal investigations for the Prince William police, said that in reality, there has not been a significant increase in crime in Irongate.

While a few documented gang members live there, he said the three incidents, for which most arrests have been made, were hardly harbingers of some dark future.

"Numbers-wise, I don't see anything different from where it's been," said Colgan, who added that the department patrols the area regularly and has deployed a street crimes unit there. "It's a matter of perception."

Robert J. Sampson, a professor of sociology at Harvard University, said in his studies, perceptions of order and disorder in neighborhoods tend to be influenced by racial composition: the more Latinos or blacks who move in, the more people, including Latinos and blacks, tend to perceive that things are getting worse, even if they are not.

Time to PUT YOUR PROOF ON THE TABLE gentlemen

Having both Mexicans and Salvadorians together in any area is trouble.Not only are they gang rivals (SUR 13 vs. MS13) but their countries and communities have a long standing hatred of each other.Even if their gangs aren't present,which is rare,as long as there are places for them to interact you stand a potential for violence.

I relocated here about three years in hopes of finding better employment opportunities and more opportunities for my children to participate in performing arts and other extracurricular activities. Since my children and I moved here, we have never felt welcome. There is a much higher rate of crime than in the community where we are from, and absolutely nobody takes the time to help or get to know each other. My children were taught at an early age to show respect for all people, and I do not believe that most of the children that I have met, particularly in the Irongate community, even know respect is in the dictionary! I have worked in the Prince William School system as a substitute teacher and in the Fairfax County Public School system as an Instructional Assistant. Most of the children are rude, foul mouthed, and show absolutely no respect at all for any form of authority.
I do not like to go out at all in the evenings, and when I go out in the morning to my car, I am always worried that my car windows will be broken as it has happened before in Irongate. If I happen to be late in returning to Irongate, I can count on having to park very close to Sudley Road and I hate walking back to where I live by myself. I always feel like I am being stared at, and there have been times in which I felt like I was being followed. I am a very small female and it would not take much to overpower me. With this in mind, I have been considering martial arts classes or purchasing a firearm.
I know a mentally handicapped boy who is frequently the object of teasing in this neighborhood. Last year, the little neighborhood "darling" bullies pinned him against a fence, pummelled him on the face, back, and stomach, and threw his glasses down on the ground and tried to stomp them. Fortunately, a neighbor who ACTUALLY CARED (whoa, surprising, isn't it?) scared those little brats away. The boy's family called the police officers but since they were all 12 and under, no charges could be filed. These are the same little brats that go around vandalizing cars, flower gardens, fences, etc. They don't care, their parents don't care, and tnothing has been done about them! The time I confronted them, they issued a stream of profanity, made several obscene gestures, and continued on their merry way. Since then, they have continued to uproot the plants in the yard, scare the cats, and the boy that was the target of their "joke" is not allowed outside.
My own children have since returned to our real home. I hate that I can not have them with me, but both of my daughters were uncomfortable and my own sons were also frequent targets of the neighborhood "darlings". You can be assured that as soon as I can, I will be leaving this forsaken place as well. I served in the military, and I can safely say that I never hated any of the army towns that I lived in nearly as much as I hate this place.
Sorry about the venting. I just wish my experience had been different here.