Below are some dictionary definitions of ghetto:

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ghetto
1: a quarter of a city in which Jews were formerly required to live
2: a quarter of a city in which members of a minority group live especially because of social, legal, or economic pressure
3 a: an isolated group b: a situation that resembles a ghetto especially in conferring inferior status or limiting opportunity <the pink-collar ghetto
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/ghetto
1. A usually poor section of a city inhabited primarily by people of the same race, religion, or social background, often because of discrimination.
2. An often walled quarter in a European city to which Jews were restricted beginning in the Middle Ages.
3. Something that resembles the restriction or isolation of a city ghetto:

The Sheriffs Compound is right across the street from the site of the vandalism … not a dig, just ironic; they certainly have enough going on to keep their hands full versus the staffing level. I do think it would be a VERY good idea to consider a ‘beat cop’ scenario for the downtown in general but it would not be cost effective use of the officers involved for what Burien is will to pay for.

That brings up a retro segue…how did we get art and the acreage to put it on in the first place?

The vaunted City Council with seeming delusions of grandeur and a penchant for spending we might say. For all of the foolishness in “our downtown core” i.e. 152nd/153rd starting with the epoxy grouted brick crosswalks for big bucks which were then mostly ripped out to create a Fonzi/ Happy Days movie set out of 152nd complete with passé’ and dangerous diagonal parking, faux cast-iron look-alike aluminum street fixtures (with sodium-vapor lamps, no less! ) and folly of follies, an arch over the east approach from 1st Ave. that is generally unreadable ( even the Council could not bring themselves to put it up in lights!)

And in general about the whole of the “development” : who in their right mind would pay $750,000 to sit in the middle of THAT !!?( now knocked down to only half-a-million !)

…It’s best and most useful feature is the new fire hall and Emergency./Disaster Response center.

If from the beginning of Incorporation we would have had a much more well considered plan for the benefit of this Community as a WHOLE and reached by consensus it could have been quire wonderful, but instead, we seem to have let a bunch of people with NO apparent common sense take over and they shortsightedly continue to serve only themselves.

Indeed the Vandalism is a Community problem, and not so much about individuals involved, otherwise we would already know who they were and who there families are and so forth.
There is not much community here in Burien anymore; it has become quite cliquish and isolated by ‘neighborhoods’ and income levels, not very cosmopolitan.
Ask yourself this, what can we do in our Community to muster cohesion and inclusiveness and how can you help to accomplish this. Be an ambassador for yor community everyday; be nosy,.. get to know your neighbors… bake ‘em a cake ! mow their lawn! Shake their hand !

Why is this area “Ghetto”? Is it that you’re a bigot against the average income person being lower than up north or is it because you’re a bigot because the area is diverse? I think you need to understand that your “reality” is not REALITY.

i’m not sure if cameras would do much other than to drive the vandals to an unmonitored area. really, they are just a band-aid solution.

we, as a community, need to find the underlying reasons for the vandalism. it might be a little judgmental, but i’m taking a wild guess that most vandals are in their teens to early twenties. has burien given enough for their youth to be occupied? have community members embraced enough youth?

i like “jays” comment about law enforcement. but the reality is that burien isn’t the law enforcements neighborhood; it is ours. we need to take back our neighborhood.

the easiest way to do this is simply be present. take a walk, talk to people, say hi to the kids skating boarding and hanging around [after all, they are burien’s biggest asset], participate is community activities, mentor a community kid, etc.

i could go on and on about how we can make this a better neighborhood for us all, but the reality is that we have to want the change. we have to want change enough to have to do something for it. if you want change, you have to make change. nothing will change if you sit on your couch and merely hope that your car doesn’t get broken into.

It isn’t surprising that we have these problems though. Our police won’t even respond to home burglar alarms! It is against the rules to even have one that can be heard from the outside of your home without paying for private security to respond to them.

What sort of message is this sending to the local criminals? Our police just don’t care to protect us or our stuff is what is sounds like to me….not much incentive to keep the criminals out.