Incident at West Gate Mall
Mar. 2nd, 2009 09:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
stonebenderSaturday, February 28 loracs and I were going to Verizon to get new cell phones. We ran into a problem at the strip mall here in San Leandro. We dealt with it by emailing the following letter. I won't go into anymore details because they are mostly covered in the letter. We're following it up with hard copy sent by snailmail to the same people. SKB is the management company for the mall. We sent it to the security company, our councilperson, the Mayor and the councilperson whose district the mall is:
Dear SKB
I'm writing because my partner and I had an unpleasant experience at the West Gate Mall, 1933 Davis Street in San Leandro, California. I am a person with a disability and I use a minivan with a passenger’s side ramp. I have a placard that allows me to park in a disabled parking space and we parked in a one close to the Verizon store. As I was driving my power wheelchair down the ramp of my minivan, I noticed a security guard apparently waiting for us to leave our van. We both assumed that he was waiting to drive by us so we tried to get out of his way as quickly as possible. Once I was out of the van, we closed the door and headed for the Verizon store. Then we noticed that he was parking his security vehicle (the small “golf cart” type) in the striped section of the disabled parking space right next to our van. The very same space I need to enter and exit my van. The section is striped and specifically designed to allow access for my type of van.
I turned around to inform the security guard that he wasn't allowed to park in the striped section. He responded by saying that he would just be gone a minute and then he would be out of the way. I told him that that wasn't the point, and I repeated “you aren’t allowed to park in the striped section.” He then said something about how he would be out of my way before I came back. Again, that wasn't the point. Since he didn't seem to be interested in moving his vehicle, I asked for his badge number or his name. He refused to give either one and said “go ahead and call the cops.” He then entered the building and hurried down the hallway.
I might have been able to understand his need to park in the striped section if the parking lot was full and he was responding to an emergency, but he said something about checking to make sure a door was locked. There were plenty of acceptable parking spaces that he could have used that would have added maybe 10 more steps to his trip into the building. I was also bothered because he sat right there and allowed us to get out of our van and then parked where he knew he would be blocking my ability to get back into my van.
I wish I was able to give you the security guard’s name or his badge number, but he refused to give me either. It happened on Saturday, 28 at approximately 6:00 pm. The vehicle was #5. I am attaching a picture of the security vehicle parked next to my green minivan. The guard wore a Securitas uniform. He was African-American, approximately 5’ 8”, maybe mid-50 to early 60 years old and he had an accent we could not identify.
We have several concerns about this particular issue. First, this isn't an isolated incident. Twice before we have returned to our van after shopping in this area to find one of these security vehicles parked next us. We had to wait until the guard returned before we could leave. In addition, once we couldn’t use the last disabled space available because one of these vehicles was already parked in the striped area. We are worried you have a policy allowing guards to regularly park in the striped section of a disabled parking space. Finally, we believe your guards should give their badge number when requested. After all, the reason one is given a badge with a number to wear while on duty is for identification. His refusal to give us this information leads us to believe he knew he was breaking the law and was trying to avoid any consequences.
We are asking the security company and/or the management at West Gate to have a written policy and training on 1) disabled parking spaces, including the white stripped area, is not to be used by security vehicles, 2) the correct response in this situation. We do not believe ignoring our first request to move his vehicle and then compounding this with a refusal to give his identity is appropriate and it certainly isn’t public/customer friendly.
A hard copy of this letter is forthcoming. We await your response.
Sincerely,
Guy W. Thomas
Carol S. Squires
Cc:
Securitas
Honorable Mayor Tony Santos, San Leandro
Honorable Vice Mayor Bill Stephens, San Leandro
Honorable Council Member Jim Prola, San Leandro
loracs and I were going to Verizon to get new cell phones. We ran into a problem at the strip mall here in San Leandro. We dealt with it by emailing the following letter. I won't go into anymore details because they are mostly covered in the letter. We're following it up with hard copy sent by snailmail to the same people. SKB is the management company for the mall. We sent it to the security company, our councilperson, the Mayor and the councilperson whose district the mall is: Dear SKB
I'm writing because my partner and I had an unpleasant experience at the West Gate Mall, 1933 Davis Street in San Leandro, California. I am a person with a disability and I use a minivan with a passenger’s side ramp. I have a placard that allows me to park in a disabled parking space and we parked in a one close to the Verizon store. As I was driving my power wheelchair down the ramp of my minivan, I noticed a security guard apparently waiting for us to leave our van. We both assumed that he was waiting to drive by us so we tried to get out of his way as quickly as possible. Once I was out of the van, we closed the door and headed for the Verizon store. Then we noticed that he was parking his security vehicle (the small “golf cart” type) in the striped section of the disabled parking space right next to our van. The very same space I need to enter and exit my van. The section is striped and specifically designed to allow access for my type of van.
I turned around to inform the security guard that he wasn't allowed to park in the striped section. He responded by saying that he would just be gone a minute and then he would be out of the way. I told him that that wasn't the point, and I repeated “you aren’t allowed to park in the striped section.” He then said something about how he would be out of my way before I came back. Again, that wasn't the point. Since he didn't seem to be interested in moving his vehicle, I asked for his badge number or his name. He refused to give either one and said “go ahead and call the cops.” He then entered the building and hurried down the hallway.
I might have been able to understand his need to park in the striped section if the parking lot was full and he was responding to an emergency, but he said something about checking to make sure a door was locked. There were plenty of acceptable parking spaces that he could have used that would have added maybe 10 more steps to his trip into the building. I was also bothered because he sat right there and allowed us to get out of our van and then parked where he knew he would be blocking my ability to get back into my van.
I wish I was able to give you the security guard’s name or his badge number, but he refused to give me either. It happened on Saturday, 28 at approximately 6:00 pm. The vehicle was #5. I am attaching a picture of the security vehicle parked next to my green minivan. The guard wore a Securitas uniform. He was African-American, approximately 5’ 8”, maybe mid-50 to early 60 years old and he had an accent we could not identify.
We have several concerns about this particular issue. First, this isn't an isolated incident. Twice before we have returned to our van after shopping in this area to find one of these security vehicles parked next us. We had to wait until the guard returned before we could leave. In addition, once we couldn’t use the last disabled space available because one of these vehicles was already parked in the striped area. We are worried you have a policy allowing guards to regularly park in the striped section of a disabled parking space. Finally, we believe your guards should give their badge number when requested. After all, the reason one is given a badge with a number to wear while on duty is for identification. His refusal to give us this information leads us to believe he knew he was breaking the law and was trying to avoid any consequences.
We are asking the security company and/or the management at West Gate to have a written policy and training on 1) disabled parking spaces, including the white stripped area, is not to be used by security vehicles, 2) the correct response in this situation. We do not believe ignoring our first request to move his vehicle and then compounding this with a refusal to give his identity is appropriate and it certainly isn’t public/customer friendly.
A hard copy of this letter is forthcoming. We await your response.
Sincerely,
Guy W. Thomas
Carol S. Squires
Cc:
Securitas
Honorable Mayor Tony Santos, San Leandro
Honorable Vice Mayor Bill Stephens, San Leandro
Honorable Council Member Jim Prola, San Leandro
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2009-03-03 06:59 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-03-03 07:06 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-03-03 07:13 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-03-03 07:22 am (UTC)Cc-ing the mayor and city council definitely worked for me with the curb cuts in my town... maybe that will get you a response.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-03-03 07:58 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-03-03 07:30 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-03-03 07:58 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-03-03 09:28 am (UTC)Sucks that you have to spend time and energy writing it.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-03-03 12:43 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-03-04 04:09 am (UTC)