Mayfair, Mayfair, Mayfair.
"Stylish Shopping. Delightful Dining. YOU."
How about "NO"?
The reports of trouble there have been endless.
Incidents of violence and unruliness at Mayfair are nothing new.
Let's be fair. Every public place can be the site of problems and it's not necessarily a reflection of the overall safety of the area.
BUT--
There has been so much trouble at Mayfair that I thinks it's fair to consider the situation serious.
The Mayfair "team" may feel that the media are painting the mall as an unsafe destination by highlighting arrests.
Sorry. That doesn't fly.
The reality is there are some violent, dangerous, creepy people hanging around Mayfair Mall doing violent, dangerous, creepy, ILLEGAL things.
That's news that the public deserves to know.
Let's run through a few recent instances.
In the span of roughly 72 hours, here's what happened at Mayfair:
Thursday, February 15, 2007-- Peeping Tom
Tara Cole, 27, is talking about what she called the most comprimising predicament of her adult life. While using the ladies' room at Mayfair Mall about 3:30 p.m. Thursday, she said she caught a man trying to take pictures of her with his cell phone.
"I still had my pants down. I take a look and I bend down, and as I bend down I look at the guy face-to-face. I popped back up and threw my pants back on and came out the bathroom. I popped out, I said, 'Hey, what are you doing?' and he said, 'Oh, I just accidentally came in here.' I'm like, 'You didn't accidentally come in here.' I'm like, 'You were looking at me.' And he had his cell phone like this and I snatched it from him. I'm like, 'Were you taking pictures of me too?' and by that time I'm screaming, I'm like, 'somebody help me,'" Cole said.
Cole's husband wrestled the man to the floor and held him down until mall security arrived and took the man into custody.
"It boggles the mind in terms of what people are thinking about in terms of their behavior in the public areas in this community right now," Mayfair Mall manager Steve Smith said.
The 34-year-old suspect is in custody but has not been charged. The nature of the charges has not yet been determined. The case is now under review with the district attorney's office. The suspect is being held on something unrelated while the Peeping Tom case is being reviewed.
Friday February 16, 2007-- Flying Loaded Gun
A gun went flying over a second-floor railing at a shopping mall and dropped to the main level during a scuffle between a police sergeant and a teenager who had been carrying the weapon, authorities said.
Capt. Jeff Sutter of the Wauwatosa Police Department said no one was injured in the incident Friday night at the Mayfair Mall, and the 18-year-old male suspect was taken into custody along with a 19-year-old man.
Police received a call from the mall shortly after 8 p.m. reporting two suspicious individuals inside the Champs sporting goods store, he said. Sutter said one of them was said to have a gun in his waistband.
The sergeant, who was patrolling the mall, confronted the two as they left the store, the 18-year-old reached into his jacket and the gun went flying, the captain said. A member of the mall security staff recovered the weapon after it dropped to the first level, according to the captain.
More details on the flying gun:
Two Milwaukee men have been charged in the Friday night incident that sent a loaded handgun flying from a second-floor railing at Mayfair Mall, Wauwatosa police said today.
Andrew M. Greenwood, 18, of the 1700 block of S. 12th St., was charged Sunday with being a felon in possession of a firearm, carrying a concealed weapon, resisting an officer and possession of marijuana. Greenwood, who had $1,145 in cash on him when he was arrested, had two prior felony convictions as a juvenile, said Wauwatosa Lt. Dominic Leone.
Cortez R. Brooks, 19, of the 3100 block of W. Glendale Ave., was charged with a misdemeanor count of resisting an officer for giving a false name to police. Brooks, who was with Greenwood at the mall, had an open warrant and was on parole for being a felon in possession of a firearm, Leone said.
The men were arrested at Mayfair late Friday after Greenwood got into a scuffle with a police officer.... During the scuffle, police said, Greenwood pulled the handgun [Emphasis mine], but it was knocked out of his hand and over the second-floor railing.
Sunday February 18, 2007-- Fight at Mayfair Cinema
Eight people were arrested after a fight broke out in the lobby at Mayfair Cinema on Sunday night, Wauwatosa police said today.
Two Milwaukee women, a 37-year-old mother and her 18-year-old daughter, were cited on suspicion of disorderly conduct and turned over to the Milwaukee County Sheriff's Department on open warrants against them, said Lt. Dominic Leone. Details regarding the other people arrested were not immediately available this morning, he said.
Police were dispatched to the theater around 9:30 p.m. on a report of several suspects fighting.
Would it be unusual for a mall to have a record of these sort of incidents in the span of a year or even a few months?
No.
An area as large as metro Milwaukee certainly has its share of creeps in bathrooms, gun-toting teens, and unruly moviegoers.
One would expect some of them to show up at the place voted "Milwaukee's #1 shopping and entertainment destination for 11 years straight!"
However, we're not talking about these events happening in the course of a year or six months or a month. We're talking about days.
I wouldn't want to go to a movie and think that I might get caught in the middle of a fight.
I wouldn't want to be walking around a mall where a LOADED gun drops from the upper level. Thank God it didn't fire when it crashed to the lower level. Talk about dodging a bullet! Furthermore, if the gun itself had hit someone as it went over the railing, serious injury could have occurred.
I wouldn't want to go into a mall bathroom worrying that a creep was in there taking pictures with his cell phone. In terms of mall security, how did a man get into the women's restroom? No security cameras caught that?
Worse yet, Tara Cole, the VICTIM, was questioned by security as if she had done something wrong.
Will all the trouble at Mayfair keep patrons away?
Probably not most. Probably not yet.
I suppose some people will think twice before going to a movie there.
Others may stay away on weekend nights, doing their shopping during the week and early in the day, when thugs are less likely to be bringing guns to the mall.
I guess it would be wise to not drink anything before going to the mall or while there. It would be best to do everything possible to avoid using the restrooms since they clearly are not secure.
I think Mayfair is at a crossroads.
Perception is everything. I think that worries the Mayfair "team."
At this point, it's not a matter of perception. Reality is working against Mayfair.
The mall is failing to provide enough security and maintain a safe environment.
Wauwatosa's community leaders (Mayor Theresa Estness, Police Chief Barry Weber, City Attorney Alan Kesner) prefer to put on rose-colored glasses.
Milwaukee County leadership is missing in action on the mall's steady disintegration. (Scott Walker? Sheriff David Clarke? Are you there? Any comments?)
Excuses don't fly when it comes to Mayfair Mall.
Guns on the other hand...
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