Mulholland Wall

I wasn’t surprised at the headline “Wall Raises Tempers Along Scenic Stretch of Mulholland Drive” (Metro, Sept. 13). It was only a matter of time. For several years, people have been walling off houses and whole neighborhoods with great ramparts and gates. These unsightly structures, ever more prevalent, are a mute reminder that as a society we are failing to deal with diversity, both ethnic and economic. The well-to-do wall themselves off, in essence imprison themselves, rather than try to understand or solve social problems such as crime and poverty. The walls may provide physical and psychological security, but the price is a divided society--with the walls as physical symbols of division--in which in the long run we are all the poorer.

HERBERT G. ROSENBLOOM

Sepulveda