Will Green, director of the Mentoring Positives youth mentoring program, said he’s been working in the area for 12 years and the progress in reducing criminal activity in that time has practically disappeared in recent months as recreational and mentoring programs for youth have decreased.

The gas station “is not the root cause of crime in this neighborhood, it simply serves as a convenient place to engage in criminal activity. It also serves as a important community gathering spot for youth on this side of town and the significance of this fact has not been overlooked,” Waller wrote in the letter sent Sept. 11, 2015. “Nor has the fact that as a business owner, you cannot be held responsible for the actions of patrons after they leave your premises. You do however have some control over the type of activity on the premises in the first place.”