Posted on 04/20/2005 7:31:05 AM PDT by kingattax
NASHUA, N.H. (AP) - Every kid knows hanging out with Mom or Dad can be kind of a drag. Kids who want to spend time at the Pheasant Lane Mall on Friday or Saturday nights might not have a choice.
In response to recent "disorderly and disruptive" incidents, mall security two weeks ago started distributing fliers outlining the mall's "general code of conduct," according to mall Manager Ginny Szymanski.
From 6 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, mall security guards now stand outside two entrances to make sure anyone under 16 has a parent or someone over 21 with them.
"That's when we approach them and give them a copy of the code of conduct and ask the parent to come in with them," Szymanski said.
She said the code - which outlines 13 rules governing acceptable conduct and clothing, among other things - will be enforced by security.
Szymanski said the mall rules have always been in place and posted, but the fliers were printed two weeks ago in response to the large groups of teenagers who have been hanging out - not shopping - at the mall on Friday and Saturday nights.
If the parent can't accompany the child during those times, they are asked to take the youngster home, she said.
If kids are found to be disrupting the mall's business, Szymanski said they will be escorted to the command center to call a parent to pick them up.
"We're not out to punish anyone," she said. "We're just trying to better manage the shopping experience."
Shoppers interviewed by The Telegraph didn't seem too thrilled by the code of conduct, though.
"I feel as though if I want to drop my kids off, I should. They're responsible," said Leann Newcomb of Lowell, Mass., who was shopping Monday with her 15-year-old daughter, Ashley.
Ashley agreed.
"I can come here and I can be fine without my mom," she said.
Stacey Donovan of Tyngsborough, Mass., said she always has considered the mall a safe haven for people.
"God knows what they'll be doing if they're not at the mall," she said. "To say it's not allowed is not the right answer. Let them have their place."
Not every New Hampshire mall has problems with kids' behavior. Scott Payrits, senior marketing manager at the Steeplegate Mall in Concord, said kids come to his mall to shop, not to cause trouble.
"We do not have any sort of problem with disruptive incidents, especially with kids," he said. "We have very good public safety. We don't have the need for a children-specific code of conduct."
One of the rules at Pheasant Lane prohibits dress "commonly recognized as gang-related."
Szymanski said the mall doesn't have a gang problem, but that people with certain attire - such as long chains that fall below the knee or studded dog or wrist collars, all of which can be used as weapons, she said - will be asked to remove them. If they don't comply, they will be asked to leave the mall, she said.
Leann Newcomb questioned the rule.
"They sell that stuff," said Newcomb. "How are they going to tell the kids after they buy that stuff not to wear it? Isn't that a violation of your constitutional rights?"
I remember my high school kids talking about shootings and fights at the mall. The mall kept it quiet to avoid the bad press. I would be surprised if the problem group was 16-17. It's probably the 18-21 group.
Something about a mall just turns people into iceholes.
I love it. All malls should have this.
"They sell that stuff," said Newcomb. "How are they going to tell the kids after they buy that stuff not to wear it? Isn't that a violation of your constitutional rights?"
If you're as much of a dumbass as Leann Newcomb, I guess the best use of a Friday night is hanging out a mall.
More are starting to. The one that I live near does now.
Interesting. No doubt a lot of these kids are just at the mall to "hang out," and that may appear to the mall owner to be a problem they must deal with.
OTOH, the solution may well be a bigger problem than the original problem. While it may seem like the kids are just hanging out and not acting as customers, it's probably not really true. They're probably customers, but not all the time they're in the mall.
And they may become permanent non-customers if they can't come to the mall on their own. A lot of malls have tried this ban on unaccompanied teenagers. Most abandon that ban after a short time, when the shops that cater to these kids start complaining about sales.
Better to establish a sensible dress and behavior code and enforce it. And by a sensible dress code I don't mean that the teenagers have to look like their parents.
Loitering mall rats drive legitimate shoppers away.
This has been in place at the Mall of America for at least the last 3 years. Happened after a couple of gang members shot up one of the food courts..
The last time I was at our local mall I had to walk past the ambulance and step over the trail of blood from the stabbing.
While I might be more inclined to shop at a mall that is trying to improve the shopping experience for its patrons, I dislike it when a company makes a blanket rule to prevent the actions of a few.
I refuse to buy gas from a place that requires me to pay first if I'm paying with cash. Just because there are some people who don't pay for their gas, I don't want to feel punished for their actions.
I'm sure a few idiots probably thought that was just free entertainment with their pizza.
Hey, the mall has a right to be as stupid as it wants to be. I have a hunch that the food court vendors aren't long for that mall unless the policy changes.
It seems that every third girl under the age of 20 is named Ashley.
You just keep on feeling, babe. In fact, start feeling in one hand and wishing in the other, and see which one gets full first...
An idea whose time has come
Oh, don't tell that to Stacey Donovan. She says, "To say it's not allowed is not the right answer. Let them have their place."
Anybody who has seen what wanders up to Nashua from Lawrence, Lynn and Lowell will have not question as to why this policy is being implemented.
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