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.
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.
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
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.
The problem with that is: It's NOT their place! The Mall belongs to its owners and the stores that rent space within them.
Call me crazy, but teenages have no business just "hanging out" in large groups ANYWHERE without responsible adult supervision.
My opinion of the policy really doesn't matter - the Mall is private property and the owner/management have the right to set the policies as they see fit.
If it were a government implemented policy I would be having a fit - whether I agreed with it or not.
That tremendous moan you just heard was the ACLU having a collective orgasm. This won't last long.
Flame away if you want...but if they're going to be this "police statist" about who gets into a mall (yes, yes, I know mall ownership has every right to do this bear with me here)...why not take it to the next level and have local LEO's (or whoever has the appropriate power here) and round up all suspected gang members under the guise of being enemy combatants?
A few months of that will quickly solve the problem of wanna-be thugs and the thugs themselves. Personally...I'm sick and tired of neighborhood after neighborhood being degraded, dismembered, and rendered void of decency and safety by this glorified thug culture.
Malls as babysitters? These parents are crazy!
Were this to happen at Roosevelt Field!!!!