Malls boot unescorted kids

The Huntsville Times ^ | Saturday, September 16, 2006 | WENDY REEVES

[Condor 63]

Disruptive actions prompt weekend curfew of 6 p.m.

In two weeks, weekend nights at the mall will be different in Huntsville. Starting Sept. 29, both Madison Square and Parkway Place malls will begin requiring adult guardians to accompany people under 18 on Friday and Saturday nights.

The "Youth Escort Policy" announced on Friday is the result of increasing incidents caused by unsupervised youths, as well as customer and retailer complaints, said Lucinda Hartshorne, manager of Parkway Place, and Joe Black, manager at Madison Square.

"A lot of parents drop off their kids at the mall because they feel it's a safe place, and it is," Black said. "But we've become a free baby-sitting service."

It's a situation that's hurting business because adults don't like the atmosphere created by hundreds of unsupervised teens roaming the malls on Friday and Saturday nights, Hartshorne said.

[Melinda in TN]

A big mall near me in Chattanooga did that because adults were nervous about shopping there after dark with all the teenagers hanging out. I never saw it personally because I never go to Chattanooga unless I have to and I don't go out after dark. LOL Malls are not babysitters and I personally like the idea.

[1rudeboy]

I don't know much about malls as babysitters, but to my little sister, malls used to be the all-knowing, all-seeing, all-giving Gods of her universe.

[ErnBatavia]

...wonder how that'll work for the mall theaters? Some of 'em around here have outside ticket booth/entrances, but some require you to be inside the mall.

[Lil'freeper]

adults don't like the atmosphere created by hundreds of unsupervised teens roaming the malls on Friday and Saturday nights,

Exactly the same reason why I don't see many movies at the theater.

[EmilyGeiger]

One of the malls in Montgomery did this after seeing an incident at it's competitor's malls. There was a shooting. Many wannabe gangbangers started hanging out there, 11-16 yrs. of age. It was scary to go to that mall and they lost a large # of their regulars. Now it's gone.

[dhuffman@awod.com]

Good people should be armed where they will. A mall prohibiting legal guns should be gone.

[Mike Bates]

The Mall of America's parental escort policy applies to kids under 16. And starts at 4:00 pm.

[Condor 63]

I can think of one mall here in Birmingham that needs to do the same thing.

[Tuscaloosa Goldfinch]

Great idea -- hope University Mall does it here. At night there are so many oversized t-shirts hanging down over baggy pants, sideways ballcaps, black hair dye and multiple piercings one feels someone is throwing a halloween party.

[nyconse]

I disagree with this policy. Kck the troublemakers out-ban them. Teens should be allowed to hang out at a mall. It would be nice if just once, troublemakers would pay for their behavior and not every good kid.

Also, if my mall did this, I would not shop there anymore. Stores such as Abercrombie, Hollister etc will be affected big time.

[RayChuang88]

About time, too!

Indeed, the troubles caused by young people was one reason why the California State Fair in the last two years instituted an early closing policy on the last Saturday night of the run of the fair in 2005 and 2006 after several incidents of youth violence during that last Saturday night in 2003 and 2004.

Because shopping malls are private property, it's very hard for the likes of the ACLU to put up a case against this policy. The requirement of parental supervision on Friday and Saturday nights hopefully will cut on the incidents of violence and possibly gang violence, too.

[taillightchaser]

Where are the parents??--Oh, never mind.

[Yorlik803]

In Pittsburgh,Century Three mall opened back in the eighties. I talked to the Security Person there who told me that even back then the gangs had the mall mapped out. I stopped going there 15 years ago because of the amount of slugs wandering around.
If the Mall is a No Gun Mall, I go anyways. My Carry Permit tells me I can go anywhere in the state, expect for the logical exceptions. What are they going to do, search me. And if they post detectors, I wont go in and then they wont get my cash.

[leda]

lots of kids don't cause trouble at malls, why punish them for
the wrongdoings of others? why not just tell the troublemakers
to leave? there are alot of other things teens could be doing
on a weekend night. personally, i would prefer to allow my
teenager to spend the evening watching a movie with his
friends. eliminating responsible choices for the responsible
teens is just asking for more trouble, imho.

[toomuchcoffee]

Logical exceptions? I carry my gun everywhere, and never let my purse off of my shoulder. If I'm required to remove my purse for any reason, I don't go there. I may be a 'target', but I'm a target that will shoot back and worry about the legal stuff later.

[Dudoight]

" Teens should be allowed to hang out at a mall."

You gotta be kidding me? What kind of parent finds this type of pasttime appropriate for our young people? I can see going to a movie, getting a coke and coming home. But 'hanging out'? Doesn't the youth of America have anything better to do? Where are their minds? ...rotting, rotting rotting.

[Yorlik803]

Well, I wont go into a Police station with my pistol, or a hospital or even a school. The penalities are too costly.
If the country was really serious about fighting terrorism, they would make Nationwide carry permit. Imagine you would be able to carry throughout the US packing. The Terrorists wouldnt know who was or wasnt carrying.
But, alas, like the FAIR tax, we will never see that in our life times.

[pepperdog]

Several malls in Oklahoma City have gone under because of the dangerous behavior of their "customers". People refuse to go where they may be shot, robbed, etc. Two malls have completely gone under and one is apparently in the process, altho it is making a valiant effort, even has a police station right in the mall. The malls that are no longer in the retail business have attracted some other business, like the Social Security Office, a call center etc. but still have many vacancies. Strip malls seem to be making a big comeback here. Many have been built in the last couple of years.

[EmilyGeiger]

Since we've moved to the area I haven't gone to too many malls, but I don't imagine you're talking about the Galleria. :)