“...I remember the Lake Forest Plaza in eastern New Orleans. It was the largest, nicest mall in the state - for a brief period. Then the area turned into a Section 8 overflow from the old housing projects. One million square feet of retail space, and it only thrived for around fifteen years. The first signs of trouble at the Plaza were on Saturday nights, but the problem spread quickly....”
The same thing has happened twice in Baton Rouge already and is now happening for a 3rd time. First, it was the Bon Marche mall, then the Cortana mall and now the Mall of Louisiana is falling prey to the same crap. It’s the same MO that you described above in every case. First, Saturday nights turned into a war zone, then it spreads to every night, then afternoons. Soon, those with real money that want to shop, won’t go there anymoe if they sense the danger of gangs of “feral urban youth”. Stores lose business to the point they have to close the doors. IF anything is done to prevent it, the sounds of “racism” ring off the walls by local minority politicians. We’ve seen it all before. That’s one of the reasons my wife and I were both packing. We weren’t looking for trouble, just a new pair of shoes for her, but we weren’t gonna take any crap off these vermin either.
Clearview Mall in Metairie was having similar problems. I walked through there one Saturday night and feared for my life. Anyway, the store owners began complaining so they implemented a curfew. Now a child must be accompanied by an adult in order to enter the mall after 4:00 p.m. (Not sure on the ages.) There was an outcry among teenagers locally, but the people who actually have money to spend in the mall love it. That’s the only mall I’ll go to at night.