News, Town Considers Ban on Teens at Mall. (attorney, dictators, politicians)

[John1960]

FRESNO, Calif. (July 26) - A shopping mall's plan to ban teenagers from entering shops and restaurants unless accompanied by an adult has been put on hold after the city attorney questioned its constitutionality.

The Shops at River Park had planned to limit evening access for minors on weekends beginning Aug. 3 in an attempt to rid the center of its reputation as a teen hangout. The rule required that anyone under the age of 18 be accompanied by someone over the age of 21 after 6 p.m. on Friday and Saturday nights.

Story - Town Considers Ban on Teens at Mall - AOL News (broken link)

[TXboomerang]

While in one sense I don't like it, I have to side with shops and malls that are tired of acting as weekend babysitters. I quit going to the mall on weekends because it is overrun with irresponsible, loud, rude, unsupervised teens who aren't purchasing anything. There would be a line of cars on Saturday after noon of parents dropping their teens off at the mall for the day pretty much every weekend when I would try to go. If it is hurting business, then I think they should be able to pass the ban.

[YapCity]

Originally Posted by John1960

FRESNO, Calif. (July 26) - A shopping mall's plan to ban teenagers from entering shops and restaurants unless accompanied by an adult has been put on hold after the city attorney questioned its constitutionality.

The Shops at River Park had planned to limit evening access for minors on weekends beginning Aug. 3 in an attempt to rid the center of its reputation as a teen hangout. The rule required that anyone under the age of 18 be accompanied by someone over the age of 21 after 6 p.m. on Friday and Saturday nights.

Story - Town Considers Ban on Teens at Mall - AOL News (broken link)

If I were a kid I'd say fine provided they ban anyone over the age of 25 from going to the beach on the weekends.

I'd personally like to see a ban on seniors driving during the rush hours unless they can prove they're going to work. Hell, I'd like to see a ban on anyone driving during rush hour that isn't going to work or to a doctor.

While we're at it, we can

-Ban women from touching a television set during baseball season.

-Ban non-smokers from trying to ban smoking in a dive bar they wouldn't want to non-smoke at in the first place.

-Ban people who nobody would ever want to have sex with from talking about the right to life.

-Ban catholic priests from talking about the sanctity of marriage when they're not allowed to marry.

-Ban politicians from talking about the sanctity of marriage forever, or at least until their wife and their mistress both agree it's ok to do so.

Yeah, we could have a lot of bans. Wouldn't it be great? The USSR has been gone so long I think it would be kind of nostalgic. Maybe some toilet paper lines too? Who knows.

~T
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[Torrey]

While the mall area itself is a Public area, the shops themselves are NOT. Once stepping into a shop, you are at the mercy of the shop owner, and they reserve the right to refuse service to anyone they choose.

I can agree partially with the idea, as kids aren't buying anything usually, and if they are eating food etc they will have more of a propensity to leave trash laying around rather than throwing it into the trash can.

As well, since teens have little or no money, I am sure it would cut down on shop lifting.

Now, in defense of the teens, it is a viable place to go if your parents aren't big on air conditioning in the summer because of cooling costs. Hey, free AC, you can't beat it right? Hanging out with friends is good socializing for teens. Who wants to coop a kid up by themselves in their rooms at home all day? They will become social introverts. As well, what about video arcades? Do they have those anymore? If so, then teens are their main source of revenue.

Pros and Cons on this one.

[rd2007]

ha ha ha, Yap cracks me up. the only person that can totally **** me off in one post and make me laugh hard in agreement in another...
I'm totally down for quite a few of those actually...

as far as teens, are they covered by the constitution? I always told mine they aren't, or at least they aren't in my house...

[ElkHunter]

Originally Posted by rd2007

ha ha ha, Yap cracks me up. the only person that can totally **** me off in one post and make me laugh hard in agreement in another...
I'm totally down for quite a few of those actually...

as far as teens, are they covered by the constitution? I always told mine they aren't, or at least they aren't in my house...

hahahaha I always told my kids they were covered by the constitution, but they couldn't exercise it til they turned 18.

[rd2007]

18? screw that.. my youngest is 18 and still lives at home, so he's still under the dictatorship.. they know there's no constitution in this house.. and they also know that if they don't like it, they don't need directions to the door..

[claudlili]

Where are teens supposed to hang out at? Do any of you remember? From 14-20 unless you got yourself a really good fake ID there's no place to go. Teens may not be spending money all the time they are at the mall but they do spend a lot of money on clothes, music, and bling. If they don't ,their parents are spending it. As a parent of future teens I think the least the mall could do is babysit my kids. I would have more than paid for it.

[roanoker 4]

The Mall here in Roanoke VA (Valley View Mall) just put in a curfew for anyone under 18 must be accompanied by an adult on Friday and Saturday evenings. The Mall had studied the situation where gangs of teens were coming to the Mall to hang out. With the ready availability of guns in Virginia(shoot 'em up state #1) they thought it might be a good idea since the teens were carrying guns and there had been gun shots. The gun shop where the mass murderer at Va Tech bought his machine gun on April 16 is just up the street from the Mall(a scary thought). At first the teens were upset but I have noticed they adjust and must realize it is not a convenient drop off place. A recent issue of Time Magazine indicates many of the major malls in the U.S. are now putting in a curfew. It certainly became a big problem at that Mall.

[Mooseketeer]

So all the responsible, decent teenagers get penalised for the bad apples ? Great sense of democracy. Most kids are just normal and decent and I can't believe people think it's OK to basically exclude them because some behave badly.
Shouldn't we want them to be treated the way we expect to be treated. Innocent until proven guilty?