New Town? (Williamsburg: work, nightlife, adult)

[kcrossley]

I've been reading about problems with unruly teens (disorderly conduct, fights, public cursing) in New Town. It appears the police are taking this very seriously and are trying to bring the situation under control. Is it working?

Does Williamsburg have problems with unruly teens in other areas besides New Town?

[kmflan]

That's news to me. Williamsburg has always been a very genteel place, somewhat "formal" place. Maybe things have changed? But I am surprised at this nonetheless.

[kcrossley]

At this point, I don't think the problems are that serious. I was just curious. BTW, here's the most recent article.

http://www.dailypress.com/news/local...tory?track=rss

[Mr Williamsburg]

I work in New Town and feel that this has been blown way out of proportion. New Town is a great place to hang out for kids and adults alike. The only movie theater in town is there along with lots of restaurants, Barnes & Noble & lots of retail stores. Where did you hang out when you were growing up ?
We don't have a mall so New Town is one of the "cool places to hang out" along with Busch Gardens when it opens for the season and other area spots.

[Cattknap]

Interesting article:

http://www.vagazette.com/news/opinion/letter/va-opinion_040407apr04,0,1809936.story?coll=va-opinion (broken link)

[misueno]

This "unruly teenager" thing is just silly. The Gazette, as delightful as it can be, is often a forum for back fence chatter more than actual news. Williamsburg (including James City and York County areas adjacent) is still a relatively small community that is growing faster than some residents would like to see.

For many years there was no place for teens to congregate. The "incidents" at New Town are just teens being teens. Back in my teen years in PA, we hung out at a McDonalds parking lot... didn't anyone here ever see American Grafitti??? This is what bored teens do.

So if you have been thinking about a move to the area, don't let this concern you. Williamsburg is still a beautiful, quaint little area and we don't have marauding bands of teenagers taking over the town.

[kcrossley]

I didn't think it was that bad. And yes, you're absolutely right, since there isn't much news in the area, these kind of things tend to get overblown.

[williamsburgfan]

there were posts on this a few months ago when the first va Gazette ran. If interested you can search and find it. Basically it is great the owner of the properties is finally allowing the police to take action. While blown out of proportion there have been a FEW incidents - most of this is just groups of teen-agers hanging out. As I have said many times, our area is beatutiful and a great place to live - we lack a lot for teen-agers and young adults to do at night, we have little or no nightlife, so it makes sense that teen-agers hang out at the movies and burger joint.

VERY FEW serious incidents, and they are handled. usually fighting amongst the kids - away from New Town proper, usually along ironbound Road towards James Blair School.