Discuss items in the urban core outside of Downtown as described above. Everything in the core including the east side (18th & Vine area), Northeast, Plaza, Westport, Brookside, Valentine, Waldo, 39th street, & the entire midtown area.
i don't really buy the argument that there is nowhere for young teens to "hang out." which is to say, it's true there's nowhere specific to hang out - that's what sucks about being a kid. thus, you hang out at friends houses, the park, sometimes the mall, whatever. i don't think a city has to bend over backwards to "provide a place for kids to go." what place could handle hundreds of teens anyway?
that said, this situation is bad. we were at the plaza saturday night as well, but left by 10 or so, so we didn't see anything.
TheBigChuckbowski wrote:
Gotta love the Star.
It makes it sound like Sly was in the middle of a brawl and got knocked over by some out of control 14 year old.
yeah, i thought that too, but then saw in the article that his bodyguards shoved him to the ground when shots rang out.
I wouldn't even mind a group of teens hanging out on the plaza except a large group always attracts a handful of troublemakers who want to cause problems....so sadly these teen groups can't be allowed to gather like this anywhere in the city....especially tax producing districts.
It was close to midnight when this happened. NO, we should not be finding 10-17 y/o a place to hang out. They should be at home or somewhere where with family or adults, not milling on the plaza or some city sponsored event.
There are way more activities offered by the city and other organizations now than ever before. What did people do previously that these kids don't have access to?
Mayor Michael Nutter announced this week a robust initiative that began with a stiff curfew at 9 p.m. Friday.
The effort comes after a string of attacks on residents by groups of young people who are alerted to sudden gatherings at a given place via e-mail and social media.
KCPowercat wrote:
a large group always attracts a handful of troublemakers who want to cause problems....so sadly these teen groups can't be allowed to gather like this anywhere in the city
I agree - getting troublemakers from across the metro together in one spot on a hot summer evening is asking for trouble. It's not just kids from one particular part of the city - they're from rival schools, neighborhoods, cities...
pstokely wrote:
Only if their parents can afford them. You think these kids have 60 inch 3D flat screens at home. Urban youth with too much time and no money. Flash mobs don't cost any more than the cell phone texting rates. How many of these kids of driving age even drove themselves there.
Actually I'm sure they do. Among people I know, the poorer they are, the bigger TVs and more high-end gaming systems they have. People who rely on government assistance for food blow money on Xboxes, plasma TVs, high-end sound systems, and pimping out their cars. It seems like a huge misplacement of priorities, but history has shown time and time again over the past century that even in the toughest of times people will find ways to obtain luxury entertainment items. These kids are not lacking things to do. And no amount of boredom justifies parents letting their early teen and pre-teen kids roam the city unsupervised that late at night.
On the news they reported in Philly one of the new safe havens to curb these flash mobs was some bowling alley. The bowling alley already had a report of a stabbing and fights over the weekend. So even if they come up with all these ideas in KC, it isn't too far fetched to say something like this will happen.
Should we start blaming the media? There is a lot of violent stuff on tv, maybe tv and video games are these kids parents and they don't know what is good or bad.
brewcrew1000 wrote:
On the news they reported in Philly one of the new safe havens to curb these flash mobs was some bowling alley. The bowling alley already had a report of a stabbing and fights over the weekend. So even if they come up with all these ideas in KC, it isn't too far fetched to say something like this will happen.
Should we start blaming the media? There is a lot of violent stuff on tv, maybe tv and video games are these kids parents and they don't know what is good or bad.
Haven't we had violent TV and video games for a decade now? Why is it having this effect now? And why does it only affect these kids? I'd bet most homes in JoCo do not have a parent in the house most afternoons and yet have the access to the same violent video games and TV shows.
Only people to blame are their parents. Doubt that parent that allows (or doesn't know that) their kid to carry guns and deal drugs will be worried about a curfew or a fine. Can't imagine my parents letting me loose at the Plaza when I was 8-13 years old. This was before cell phones when getting a hold of your folks involved pay phones.
"Don't go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first."
- Mark Twain
NDTeve wrote:
Can't imagine my parents letting me loose at the Plaza when I was 8-13 years old. This was before cell phones when getting a hold of your folks involved pay phones.
when i was 12-15, my friends and i would routinely get dropped off at the plaza or even westport, and had full reign of the city (on foot) for several hours before getting picked back up. however, this was more in the noon to 7pm time frame and not the 7pm to midnight time frame.
The mayor?s spokesman Danny Rotert says Mayor Sly James will meet with City Attorney Galen Beaufort over lunch. It?s believed the main topic of discussion will the legal moves required to implement a curfew.
KCPowercat wrote:
Yup. This is totally on the "parents". I use that term loosely.
I would be very curious to know how many of these kids come from stable, two parent homes.
I know stable is hard to define. I'll define it as two married or cohabitating adults who live under the same roof with the children, at least one adult works and provides a consistent income, both adults know the name of the kids' teachers.
Don't get me wrong, I know kids can be raised in very stable, one-parent households. But, I've also heard many people (Chandra??) state that problems can arise when there is no male role model in the home. Just curious if these kids would be less prone to display certain behavioral traits if they had more stability in the household.
Maybe I'm way off base. I don't think so. Have too many friends who are teachers and social workers. But, I'd be interested to hear peoples' opinions.
I got it, i figured out how to stop these stupid flash mobs:
Make it seems uncool!!!
Have some religous organization like IHOP organize a flash mob at the same time a urban one occurs, have the IHOP people hand out flyers to join the church and go all pacifist and nice on these kids.
The kids will be like this is "Whack" and find something new to do, thus the ending of flash mobs
