The Advocate
The Associated Press
4/9/2008 page 6B
The Louisiana Boardwalk Shopping Center in Bossier City has recently put a tougher teenage policy on all those 16 and younger. Starting March 30th anyone below the age of 16 must be accompanied by their parents pass eight on all days. Numbers of parents, children, and officers have already made formal complaints. One of the moms in the Bossier City area said that the Shopping Center is taking away one of only safe places for kids to hang out now and days. Kids that aren't hanging out at places like the mall are found onthe streets doing drugs and promoting violence. Kids also feel that they are being labled as trouble makers when really they are just participating in innocent fun. All though this article presents lots of opposing opinions it fails to give us any opinions for the the new policy. It also leaves out a very important aspect, and that is why the policy was made in the first place. I feel that if the author would have included all the information necessary to this article then it would have a lot better.
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5 comments:
I think that new policy is a little ridiculous. I would have made a complaint too. If you are 15, you are old enough to go to high school all by yourself and even get a driver's permit. I think the mall should be one of the places where parents can think their teens are having good, clean fun. This is a very good issue to write an article about. I'm sure this has caused a lot of debates and conflict within the town as well.
Although not presented in the article, I can see the stores' view of the issue. If many children are just hanging out around the stores, it could take away business. A similar policy was passed in my town for this reason. However, since the article left this out, it would be hard to find the exact cause. I wish the author would have included why this was enacted in the first place.
While I can see both sides to this arguement, I tend to side with the stores. When kids are with their parents, they more likely to be responsible. The stores probably feel that all the kids do is walk around and don't buy anything. I can see that the stores would feel that the patrons would rather shop in peace than having tons of teenagers hanging around. However, it would have made the piece stronger if he had included the reason why the stores started practicing this policy.
If that mom thinks that the outside is unsafe then why doesn't she just let everyone hang out at her house? We didn't have a mall where I lived and I'm still alive and well. These malls are probably just sick of the disturbance. Besides they said after 8, not always.
I'm kindof torn on this issue. If I owned a store, I wouldn't want kids that probably aren't gonna buy anything playing in my store. However, if I was a parent, then i would want my kids to be able to hang out in a safe enviornment. I think to solve this problem we need places for teenagers to hang out.
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