Ruh-roh! Teenagers Are Being Banned from the Atlantic Terminal Mall
The Local picked up a thread from the Brooklyn Tech bulletin board. Seems that kids need to be accompanied by someone 21 years or older. As you may recall, there’ve been some problems with unaccompanied teens getting into trouble, especially when cheap chicken wings have been involved.
The Local picked up a thread from the Brooklyn Tech bulletin board. Seems that kids need to be accompanied by someone 21 years or older. As you may recall, there’ve been some problems with unaccompanied teens getting into trouble, especially when cheap chicken wings have been involved.
1.) Hanging out at the mall is a teen rite of passage. Even as an urban teen, we hung out at the mall, when we weren’t standing in front of Zipperhead on South Street. Although the mall was profoundly uncool, it was useful.
2.) Have been there at 3-5PM a bunch of times. Have never witnessed a teen “rumble.” Teenagers get loud. They travel in packs. They can be really stupid and annoying. But we were all there and we were all like that. (At least those of us who weren’t cowering in our rooms doing homework constantly — and really, who wanted to be that kid?)
3.) It is somewhat amusing that many voices who were fine with babies in bars are against teenagers in malls.
My daughter, a freshman at Tech, told me that she and her friend who lives in Chinatown tried to go to Atlantic Terminal to get something to eat after school yesterday and then her friend would take the subway home. They were only allowed to enter through the LIRR terminal, no one allowed under 21 in the mall.
My girl has made some pretty good money babysitting, but no job for her this year, not with regents chemistry, regents biology, AP world history, Chinese, and geometry. Oh, and three days of chorus rehearsals in Manhattan every week. Can’t blame a girl for wanting a sandwich!
Pink Clamm…we might be related. We had the secret ring too!!
When i was a kid living with my mother after the divorce i had to go straight home,PERIOD. NO answering the phone unless it was her secret ring and no answering the door. My sisters and i watched TV and played board games until she got home.
We weren’t sent to the mall to be babysat or the subway or private businesses to ruin. I’ve never seen so much “hanging out” until i moved to NYC. I swear i remember having so much damn homework there was no time to socialize in the streets.
Parenting skills today suck royally. If you can call it parenting.
Lots of stores in that mall cater to teens. Pink, Bath & Bodyworks and Mandee will be lost without them. My daughter goes there with friends after dance class at Mark Morris. They go to starbucks and then goof off around the bras and thongs in Victoria’s Secret – embarrasses the hell out my daughter – but they also buy stuff there and other places. Seems better security would make a whole lot more sense for everyone.
Teens can’t always work, do homework or extracurriculars. Good grief – they need to have someplace to go after they finish that stuff.
I could see banning kids under 18 without being accompanied by parent or guardian, but 21??? How can you be considered a minor at 18??? I could see not letting them in bars or restaurants that serve alcohol but telling a 19 year old college student that they need to have their mom with them to buy a snuggie at Target- thats a little over the top- That ban won’t last and banning 18-21 year olds doesn’t sound too Legal if you ask me- It’s age discrimination. An 18 year old can Legally live on their own- purchase tobacco- hold down a full time job- go to college- join the army and fight in wars but they can’t go to the mall without mommy???? INSANITY!!
“Here’s a thought – get a job”
A lot of teens have tried that actually, but these same businesses can’t (or won’t) hire them. That’s why teenage unemployment is at 26.9%.
I assume it is still okay for older loiterers at the mall to remain. Yet the latest example of a policy that does not make sense to be confined simply to younger people (same thing in terms of driving restrictions for teens). I don’t have a judgement one way or the other as to the sense (or nonsense) of this policy – just make it consistent across age groups.
quote:
here’s a thought – get a job.
but i guess as long it’s not in that mall :-/
*rob*
here’s a thought – get a job. i had 2 most of the time in high school. including commission only sales that were door to door and mcdonalds. ironically, i also taught classes at a small gym, and the mcdonalds job paid better. AND, oh yeah, had to go do chores for neighbors (for pay) whenever my mother or i could find that. and we weren’t hard up – dad was an attorney. it’s just that my parents would never allow this BS lazy behavior.
or, if there’s no work – go do some enrichment through school or elsewhere. music, art, study help, athletics, dance, anything. no reason for teens to be doing nothing in the afternoon. my little kid takes one to two classes after school everyday. sure these teens have the energy to do something productive.
yes, as a teen i did go to the mall, but not all the time, and only on weekends.
meanwhile, it’s good news for fort greene property owners for sure.