NORFOLK
Hundreds of local teens now have to find a new safe place to hang out.
Waterside, which has hosted teen dances for the past few months, has suspended the events because of capacity problems. Waterside simply couldn't hold the number of people the events attracted.
The suspension is another blow for the troubled downtown entertainment center, which in the past year has seen several of its most popular adult nightclubs close and has struggled with drooping attendance, revenue losses and an identity crisis. It now shutters a popular event for teens that had security personnel on hand and was billed as a "safe, secure, non-alcoholic party."
The dances began as a way to counteract Waterside's growing emptiness.
Called Club 20/20, the events were aimed at local youths age 13 to 18 as part of the city's attempt to remake Waterside into a family-friendly public space. The monthly Friday-night dances were free and featured live music and a place for teens to socialize.
They grew much faster than anyone expected, according to Chris Wilson, a partner in Emagine Events, the party-planning company that organized the dances.
A September dance drew about 100, an October dance nearly 500 and November's event attracted more than 1,000 teens, who came out to dance to a DJ and see a live performance by local R&B singer Tisha Howard.
A video of the concert on Howard's MySpace site shows a packed and cheering crowd happily going along with exhortations to "put their hands up" and singing along to a chorus of "I love you."
"It was great. It was phenomenal," Wilson said. "And there were no problems whatsoever."
The only issue, police spokesman Chris Amos said, was crowding. Police were called in to help the large crowd disperse, he said.
"There weren't a lot of problems, just a lot of people," he said.
Members of Waterside Associates, a private company owned by the Norfolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority and the venue's landlord, helped make the decision to suspend the dances several weeks ago. A December dance planned for last week was not held.
"We want to take some time to evaluate the event to make sure it's actually providing a benefit to the community and the businesses in Waterside," said John Kownack, the housing authority's chief housing reinvention officer.
Officials with Festevents, the organization hired by Waterside Associates to plan events in the building, did not return calls for comment.
Wilson said she believed the suspension was simply a postponement as organizers figure out how to best handle the crowds.
"We really just have to go back to the drawing board," she said. "We have to revisit space and how we can accommodate this."
She added that the popularity spoke to the need to continue teen events.
"Everybody realizes the need," she said. "They're not cancel ing it. They're just figuring out how to continue to make it successful."
Meghan Hoyer, (757) 446-2293, meghan.hoyer@pilotonline.com
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NO TEEN EVENTS IN NORFOLK!
Sounds about right!! I'm actually surprised the City even allowed a teen event there at all, WOW.. We all know the Norfolk Bar Task Force (City of Norfolk) would have loved to end that. I bet they had their hand in this too!! SMART NORFOLK, don't offer no place for teens.. I'm sure they will be better off roaming the streets then in a controlled environment such as the Dances that were there..
What is your problem?
Again this is mis-management at its best. Waterside needs help to attract customers. You find something that is attracting customers. Customers mean money. Money means that it can start to attract more businesses to Waterside. This makes Waterside self sustaining. But instead of working with the situation and using all the minds of the Police department or Restaurants owner/managers in Waterside to get ideas on crowd control and customer management, you suspend the events. Hello, the restaurant owners/managers would probably help to manage the crowd to promote business. It is called over-flow crowd control. The people go into the restaurants and order sodas and appetizers to wait to get into an event. Then the restaurants make money. This is just one idea. I am sure they would think of others because they are in the business to make money.
What is wrong with you people? Do you want it to fail? I guess you do, or maybe you do not care. If these places close, more people will lose their jobs. Please wake up and make a plan or get somebody in there who knows what they are doing.
They find something that works
They find something that works so they have to close it down. That is the government attitude. Just think what it would have been like at Disney Land the first day if they had said. This place is too crowded. We need to close it down and do something else with the land.
In it's heyday when
In it's heyday when Waterside was the most crowded mall I had ever seen, it lost money, people were not willing to spend, I know I worked there at the time. Nothing has changed or will change as numerous attempts to draw revenue failed. It has nothing to do with the government, it is basically inexplicable, unless someone can come up with some Waterside curse story.
13 to 18?
13 is too young. Thats part of the problem with todays kids. Parents can't wait until they can dump the kids off somewhere like this. I wouldn't even dream of letting my 13 year old attend something like this. Not worried about him, worried about the other kids out there.
Teen Dances
Teen dances are a great idea and they should stay, however, this is like a double edged sword. I guarantee the first incident that occurs, whether it is serious or deadly, there will be complaints stating that the city should have done something to protect the kids more. No matter what is decided people are going to complain. Allow the kids to have their dances but make the parents sign waivers waiving their rights to legal action if something should happen while their child attends the dances. If anyone should be held accountable for the actions of these kids it should be their parents.
Why not turn Waterside into
Why not turn Waterside into an ice skating rink?
Any fighting, it becomes a hockey game.
Another thing:
Oh yeah, and you might want to pay a little attention to that light rail thingy...rumors are that the bill is a bit more than advertised...?!?
How about...
Good ideas here...charge a few dollars, hold the dance more frequently, consider the Scope as another venue. How about letting them spend their money at the Mall around the corner.
Then again....
How about Norfolk Leaders fix the entire Waterside problem?
Teenagers? Out for a good
Teenagers? Out for a good time? You have got to be kidding. If they continue doing this at waterside it won't be long before a fight breaks out and someone gets seriously hurt or killed. We don't need that downtown. How about parents taking responsibility for their own kids and quit counting on someone else taking care of them.
How many did you kill growing up?
Clearly you're right. Teenagers are just sleeper cell killers and have no place in America.
Adult supervision is necessary.
Not to smother the kids' good time, but for their own safety.
Unfortunately, for every ten kids that come to have a genuine good time, there will be a few who come for the express purpose of starting trouble.
They need to be spotted, escorted away, and KEPT AWAY so they don't return for revenge with the obligatory guns.
How many times have we seen that scenario?
Waterside crowding
Wake up Norfolk, The younger crowd needs a real place to go NOT ONCE A MONTH but every other Friday or saturday for being teenagers. Waterside needs to be an adult site with their own thing, SCOPE, SCOPE, SCOPE, with their controlled parking, Controlled access, Real food vendors, and bands, bands, 7:15 first set with a 1:00 closing time. Everyone gets a ticket that allows them to be out that late and moving towards home.
If the city council can give Wells Fargo at least 2.3 million dollars and allow the Tide to suck money from the few taxpayers left.
These young people are the next voting class , City leaders had better start looking over their shoulders because changes are coming.
I'm not a kid but 69 years old and our youth should be mad as hell.
Kids the power is in the ballot box. Merry Christmas
right is wrong
Seems to me that everytime something goes right in Norfolk, the city council shuts it down. When something goes wrong they back it 100%. We need more events more often like this. I say set up Waterside as a teen hangout. Open the clubs for teens only. Schedule local clean acts in hopes to further their careers. When we make positive influences to our children then our children react positively. Our city council seems to be hell bent on running our city into the ground. Just for thought, Paul Riddick would be out of busness if kids were not killing kids. His funeral home would go under. Carlos Howard would have to rely on people dieing of old age. Developers would have to be honest about their financing before construction starts. Of course this sounds too much like a city trying to succeed but the elders are trying to stop the fun. For the older crowd, remember the movie "FOOTLOOSE".
Hold them at Scope
I doubt you would have capacity problems at Scope. If it is correct that there have been no issues at the dances and it is simply a capacity issue I would think any idea that gets kids off the streets and into a positive environment would be beneficial.
scope is much to big
Scope is much to big to hold this type of juvenile dance. It would cost the city taxpayers a fortune for all the police to supervise. Waterside is fine, just limit the capacity.
Great ideas!
It's great to see possible solutions come forth on this site from commenters.
Sell low cost tickets (to partially recoup costs for security and DJ's and event organizers too), open up other areas of waterside, have them more often, and even maybe get other venues in different parts of the city. Maybe neighboring cities can take a hint that such events are needed.
Keep em coming!
Editor carelessness?
Who chose to run THAT picture on the front page of the Hampton Roads section above the caption, " ...drew increasingly larger crowds?"
ref to "oncemore"
What are you asking about the statement? He simply said there weren't any problems, just alot of PEOPLE. You know, as in humans....like you and I. I certainly hope you aren't tryin to go down "that road".
Norfolk NEEDS this
Norfolk needs to make this work. I agree with the earlier poster: hold the dances weekly. It should provide a good shot in the arm for the food vendors that are there too. Weekly would provide good entertainment for teens and a place to go once a week and thin out the crowd too. Brilliant ideas like this should be expanded, not cut back.