The Virginian-Pilot
©
The movie "Minority Report" posited an intriguing notion: By peering into the future, law enforcement officials could arrest criminals before they murdered someone. The 2002 flick, starring Tom Cruise, touched on themes of justice, safety - and possible police error.
The people who run the MacArthur Center in downtown Norfolk took several pages of that script and applied them to mall security.
Jim Wofford, MacArthur's general manager, and lots of customers favor the year-old ban on youths under age 18 from shopping after 5 p.m. unless they're with someone at least 21. He has said previously that no specific incident led to the policy.
Wofford repeated that remark this week.
"The policy was all about safety," he told me Wednesday. "Prior to the introduction, we'd seen a significant number of youths in the center on weeknights and weekends without adult supervision."
So the mall instituted a policy that removed potential young shoppers, during a recession, even though no incident had occurred?
That's hard to believe.
You'd think there would've been tons of problems - possibly unreported - that had spurred the policy. The mall, owned by Taubman Centers Inc., is private property and has its own security.
Of Taubman's 21 shopping centers, only three, including MacArthur, have the ban. No other local mall follows it.
Statistics indicate MacArthur is doing worse financially since the ban was instituted. More on that later.
For decades, teens have hung out at malls and shopping centers. Boys flirt with girls, and vice versa.
Some eat. Some, believe it or not, buy clothes, sneakers, electronics.
Do adults push off to malls some of their parenting duty? Sometimes. Has this generally been a problem? No. Is going there sort of a rite of passage? Yes.
I'm sure that groups of teenagers hanging out can frighten adults. But come on - this isn't fair; they haven't broken any laws or harassed anyone.
And economically, the policy could be hurting stores in the mall, especially those that cater to young adults.
Wofford says mall sales are up in 2010 compared with 2009, though he wouldn't release specific figures.
However, Norfolk's Commissioner of the Revenue office showed a drop-off. For the fiscal year ending June 30, 2009, total sales at the mall were $271 million; for the year ending June 30, 2010, they were $247 million. Tax revenue for the city is off by roughly $500,000 from one year to the next. The age ban started in October 2009.
It is likely the slumping economy played a role in the statistics. However, the downturn had
already started in the 2008-09 fiscal year. The cause-and-effect obviously can be debated.
Some teens continue to shun the mall at any time. They include Quint Guvernator, now 15, who organized a Facebook group against the policy.
"I still haven't gone back there," he told me this week. The Norfolk teen now travels to Lynnhaven or Greenbrier malls.
Let me gaze into the future:
I predict MacArthur has angered a group of people who -
in their prime shopping years with much more disposable income - won't come back.
Roger Chesley, (757) 446-2329, roger.chesley@pilotonline.com
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Teens and Malls Spell Trouble
It's easy for those who visited MacAuthur Mall at night to forget how the mall was covered with gangs of teens gathering all over. They forget about the language coming from these teens and their lack of respect and manners and they forget about the robberies at night in the parking lot. Is a mall really a place for teens to hang out? Maybe these teens should be home doing their homework, or involved in something with a little more activity than hanging out. My guess is most parents don't even know where their kids are or even care. Since when do we cater to teens, are we the adults here. As far as the economy it has been bad for everyone (except for those working for the city of Norfolk) and keep in mind that this mall is the only mall that charges for parking. If I need to go to Dillards, I will choose a mall with free parking. If I need to go to Nordstroms, well I can't afford this store so forget it! For malls giving in to teenagers, checkout what happened to Military Circle, Tower Mall, and what's happening with Lynnhaven Mall. Lynnhaven Mall has more security that vendors. Not places I care to shop at.
Kids need public forums
Kids need places like a mall as an outlet to explore their freedom as they go through the stages of adolescense to adulthood. Besides, what does it hurt? If mall security does their job, the gang-like activites or other threatening gestures/behaviors should be snubbed as quickly as possible.
While I was coming up at that age, the mall was crucial as a social development tool and a great place to see and be seen. As well as providing opportunities to shop and eat. And for those who have gang-like activities or other miscreant activities in mind, being roughly 6'2" and 245 pounds of mostly muscle always helps. Additionally, never show your fear of them!
Ever heard of the ACLU
As soon as the security takes little Johnny to the side and tells him to break it up, the mall will be slapped with a law suit and the ACLU will be paying for their lawyers. He was stereotyped, they called him to the side because his pants were down to his knees, the security in the mall is racist, biased, and unfair. Yeah, I can see where security has the ability to babysit your children. Take responsibility and let the kids find their freedom on a basketball court or in a band - not the mall.
I don't go to Lynnhaven because of the mall rats
Lynnhaven is pretty bad at night with the mall rats roaming around, I definitely prefer MacArthur for nighttime shopping - it's much quieter. If I do go to Lynnhaven, it's during the day, and if you do go at night, steer clear from the food court area unless you like loud kids sitting at nearly every table taking up space. Rarely do I see any of them carrying shopping bags - they're just there to hang out.
I agree with you. Not that
I agree with you. Not that my demographic data matters, but I am in my early 20's and am not far removed from hanging out at malls with my friends. However, the type of "hanging-out" has seemed to change and I definitely agree that Lynnhaven has changed considerably.
malls
I have only been to MacArthur Mall once, during the early morning hours so I never saw the problems some describe. I do have more experience with Military Circle Mall, and I imagine it's the same as the problems at MacArthur. I no longer go to Military Circle Mall, PERIOD, day or night. I have seen the boorish behavior, heard the foul language. It didn't bother me, but I noticed families with small children and and there was simply no respect. I betting management at Military Circle is wishing they implemented this policy before their mall went down the toilet.
Have seen it....
I work in downtown Norfolk, and frequent MacArthur Mall. I'm also a parent of two teenagers. I have been in the mall during the day and in the evenings. I've seen first hand the groups of teenagers just hanging out in the mall for no real reason. Hanging out isn't the problem, it's the excessive foul language, trying to intimidate shoppers. Like surrounding a mother with two young children and making inappropriately sexual comments about the mother. Making suggestive comments to and about teenage girls as they pass by or when following them, which other shoppers and possibly their children overhear. Getting overly loud, and at times horsing around. Unfortunately I've witnessed many a instance where these groups of teens were purposely trying to be disruptive to other shoppers. I even quit shopping after work because it was getting so bad. Since the band I feel free to take my time after work and shop without worry. I have no problem with teens hanging out as long as they leave other shoppers alone. IMO, the ban has helped to make the mall feel safer to shoppers. And bottom line, the mall and it's stores are in business to make money, and need the paying customers. I fo
Behavior is unacceptable
The behavior you describe is unacceptable, but if the security force (wimps?) were doing their jobs, those creatures would be ousted, banned, and possibly arrested. The cowardly way out was to ban all teens. Were I manager of the mall, I would demand that security enforce mall policies and rules and get rid of those who do not comply, rather than ban all.
My visits to MacArthur have been a mere sliver of what visits had been made before the ban, and I have no children.
The manager is obviously unable to handle the security aspects of operating a mall, and that frightens me and keeps me away.
Security can't be
Security can't be everywhere. I agree with the ban and I don't think it's necessary due to poor security. I'm sure they work hard - I see them all over the mall, but there's only so much they can do.
harrassment
I disagree with this columnists comment that they have yet to harrass. The only problem, it is very hard to ask someone to leave the mall because they are walking so close and hovering over other shoppers trying to intimidate them to leave "their" area. Yes, you can ask them to leave due to their loud foul language,creating more loud foul language while they argue it wasn't them, but the cries of "I didn't do nuthin!" and discrimination make it impossible to remove the large groups walking around intimidating the shoppers, Unfortunetly, this is why they had to ban all. If it were possible to just ask the trouble makers to leave, that is the option they would have went with.