2016+Beachwood+Mall

=Beachwood Mall Rule Changes- Fair or Not?=

As a result of the disturbances that happened involving teens at Beachwood Place over Winter Break, the Mall has instituted new rules about teenage access to the mall on weekend evenings. After 5pm on Friday and Saturday evenings, anyone under 17 must be accompanied by an adult in order to enter the mall.

What do you think? What is your perspective? What are other perspectives?

Here is the text of a Plain Dealer article from Thursday, January 5 2016 that sums things up so far. = = =Reaction mixed on teen mall rules = jcho@plaind .com

Beachwood —  Since Beachwood Place mall announced its chaperone policy, public reaction has ranged from relief to ridicule.

Some, like Greg Byrd, general manager and partner of the Asian Chao restaurant in the second-floor food court, praised the mall for addressing the issue. The policy requires that children ages 17 and under to be accompanied by a parent or adult chaperone after 5 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays starting Friday. It's going to be great overall, said Byrd who welcomes the prospect of more parents and more adult supervision.

Police were summoned to the mall on Dec. 26, after reports of a disturbance among hundreds of young people who had gathered there that night. Police dispersed the crowd, and the mall closed early that night, but reopened the next day.

With social media nowadays, that stuff can spread like wildfire, he said, referring to reports that teens were drawn to malls nationwide the day after Christmas by alerts from their friends.

<span class="Fid_12">Byrd said that when he left his restaurant on the afternoon of Dec. 26, the mall was already too full, and that some teenagers were saying inappropriate things in line while waiting for their food.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: justify;"><span class="Fid_12">He said he has been hearing from diners who aren't happy about all the swearing that their children are hearing from other young people.



<span style="font-family: Verdana,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: justify;"><span class="Fid_2">Neisha Vitello, senior general manager of Beachwood Place and La Place, said via email that The PGR program at Beachwood Place is being implemented to eliminate the threat of disruptive behavior that detracts from the family- friendly shopping environment.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: justify;"><span class="Fid_2">''The initial reaction from our merchants and shoppers has been extremely positive. We worked closely with our public safety team and Beachwood city officials to determine the need for this program. Beachwood Place has enjoyed and maintained a long reputation as a family-friendly environment, we feel strongly that the PGR [Parental Guidance Required] program will minimize the potential fordisruptive behavior.''

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: justify;"><span class="Fid_2">Beachwood Mall does not expect any impact on the number of teenage shoppers.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: justify;"><span class="Fid_2">We fully anticipate and welcome young people to continue shopping and experiencing Beachwood Place, Vitello said. As for those who may have jobs at the mall, Public safety officers will verify the employment of our underage employees.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: justify;"><span class="Fid_2">Tony Alexander, franchise owner and operator of Beachwood Mall's Chickfil- A, said: ''I can appreciate the mall taking steps to ensure the safety of our customers and employees. I support what the mall's trying to do to try to make things a little better for our shoppers. Time will tell if this will be a good system or not.''

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: justify;"><span class="Fid_2">But Ivy Burge, owner of Ellie-May's Gourmet Cookies,said she was there andthinks the Dec. 26 incident has been overblown. ''Kids are kids. It was the day after Christmas, and kids were out here spending their gift cards,'' she said. This isn't going to happen again.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: justify;"><span class="Fid_2">I just think they [mall security] weren't prepared, she said. They didn't stop a lot of teenagers from coming in, even though it was already over-capacity. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: justify;"><span class="Fid_2">Mario Shy, the 10-year owner/operator of Cellairis cell phone case and repair kiosk, agreed. ''At 3 or 4 o'clock, you could already tell there were just too many here. It was just a whole bunch of kids just hanging out,'' he said. I just think it's unfortunate.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: justify;"><span class="Fid_2">Shy said it's unfair to assume that just because teenagers are unsupervised, they must be up to something. There are some kids that are actually here shopping, he said. Just becausethey're young doesn't mean they don't have money.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: justify;"><span class="Fid_2">Shopper Karen Vitanza and Donna Vitantonio, both from Mayfield, said they were surprised that Beachwood Place didn't already have rules against unsupervised teenagers. I think they had one, but it just wasn't being enforced, Vitanza said. A lot of people just drop their kids off for the day.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: justify;"><span class="Fid_2">They said the mall should have stepped up security earlier that day. When you see that many kids walking in the door at the same time, that should have been a sign that something was up, Vitantonio said.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: justify;"><span class="Fid_2">But Vitanza wasn't sure how well the new policy would work in such an affluent community. They're 16, they have cars, and they want to go shopping, she said. They're not going with their parents.