Water Tower Place Bans Unsupervised Teens
Chicago's downtown mall, Water Tower, made the decision on January 4, 2019, that they would not allow anyone between the ages of 10-17 to enter the building unsupervised between the hours of 4 pm and 9 pm. “Recent events involving large numbers of juveniles engaged in criminal behavior downtown have been organized and planned on social media,” 2nd Ward Alderman Brian Hopkins wrote in an email to the Sun-Times. This policy was implemented after an incident involving 60 teenagers that were causing trouble downtown near Michigan and Chicago Avenue.
There are two sides to this policy, and some teens are mad about the problems while some older people are excited to be able to shop without the distraction of loud teens.
13-year-old Isabella told her side of the story. “I was at the store with my friends for a birthday party, and 4 o'clock passed while we were still in the store and a couple of security guards asked if we were over 18. We said no and he told us to follow him outside because we weren't allowed in the store. I found this to be very unfair because it was pretty clear that we were not causing trouble so why should we get kicked out? I also thought it was ironic because if the reason they stopped us from being there was because of teens that were outside then why would they kick a group of young girls into the street without supervision which was the problem to start with? ”
These are the kind of things that seem ridiculous to most, kicking a group of 13-year-old girls out of a store into the streets of Chicago. But some are more supportive of the policy. In contrast 57-year-old Ana told her side of the story, “I am typically at the Water Tower once a week after church, and I used to hate when the teens would always run around making noise and causing trouble. I have been happy with the change because more people will be safe and the mall will be more peaceful. I also find myself at the Water Tower more often since I feel safer and more at peace there. Even though I feel safer I still think the policy should be less strict because there are plenty of good teenagers out there but it should be to the guards’ discretion.”
There is a large gap between people's thoughts on the issue but one thing stands out is all the teens seem to think its wrong and many of the adults think it can be unfair. The public is leaning in the direction of allowing teens. One victim people may not have even thought about is the stores themselves. With the addition of this policy, companies may lose business from the teen population and therefore revenue. The Lego store told us “We have seen a drop in numbers since the ban”. This proves that not only has the Water Tower seen a loss in the number of teens showing up, it also affects how much the stores themselves are able to sell. When considering the story as a whole you have to wonder, was banning teens really worth it?
DS
