Cutting Down on Nonsense at the Mall
Wednesday, March 26th, 2003 at 4:13 pm · 20 views
Northwest Plaza is a fairly popular mall in North County St. Louis. Over the years, it has become very ghetto; i.e. Bebe kids, chicken heads and scrubs have taken over a mall that I once enjoyed shopping at. Tilt (arcade-gaming center) was my favorite hangout during middle school and some parts of high school. During recent years, I’ve somewhat grown out of Northwest Plaza. They still have some of my favorite stores: Lerner’s, Famous, Champs, Burlington Coat Factory and FuncoLand, among others.. but the atmosphere has changed dramatically and for the worse. Especially on Friday and Saturday nights, you can’t move through the walkways without bumping into some heathens giving you an evil eye like YOU did something wrong or the constant and disgusting views of wannabe thugs saggin their pants. That is sooooo 1994 (note, I didn’t even like the style when it was IN STYLE), get a fucking belt please.
So I come to my point of this entry. While reading my local news online, I came across this article from the St. Louis Post Dispatch:
Youths will need escorts soon at Northwest Plaza
By Jack Komperda Post-Dispatch
updated: 03/26/2003 11:01 AM
Amy Kramer, 17, reads a note on the new policy that will start March 31st.
(Samuel Leone/P-D)
Bars check them. Convenience stores do, too. Now if you appear to be younger than 25 and plan on shopping at Northwest Plaza, plan on bringing some form of identification.
Starting Monday, teenagers 17 and younger must be accompanied by a parent or responsible adult after 6 p.m., and identification will be checked at the door.
Mall officials and police say the measure was established to restore a family atmosphere, as well as to curb teen loitering and occasional skirmishes.
“We’re not against having kids in the stores, but we want families here, not roving bands of juveniles,” said St. Ann Police Chief Bob Schrader.
For the first four to six weeks after the policy is instituted, mall security will be stationed at all entrances and instructed to check IDs of anyone who appears to be younger than 25, as an “educational process” meant to familiarize shoppers with the new rules, said mall general manager Bill King.
Truants caught in any common area will have the chance to leave – by car or public transportation – or will be held at the St. Ann police substation at the mall until a family member arrives.
My initial thought revolved around anger. How can they do this to us?! Wait, us? I’m not the one who
acts like my mama raised a fool, walking around with no damn sense. I encourage the future restrictions in the mall. Yes, initially it will seem quite inconvient to have to pull out my ID in order to prove that I am over 17, but it will cut down on a lot of nonsense at Northwest Plaza. The younger (and older) crowd whom I am speaking of brought these changes about themeselves. Blame no one but yourself. Instead of walking around the mall aimlessly with no money, your ass should have been home reading a book. Of course when I was younger, I hung out at the mall, but my mama taught me better than that; I knew how to act CIVILIZED.
