Vast horde of teens apparently loitering around Southlake Town Square

momzilla says:

Actually, the idea of more adults mingling might work. Add some mellow jazz and there you go. What in the world is wrong with parents who drop off twelve year olds for mall security to babysit?

I don't know, though. Even 35 years ago when I was a teen, there had to be a hang out place. Ours was a bowling alley parking lot. I'd imagine our music was loud, but we weren't doing anything bad. No money, nothing to do, and just socializing in a well lit, safe public place. The police would pull up and chit chat with us in a friendly way, learned our names, etc. but didn't hassle us. But this fact, i.e. being known by the police, did tend to make the troublemakers find someplace else to hang out.

momzilla says:

Well, duh! We remember the kind of stuff we did. And cruising the parking lot was NOT the naughtiest thing by a long shot. Then again, it was harder to get arrested in the 70s than it is now.

jmingnj says:

Maybe they can build a wall around Southlake to keep out all the undesirable elements that people decide they don't want, after they decided to build facilities designed to attract people. Doesn't seem like the town has a very coherent game plan. I'm just saying.

inarchetype says:

Not sure I understand the problem. Because the town square is supposed to be empty? So put an officer or two down there to keep things from getting dangerously rowdy, and be grateful they're in the town square where there's a limit to the amount of mischief they can be getting up to.

I'd worry more about the those whose recreational whereabouts is less certain, frankly.

Goodness the neurotic suburbanites around here would be funny if it wasn't so sad. Ever grateful I grew up somewhere else!

rpm4565 says:

Good God, it's frightening to listen to the elitist comments here. What pray tell is so wrong about resident's who are respectful of others and who are polite in a public place being disappointed that disrespectful people (parents, teens, children) can selfishly destroy the enjoyment of a public area for others? If you are enjoying your own front yard on a pleasant summer evening and a car parks on the public street in front of your home and begins blaring music to disturb the surroundings, you are certainly going to take action and it's fair that you can and do. Why should disruptive behavior be any more tolerable when it moves to a place where more people are trying to enjoy otherwise pleasant surroundings? Certainly no legal difference in those cases. If you express disappointment about such selfishly disruptive behavior, you must be a narrow minded elitist, worthy of contempt? Or are you truly the elitist for being so quick to ridicule this simple concern of others about a few who enjoy disrupting life for the many? And for the record, I live in FW and have never been to this square. Just shocked at the arrogance of those who are so quick to elevate themselves to a superior position simply because you don't share the same concern or disappointment. Those are the truly small minds.

DC says:

I can't tell who is and isn't elitist around here any more.

chriss says:

Maybe we could just put everyone between the ages of 13 and 18 into concentration camps and release them when it's time for college/a job/the military.
If that proves successful, we could then move on to employing the same strategy on other inconvenient demographics, like the elderly.

Drew says:

Immediately jumping on 'neurotic suburbanites' gets irritating. People who live in the city limits think that every last person in a suburb fits this stereotype of uptight people who are afraid of 'real life', and the only true place to live is in a city. I don't read many comments of suburban dwellers making fun of Dallas residents, so ease up. Strange people with strange motives live everywhere.

rphinc says:

We need MORE safe places for kids to hang out.. Why not convert empty Eckerds stores and grocery stores into Teen Entertainment centers that are WELL managed and supervised. That might divert some of the traffic.. and money.

I agree... why not MINGLE.. These teens are our future leaders. Find out what they are thinking... maybe even influence a few.

chriss says:

Momzilla's onto something when she observes that it was a lot harder to get arrested in the '70s than it is now. What say we do something to reverse that, like stop treating every social issue as if it can be dealt with by having a bunch of criminal penalties piled onto it.