Seems like a bit of overkill to me

[Clipper]

www.wktv.com/news/sangertown-mall-to-enforce-age-restrictions-following-weekend-incident/article_f551648a-c6f9-11ee-bd1e-efaa85b62eb8.html

I would think that mall tenants would be objecting to such a radical approach to the problem. Some of the teens were probably there to legitimately shop and patronize the stores.

On the flip side, how long would it be before one of these teen disturbances ends with some punk pulling out a weapon turning a disturbance into a tragedy.

Even back in my high school days there were disturbances such as this at shopping centers, school athletic events and dances, or simply in the streets. I remember one case in the late 50s where UFA and Proctor gathered to "rumble" outside of a UFA dance, requiring a police response by city cops as well as calling in troopers to squelch it before it got started. I was at the dance with a UFA gal I dated at the time. It was a bit unnerving. It was precipitated by a previous fight over a girl at a Proctor dance when a UFA boy was dating a Proctor gal. Proctor showed up with a large crew and started a fight outside before the dance started that rapidly grew into a huge confrontation and fight. We skipped the dance and left the area, wondering if we would be able to safely walk her home to Lenox Ave. When we got to her house her dad actually drove me home to N. Utica so I wouldn't have to wait by myself for a bus. ( I was a Whitesboro student at the time)

If that were today I would not even consider walking from Kemble St. to Lenox Ave after dark.

[Ralph]

   I can see where thy are coming from barring them, but they will just go somewhere else.
My fear is that they will gravitate towards New Hartford's Walmart.  My old partner is an API there and she says they already deal with kids wandering there every night.  Just hoping it doesn't get worse.
   At North Utica Walmart we have our share of idiots that seemingly have nowhere else to go and nothing else to do besides create havoc.  They don't pay me enough to babysit, and I sure don't need anymore to join in.

[artsyone]

Clipper: you would not want to walk anywhere in Utica after 5 PM at any time. WE have shootings all over the city except upper East Utica, around the Pond Lane area, for instance; none so far in North Utica other than a stabbing there at the ( ahem) Colonial Motel 2 nights ago and none in Upper South Utica around Ridgewood for example. However, the rest of the city is open season for death and mayhem. In 2 months we had 2 shootings ( shots fired incidents) right in front of my building on Faxton St and one arrest. Last week at 8:30 PM some folks were shooting it out: 12 shots fired in my front yard. We have roving gangs of young black , Puerto Rican and Asian youth and 12 to 15 year olds running drugs for the major players. Two of these teens were murdered in the last month, shot in the head execution style. Several months ago somebody was murdered on Varick Street and the next day the place was torched: Roger's Coffee Shop went up in flames, no longer Roger's but owned by a Puerto Rican who was into God knows what. Those kids at the mall were not shopping... this is a problem that has been brewing for a while and the mall expected it. The curfew was the contingency plan, all set to go when needed. I hate the mall and so I never go there and I really have no plans to ever do so. I am glad they did this. These kids need a good swift slap in the chops. It would only have been a short time before rival gangs would be up there battling it out with guns. I for one hope this goes on forever.

[artsyone]

I was a tough girl in HS, I ran with a bad crowd, got into plenty of trouble shoplifting mohair sweaters at State St. Mill and reselling them, among other things too numerous and disgusting to mention, but ...Guns?? We never knew anybody who had a gun and if we had one we wouldn't have known what to do with it... we fought it out amongst ourselves with brass knuckles, shoe razors, belts, whatever we could get our grimey little Irish hands on, but guns....?

[BHU]

Feb 12, 2024 19:58:25 GMT -5 artsyone said:

Clipper: you would not want to walk anywhere in Utica after 5 PM at any time. WE have shootings all over the city except upper East Utica, around the Pond Lane area, for instance; none so far in North Utica other than a stabbing there at the ( ahem) Colonial Motel 2 nights ago and none in Upper South Utica around Ridgewood for example. However, the rest of the city is open season for death and mayhem. In 2 months we had 2 shootings ( shots fired incidents) right in front of my building on Faxton St and one arrest. Last week at 8:30 PM some folks were shooting it out: 12 shots fired in my front yard. We have roving gangs of young black , Puerto Rican and Asian youth and 12 to 15 year olds running drugs for the major players. Two of these teens were murdered in the last month, shot in the head execution style. Several months ago somebody was murdered on Varick Street and the next day the place was torched: Roger's Coffee Shop went up in flames, no longer Roger's but owned by a Puerto Rican who was into God knows what. Those kids at the mall were not shopping... this is a problem that has been brewing for a while and the mall expected it. The curfew was the contingency plan, all set to go when needed. I hate the mall and so I never go there and I really have no plans to ever do so. I am glad they did this. These kids need a good swift slap in the chops. It would only have been a short time before rival gangs would be up there battling it out with guns. I for one hope this goes on forever.

The only time I set foot in East Utica is to go to the Italian bakery on Culver Ave. That's it. The place is a war zone with garbage strewn about, boarded up buildings & others in disrepair, drug dealers lurking about, thugs looking for trouble, you get the picture. When I go into the bakery, I lock my car. I feel bad for longtime residents because the city has abandonded that part of the city in favor of sections like Varick St, which is also turning into a hellhole due to the gangbangers who have taken over half the city. Back in the day, you could leave your doors unlocked all night in E. Utica without worry. Now, if you go outside after sunset your safety & probably your life is in danger. 

This didn't happen overnight & actually started when LaPolla was mayor who never lifted a finger for East Utica even though he was brought up there. I saw the handwriting on the wall as far as the east side is concerned 20 years ago. We got the hell out & bought a house in N. Utica.

[chris]

The Greece Mall did that here several months ago. Fights, stabbings, shootings. All young punks. Car jackings too. Last time I was in Utica I drove by my old neighborhood. (900 block Elizabeth ). I could not believe the drive all the way down Bleecker St. thought it looked like a war zone then. What you describe there sounds like the city here. Everyday wake up to the news of stabbings, shootings. I think this is the same in every city in todays world. And now parades.

[Atticus Pizzaballa]

And Februaries break starts on Monday and no school for a week. Glad I left Utica especially Bleecker St. We had punks on bikes who try to run a elderly pedestrians as they pass them by almost got hit several times. It is a game they play.

[Clipper]

Knock on wood. We haven't had any mass shootings around here. Nashville of course had the school shooting. Any shootings that happen here seem to be either domestic or drug related. We had a deputy killed several years ago now while doing a welfare check. Other than a few random incidents, we only have to defend ourselves against home invaders, car jackers, and wacked out meth heads wanting to rob someone. We have gangs but we seldom hear anything about them or their crimes other than when a dealer is busted.

It has become a violent world. Inner cities are crime riddled and dangerous if a person has to go out at night.