River Park: Countdown to stupidity
I returned from a few days off to learn of the latest draconian measure promulgated by the puffed-up people who run River Park, otherwise known as Fresno's substitute downtown. ("We're cleaner! We're safer! We're whiter!") If you haven't already heard, those younger than 18 will need a parent or guardian to simply walk around the shopping center after 6 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. Doesn't matter if some of these kids are dripping with more disposable income than a Clovis lawyer; they will be barred beginning Aug. 3 from waving their dollars at the surf store, Jamba Juice, pizza-by-the-slice emporium and other hang-out spots. (We're told that the movie theater is exempt, although how this will work is unclear.)
What's unsaid here, of course, is that it isn't the buying that bothers the adult powers that be. It's the congregating. God forbid if we see groups of five or more people who can't vote in a crowd, lurking about talking and laughing and engaging in all sorts of nefarious fraternization. From the way some folks react to a crowd of kids, you'd think we were this close in this culture to Bolshevik revolution. Strap on the bullet-proof vest and load up on the tear gas, Martha, we're going to have to fight our way to the store.
All this makes me think: Fresno, I told you so.
Years ago, when River Park was glistening new and beckoning to those who desired an open-air sense of community, I wrote a story that reminded people that there can be problems when you allow your public spaces to be privatized. I wrote:
Though the promenade is cleverly designed to look and act like a city street, it really isn't. It's a privately owned commercial enterprise. The most important thing, says Gary M. Gannon Jr. of Turner Security Systems, is to create a happy atmosphere for customers. Posted anti-loitering regulations are enforced.
Which is why you won't find transients. No political protesters. No one handing out leaflets. (Well, except for one group, but we'll get to that later.) And for most people we talk to, that's more than fine. Issues of public vs. private ownership -- of having the right, not the privilege, to gather at what some people consider the crossroads of the city -- aren't important.
I talked to a lot of people who hung out at River Park when I wrote that story, and the verdict was pretty much unanimous: It's great because it feels safe and comfortable.
But what happens when the owners decide to limit access?
We like to think of a shopping center as "ours," as something we can traipse to whenever we feel like it. But unlike a real downtown, say, with public streets and access, a private shopping center like River Park is only as inclusive as its owners want it to be.
When I wrote that story in 2001 I was mostly thinking along the lines of the threat to freedom of political expression and the right to public assembly. Ever been approached by a panhandler at River Park? No, you say, and that's one reason you love to go? Well, you've also never been approached by someone protesting the Iraq war or civil rights abuses or a City Council in the pocket of developers. That's because they aren't allowed at River Park.
(Yet is River Park really all that "private"? Didn't taxpayer dollars build the improved roads and infrastructure that made the shopping center possible in the first place?)
It never occurred to me that years later fuddy-duddy old folks would feel uncomfortable just by the thought of kids shopping. Is that ironic or what? We've raised generation after generation to become consumption machines. Then we say: But don't do it in big, clumpy, annoying groups. Kids supposedly don't spend as much money as older patrons -- although I can't quite believe that -- so the almighty dollar rules.
Here's what is unsaid about this new curfew at River Park: It will be selectively enforced. If you're dressed the right way and are the right color, I predict those security guards will look the other way. If you're brown or black and aren't wearing the right clothes, you'll be asked to leave.
How do I know? Because I've witnessed it first hand. When I wrote that story about River Park, I was told in no uncertain terms that passing out petitions or making political statements of any kind were forbidden. Yet the night I was there, a group of Clovis West kids from People's Church arrived and started passing out pamphlets urging people to find Jesus. They told me they liked coming to River Park because it was a great place to meet crowds. In fact, you could find them out there most every Friday and Saturday nights. The security guards had never bothered them.
Hmmmm. I wonder if "their kind" will get booted out under these new rules. Not likely? I didn't think so.
Comments:
You hit the nail right on the head. This thing will be selective.
Posted by: john at July 18, 2007 9:39 AM
The irony: if Jesus were hanging around with his buddies, they'd be asked to leave, but the Clovis West kids, passing out pamplets would be allowed to stay.
Posted by: YesterGoth at July 18, 2007 10:27 AM
"Draconian...puffed-up people...", "We're whiter", etc. Mr. Munro, why do you liberal reporters ALWAYS play the race card at every ill-sighted opportunity? So very sad.
Is it possible that business owners, no matter what their skin color is, have the right to ask the powers that be, again no matter their skin color, to help them ward off an obvious nuisance from their doorsteps? My family and I are tired of the 'teen scene' that is RiverPark on the weekend evenings. And I'm talking about ALL of the teens, white, black, brown, etc. It's NOT a racial thing, get it into your thick, liberal progressive skull. The 'Race-Card' is so old school! Let it go, please!
You stated yourself, in an earlier article on RiverPark, it's private property. What about the business owners rights? Journalists always focus on the supposed minorities rights, when did the rest of the country's rights cease to exist in favor of the alleged downtrodden?
How about focusing on junior/high school drop out rates. Or the decline of the CA/US's science, math and verbal scores compared to the rest of the world. Perhaps many of the kids loitering at RiverPark on the weekends need to be a little more focused on their futures and not so much on the here and now, self-centered, immediate gratification lives that they are leading. Just a thought.
Keep up the good work.
James
Posted by: James at July 20, 2007 1:25 PM
James, James, James, we're discussing teenagers and if you think that anything is going to change their "Here and now, self-centered, immediate gratification lives", I mourn for your lost teen years.
That is the nature of the beast that is the teen. It's actually a phase in a child's developement and in not recognizing it as so we, as adults, are creating more harm than not.
I see both sides of the issue when it comes to this. However, many young people have raised the question of what is there for them to do now? Where will they socialize? And since it's obvious you've fogotten what it is like to be a teen, I will remind you, it is very important for them to socialize.
On another note: I take it you're a middle aged, perhaps a tad younger, white man. And in being so you can pretend all you'd like that people don't see color or age or gender, but the truth is you do not see it because it is not an issue to YOU. You are not affected by such matters and because there are not blatent signs you can pretend they don't exist.
However, the truth is, it is an issue for many many other people. They live it, they struggle through it and in most cases they rise above it, but it is still there.
The problem is that in a circle of friends and co workers who are just as we are, we forget that there is a world out there full of people who are different and treated badly because they are so.
Mr. Munro has simply stepped out of the middle aged ( I'm sorry Mr. Munro) white male in America box and taken a good look around. And, perhaps, if more would do the same there would be less issues with fighting the petty River Park fights and more fixing of the real issue. River Park is a symptom of those issues. Mr. Munro is just smart enough to point it out.
( and off subject, but perhaps I should change my name to Groupie Munro! Truly, I'm kidding)
Posted by: C at July 20, 2007 3:12 PM
I'm always a little puzzled by the use of the word "family-friendly" in a discussion such as this. James says "my family and I are tired of the 'teen scene' that is RiverPark." Perhaps I'm making too many assumptions here, but what I picture in my mind when someone says that is a combination of parental units and a couple of small kids. Well, just what do you think those small kids will grow up into? BIG kids. They become us!!
It's no real surprise there is animosity between the older and younger generations in our culture; it's a very human trait. Older people are a little scared of the young, and a little envious, too, just because they represent lives with so many choices ahead of them. There's a long history of making things tough on the younger generation, including all the way up to shipping them off to war as cannon fodder. I find it interesting that some of the backlash against the latest "Harry Potter" film is that Harry seems too "grown-up" -- too old for the role. The kiddie magic stuff is past us and we're into Harry's teen-age angst, and who wants to relive that? Well, guess what, folks: Cute little 10-year-olds grow up into gangly, awkward teen-agers, and some of them are a little annoying. (We should all know because we've been there ourselves.) But they also grow up into fine, upstanding citizens who at the age of 17 should have the right to go to a movie with friends on Friday night and on to a burger at Johnny Rocket's afterward. To systematically discriminate against an entire class of society in terms of age just because of a perceived level of discomfort is not only hypocritical (since we're supposed to be a "free" society) but a little lazy. If River Park has problems with certain groups of teens, then let them deal with them on an individual (and thoroughly colorblind, I would hasten to demand) basis. But banning everyone from honor students to hardened criminals just seems thuglike.
And as for the "race card": If only it WERE "old school." I really do wish I could live in that universe. I've witnessed firsthand white kids being treated at River Park differently than brown ones. Not everyone would go so far as to say they're "talking about ALL of the teens, white, black, brown, etc." At least, James, you're consistent.
Posted by: Donald Munro at July 20, 2007 4:33 PM
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