Today's editorial on the dropping of the River Park curfew should embolden Valley teens to fight for the right to have their concerns on the table when this city makes plans. Read the editorial by clicking here.
If outspoken young people like Kelsy Castillo and Nora Walker hadn't spoken up from the very beginning, organized a protest, put out flyers urging a boycott, you can bet your Jamba Juice Caribbean Passion that Valley teenagers headed for River Park would be required to take a babysitter with them on on their weekend dates. It's happening to teens all over the country and there is no reason to think we'd be any different. But we are! I haven't read any story yet that tells our story -- that the teens were able to work with adults and reverse a mall-curfew effort.
Good for all of them. There are, of course, plenty of adults who showed grace, patience and wisdom. Ed Kashian, who owns Lance-Kashian, the River Park management company, saw this idea was going south early on. The easiest thing would have been for him to tell his team to show the kids who's boss here, tend to the many more grandiose business interests that interest him and dismiss the kids' concerns. To his credit, he had the wisdom and courage to step forward, admit mistakes, stop the process in its tracks and get things going in a right direction. If he would have been an outside owner, teens would already be headed elsewhere to shop by now. But by virtue of his position as a community elder, in addition to being a real estate investor, he used his power and expertise to approach this issue from the high road. I'm impressed.
The Rios Company, a public relations firm hired by Kashian to handle the process, turned in a textbook performance in calming down the divisiveness, giving respect to all sides and bringing people together to arrive at a consensus. Fresno City Council President Henry T. Perea also realized the public policy opportunities in the controversy and headed the task force. It helps that he's the youngest member of the council, and I'm sure that helped the city to connect with the teens.
Now, it's in the teens' court. They should not take this victory for granted and respect the code of conduct. For those of you who hang out there regularly, check in on the blog and let us know how it's going.
Thank Goodness something important has been accomplished in Fresno. Henry T.Perea has shown he can get things done and is now ready to run the city.To ensure that teens behave the "Code of Conduct" sign will be moved to a more prominent place.It better be a talking sign as test scores show Johnny and Jane can't read.It'll also need to be in a dozen languages.
Good job Nora for speaking out for the teens. I hope that they will abide by the rules but as in every group regardless of age, race or anything there will be at least one to screw things up. I hope not and I think the majority can read the question is will they.