Somerville Theatre bans (young) kids from entering after 6 pm. Let's discuss it here

[ron_newman]

This week's Somerville News has an article about the Somerville Theatre's policy of banning children under 12 8* from entering the theatre after 6 pm, even if they are accompanied by adults.

Is the theatre's policy a service to its customers who want a peaceful movie experience, or is it unfair discrimination against families with young children?

I'm posting this because we can have a more civilized discussion here than on the Somerville News blog comments. Ian Judge, the theatre's manager, reads this community, so we may be able to provide useful feedback to him here.

* Edited 11:55 am to add: I have a serious factual issue with this article. It says the policy applies to children under 12, but the theatre's website and exterior signs say it's for children under 8. That's a significant difference -- maybe significant enough to change people's opinions.

Second edit, 3 pm: Ian Judge has clarified that the theatre's policy is to exclude children under 8, not 12, from entering after 6 pm. He had made an erroneous statement to the News reporter which very unfortunately made it into the published article. Also, here is Ian's response to the specific incident detailed in the News article.

Comments

Re: NIMBY

[qwrrty.livejournal.com]

What you see as objecting to something that doesn't directly benefit them, I see as them objecting to something that only benefits a small few - skaters.

Without getting into the details of whether a skate park is appropriate here, or at all, the same reasoning could be used to object to building space for basketball courts (only benefits basketball players), bike racks (only benefits cyclists), playgrounds (only parents of small children), or many other amenities that appeal mainly to a minority subset of the population. But I contend that basketball courts, bike racks, and playgrounds are all good things for an urban environment to have, by encouraging healthy modes of outdoor social interaction.

So while a skate park may not be a good idea, I think there needs to be a better reason than "it only benefits skaters". Heck, if it gets skaters off of the front steps of City Hall and other plazas where people are trying to walk, it already benefits a lot more folks than just skaters.