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

[pierceheart.livejournal.com]

So, what if you were a parent of, say, an infant, and trying to get the child to sleep - and you live next to Lexington Park, where the backboard on the basketball court go BONG loudly enough to be heard two blocks away, and it happens every night at 9:30?

[qwrrty.livejournal.com]

Speaking as the parent of two former infants, I think I'd prefer it to having the kids drinking, smoking, and disturbing the peace with loud arguments right outside my window, as you say.

[pierceheart.livejournal.com]

Well, that stuff is happening at Lexington Park, too.

I was just commenting on the legal uses of it that could likely disturb the people living next door.

I'm originally from a place where most parks were "Closed after dark".

Heck, there are places within five miles of somerville that have those restrictions on some, maybe all, of their parks - Malden, for one.

[wallacestreet.livejournal.com]

Well maybe Malden is a better place to live for you. Only you can balance the pros and cons of living near the park.

[pierceheart.livejournal.com]

Ah, I see - another case of "if you don't like it, don't live here".

[nuns.livejournal.com]

What am I missing? Unless the park went up after someone moved in, they made a decision to move next to a park that is open till 10. How is the "if you don't like it, don't live here" argument not appropriate?

I don't mean this to be hostile -- I really want to understand.

[pierceheart.livejournal.com]

Lexington Park being open until 10pm is not the only issue with Lexington Park; however, the being open to 10pm seems to have encouraged an extremely regular amount of public underage drinking and haranguing (if not assaulting) of people on the bike path.

So, while the wonderful angels who just go their to play hoops aren't a problem, can you honestly tell me that 10pm isn't encouraging idiots to stay until 10:05, then 10:30, then start complaining "we ain't got no place to go, we're just kids" all the while hiding the booze they were drinking ...

[sonofabish.livejournal.com]

Bwahahahahahahaha...... Dude, this is funny shit- kinda like the old Richard Pryor skit about 11 o'clock.

Why not just have the wee nippers under 24/7 lock-down except to go to school? That would solve all the problems. Or better yet, officially turn Somerville into a child-free community, like some of those places in Florida? Think of the tax savings- no more schools, no more playground to maintain, and except for the drunks puking at 1:30 in the morning, blissful silence.

[pierceheart.livejournal.com]

Good idea, why didn't I think of that?

It's not like there's ever crime associated with that stretch of the path at all.

[sonofabish.livejournal.com]

Right! Let's go German on this and broadly condemn everyone under the age of 20 for the actions of a few. Keep going here- I'm intrigued how far down the rabbit hole goes.

[pierceheart.livejournal.com]

Why don't we all get back to being rational about this and recognize that what's needed is better enforcement and monitoring of the activities at the various parks and playgrounds where there have been noise complaints, alcohol complaints, and muggings.

[sonofabish.livejournal.com]

Thank you for a sane comment. The answer is precisely that- better monitoring. But banning kids or shutting down parks is not the answer. If anything, kids need more places to go, not less, and suggesting that by 9pm little Snowflake should be tucked into bed reading their Bible, as some people have suggested in so many words, is totally unrealistic and frankly, pretty ignorant.

[pierceheart.livejournal.com]

After last weeks assault issue, I do feel that some of the groups who have been at the lexington park courts in and around 10pm are directly and indirectly related to the thugs feeling like they can get away with harassing and even assaulting people on the path.

The kids playing hoops there, not so much.
their friends who come along, and start trash talking each other, and then they start doing that to the people on the path, maybe.
The ones who see that no one does anything about them being loud there at 11:30, and decide, fuck it, I'm bringing some brews, too.

Yes, arguing that the kids who are just playing hoops at 9:59 are the problem is a fucking stupid slippery slope, but the slippery slope also happens to apply to problems, not just arguments.

The original article has these paragraphs, which need to be highlighted in light of Ian Judge's complaints about the Anderson children:

But Anderson and other parents say the theatre policy is symptomatic of a troubling trend against youth in Somerville. She cited the city's inability to make a skate park due to community efforts against the idea. Robbie Anderson said he and his friends are sometimes kicked out of playgrounds by police before the park curfew begins. Renee Anderson believes this is due to adults calling the police when they see a gathering of kids at the park.

“What do they want them to do? They can't go to the parks. They can't go to the movies. They're leaving them with no options,” she said. “You would think people would want something better for the kids.”

Yeah, Renee Anderson and her children would like you to believe it's about the City and the community not liking ANY children, when what it seems like to me, is the city and the community not liking children who can't abide by rules.

The city HASN'T banned the kids from going to the parks - her kids were kicked out, as far as we can tell, once from a park, before curfew on that site.

[ron_newman]

Whereas the first time I ever saw a sign saying that a park was closed after a certain hour, my reaction was "how can a park be closed? There's no fence around it." That's still pretty much how I feel, even decades later.

[wallacestreet.livejournal.com]

As the parent of a couple of former infants who lives in a particularly noisy spot (LOTS and LOTS of rowdy and loud foot traffic from Davis to Tufts, especially when the bars close) I'd say yes, I'd prefer that people were quiet after say 7:30 pm so my kids could sleep. Oh, except nights when I have a baby sitter and want to go out. Then I want some of the street life which makes Davis Square so much fun, but only when I can make use of it. Seriously, we chose where to live and enjoy being in the heart of Davis Square, so we deal with the noise or, after 10, call the cops. If you don't like living near Lexington Park, don't, but you can't live near the park and expect it to be quiet at 9:30.

[pierceheart.livejournal.com]

If you don't like living near Lexington Park, don't

I don't anymore. I moved.

But just because it no longer affects me, doesn't mean it affects no one.

There are places one expects to be rowdy - the main thoroughfare between Davis and Tufts is one, but a side street in a residential neighborhood, not so much.

[wallacestreet.livejournal.com]

Sorry, but the "main thoroughfare" between Davis and Tufts is a very residential street, we're not talking College Ave. here. They walk from the square, down Wallace St., across Broadway, and down Leonard. It's shorter than going through Powderhouse but totally 100% residential. By the way, a park is one of those places I wouldn't expect to be quiet before its closing time.

Aha, you no longer live near the park. May I suggest that those who do live there do so by choice and have found something attractive about the neighborhood to counterbalance the noise.

I only suggested Malden because you seem to admire its park policies so much. If you don't like an activity that is legal and city sanctioned (i.e. playing basketball in the park at 9:45pm), you have essentially two choices. The first is to move away from the problem. The second is to rally community support to change the rules. Sometimes the latter is the right way to go, and sometimes the former. If trying to change the policy, the immediate neighbors' concerns certainly ought to be taken into consideration, but not so much more than the rest of the community. As Matt points out somewhere here, Somerville is small and the parks few in number so their usability affects us all.

[two-stabs.livejournal.com]

That's called living in a community. Go put up some foam on the backboard, close the window, or gently move the infant during the odd hour of basketball.