Youth at forum see lack of activities for young people

Open Doors Academy, a nonprofit out-of-school-hours program for local youth, hosted a community forum on July 14, at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church. The forum, moderated by Open Doors’ executive director Annemarie Grassi, provided an opportunity for young people to express their views on Cleveland Heights’s new curfew policy and the incidents leading up to its enactment. The curfew, which has generated some controversy, restricts the presence of minors in the Coventry and Cedar Lee commercial districts after 6 p.m.

For the first hour or so, only those under the age of 21 were permitted to speak. "For the last few weeks, we’ve been talking about problems, but not solutions. Tonight is your chance to give us some ideas so we can move forward," Grassi said as she addressed the 30 or so youth in attendance. In response to her questions, the young people expressed varying points of view, including that too many kids in one place would often lead to trouble and that Coventry, a "big scene," has always attracted young people.

Courtney, age 20, called Coventry a huge party area, where kids see adults "getting away with lots of stuff," and suggested that maybe the city direct its enforcement efforts at college kids first.

A recurring theme in the participants’ comments was that, in general, there is not enough for teenagers to do, especially close to home. Coventry is attractive because it has a park and numerous food offerings and it is a neutral and safe place to hang out and meet new people.

Some teens have lived in the area most of their life and have been going to Coventry for years. Others talked about how there used to be youth nights at the Cleveland Heights Community Center, which was a "way a lot of teens came together—play pool, karaoke, games, etcetera." One teen suggested that "if there were a spot where we could chill, kick it back and relax, that could solve lots of problems."

Another participant, who stated that some people don’t know how to settle their differences without fighting, suggested that making Coventry and Cedar Lee off limits would cause the gatherings of young people to migrate to other places, such as Cain Park. Another youth thought that "making another park—a little bigger—where everyone will be split up and won’t be too crowded, and then have some police walking around" would help."

Forum participants talked at length about their dealings with police and how better youth-police relationships could address some of the problems. Some reported being intimidated by the police, even though they were not causing any trouble. One participant suggested police officers on bicycles would be a less threatening way for police to move around the neighborhoods.

Another said that "to actually have a relationship with the police, put them in the schools so kids can get next to them and learn how their jobs work and open up discussions."

Another theme that arose during the young people’s remarks was the scale of the problem—something beyond the scope of just Cleveland Heights. Black kids won’t listen to white kids, according to the view of one speaker; another said that if kids confronted other kids on their behavior it might cause the problem to escalate.

A few participants suggested that parents needed to be more engaged, and noted that some parents think they know their kids, but actually don’t.

Toward the end of the forum, adults were given the chance to pose questions to the young people at the front of the room. Judi Miles talked about teens’ ability to influence one another, and another adult asked the young people if they thought a citywide arts ensemble would be helpful and asked if they’d participate. Most indicated they would.

A question about the responsibilities of faith communities brought mixed responses, with one respondent noted that religion is a sensitive issue with some kids and another stated that churches could do something if they wanted to, but shouldn’t be expected to. Another adult suggested that "peace education can start in the schools and trickle up," validating one teen’s suggestion to create a peace corps.

When asked if the new curfew was a "Jim Crow law" that should be repealed immediately, most of the young people who responded said they didn’t think it should be repealed right away. Though the curfew was not seen as racially biased, one person saw the police practice of banging their nightsticks on the ground as having a tinge of Jim Crow.

At the end of the forum, Grassi told the teens that she was committed to working with them to "figure out what they need to be successful adults, work on building teen/police relationships and find ways to support youth coming together so they can be agents of change."