Newark teens and their parents constantly point out there's almost nowhere local to hang out, play, or socialize safely after dark. Should the village invest heavily in youth facilities, or is keeping kids busy primarily a family responsibility?
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Add your commentanyone wanna actually show up to the village board meeting and say this stuff to the trustees instead of just posting? asking for a friend. (the friend is me. i'll be there tuesday. bring snacks.)
Born and raised in Newark, class of 2009. We had basically nothing then and we have basically nothing now. The bowling alley closed, the teen center closed, and somehow we're still having this same conversation 15 years later. At what point does 'parenting problem' become code for 'we don't want to spend money on other people's kids'? Because that's what it sounds like to me.
My daughter is 16 and she and her friends basically just drive around or sit in someone's driveway because there is nowhere else to go. Is that MY failure as a parent? I coach her soccer team, I drive her everywhere, I stay up waiting for her every single night. Tell me what more I'm supposed to do. This community owes these kids something.
Both. It's both. Why does everything have to be one or the other? Yes the village should invest in a proper rec center or at minimum extend library hours and fund evening programming. AND yes parents should be engaged. These are not mutually exclusive positions. The either/or framing of this debate is why nothing ever gets done.
ok so genuine question for people who think this is purely a parenting issue — what exactly do you want parents to DO? drive kids 40 minutes to Geneva every single weekend? some of us work two jobs. not everyone has a minivan and a flexible schedule. the geography of this village is part of the problem too.
Moved here from Rochester two years ago and honestly the lack of stuff for teens shocked me. Back in the city my kids had rec centers, library programs, community leagues. Here it's like... the parking lot behind Tops? I'm not blaming local parents at ALL. You can be the most involved parent in the world and still not be able to manufacture a skate park out of thin air.
Actually Newark used to have a fully funded community youth center on Mason Street that ran all kinds of weekend programs well into the 1990s. It was defunded when the village budget got cut. So this isn't a new failure, it's a repeated one. Anyone saying this is purely a family issue is ignoring the history of deliberate disinvestment in youth programs here. Do the research before you comment.
Lol Mason Street youth center? I grew up literally two blocks from there and I have no memory of that being a thing. Pretty sure you're thinking of the church gym on Maple that shut down like 2001. Either way the point still stands I guess but let's not invent infrastructure we never had.
Hard disagree with the whole premise. My parents raised four kids in this town in the 80s and we stayed out of trouble just fine. We rode bikes, we helped with chores, we found things to do. The problem is screens have made kids think they need constant entertainment. Put the phone down. Problem solved.
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