Posts about Youth

Crime against SYEP youth: The pay days for students participating in the Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP) are well-known around the community, which has led to youth being targeted for robbery outside of Metro stations like Deanwood and Minnesota Avenue.

In response to this problem, the students said they would like to see an increased police presence. They also noted that police have a tendency to clump together and talk to each other rather than fully patrol the stations, so the students suggested that police spread out to cover a larger area.

Subsidized fares: SYEP paychecks will be cut by $2 per hour this summer. Therefore, the students recommended having WMATA or the District subsidize transit fares for SYEP participants. At the very least, the presenters asked for subsidized fares during the first two weeks of the program while participants wait for their first paycheck.

Councilmembers Tommy Wells (ward 6) and Muriel Bowser (ward 4, the Council's representative on the WMATA Board) asked DDOT and WMATA about the cost of a subsidy and what its fiscal impact would be, noting that youth who go to summer school already get a similar transit subsidy.

Youth advisory council: After last year's summit, WMATA was interested in establishing a youth advisory council to discuss activity on buses. Unfortunately, there had not been follow-up from the local councilmember, Yvette Alexander, to move this forward. At this year's summit, WMATA reaffirmed their interest in a youth advisory council.

Aging in place: One resident noted that the very young and the very old have unique needs when it comes to transportation, and asked how WMATA can help residents age in place, and how it can better accommodate strollers on buses.

Deaf riders: Other participants said that Ward 7 has an increasing population of the hearing impaired and deaf, and that transit employees should be trained to both recognize deaf customers and help them use the system.

Pedestrian safety: Organizer Neha Bhatt discussed pedestrian safety concerns at Benning Road's intersections with Minnesota Avenue and East Capitol Street. She had organized a recent walking tour with Ward 3 councilmember Mary Cheh, chair of the committee overseeing transportation, to look at problem intersections.

Capital Bikeshare: WABA executive director Shane Farthing raised the idea of subsidizing bike sharing for residents east of the river, and suggested changing Capital Bikeshare rules to allow younger members. Currently, one must be at least 16 years old to use Capital Bikeshare.

There was also an open house where community members could find information from DDOT, WMATA, Capital Bikeshare, and WABA, as well as discuss ideas with representatives from these groups.

The summit's two-hour timeframe turned out to be somewhat too short, so presentations and discussion were rushed at the end. The organizers are hoping to reformat for next year to avoid this issue.

Overall, residents came away with a widespread belief that working to pick the low-hanging fruit is a smart way to move forward and begin to bring positive change to Ward 7.

What I found most striking was the drop in the county's young adult population. According to the Planning Department, Montgomery County has 15% fewer adults between the ages of 15 and 24 than we did in 2000. There are 17% fewer 25-to-34 year olds, along with 20% fewer 35-to-44 year olds.

The first two age groups belong to the Millennials (or Echo Boomers or Generation Y, whichever you prefer). As I've said before, we're now the largest generation in American history, due to being the kids of the Baby Boomers, America's previous largest generation. Yet their ranks in MoCo have swelled over the past 10 years, while my cohort has shrunk.

Why is this?

Some readers didn't agree with my post last June about my newlywed friends who grew up in Montgomery County, then moved elsewhere in the region. A lot of people didn't like my post last week about the difficulty of finding housing in MoCo for Millennials, which now has over 200 comments. But these are connected. Montgomery County is an expensive place to live, and some of us (like my friends) have found that neighboring communities have more jobs, cheaper housing, and more stuff to do.

This is a problem. Montgomery County thrived because of the Baby Boomers, who found life so good here that they never left. (A few of them, it seems, like it a little too much.) But if 30% of the county's population is over 65, as the Planning Department estimates will happen by 2030, we're not going to be able to manage. If we want the county to continue prospering, we have to draw young people.

"What" draws young people is pretty simple: Jobs, reasonably priced housing, short commutes, proximity to shopping and entertainment, and increasingly, neighborhoods where you can walk/bike/take transit instead of driving.

The "how" is more challenging. But we should start going after those solutions now rather than waiting until it's too late.

Whether because of its lefty residents or proximity to the District, Montgomery County has long had a DIY (Do-It-Yourself) culture, from Silver Spring's past as a skating mecca to our small punk scene. These things set our community apart, give us a common identity, and overall make this a much cooler place to live.

But no matter where you are in Montgomery County, kids can't do or make anything when they don't have places for to go and community leaders who are either disinterested or openly hostile towards their needs. The difficulty that the underage Black Sparks had in securing a venue for their shows is just one part of a bigger problem.

I was particularly drawn to quotes from Kevin Erickson, director of the All Ages Movement Project, a nationwide organization that encourages the creation of spaces where young people can make music. He certainly gets the connection between giving kids something to do and having a more interesting community:

"If a city is interested in making their community more livable and interesting and creatively vibrant for young people," says Erickson. "One thing they can do is get out of the way and eliminate some of the regulatory barriers that can hinder young people from participating in culture or running a space . . . Once we start to recognize young people's creative contributions, it can be a step toward treating them as humans in the rest of civic life."

The Corpse Fortress, a punk house in downtown Silver Spring that was condemned last summer.

That said, we could do more to promote DIY culture. The best place to start is by providing venues where kids can hang out, from organized events like Councilmember Nancy Navarro's "youth cafés," to unprogrammed spaces like Veterans' Plaza in downtown Silver Spring. We could also make it easier to reserve space in public buildings for concerts and other events, particularly the Fillmore, which is supposed to be available for community use.

And it would've helped if the county hadn't just condemned the Corpse Fortress, a Silver Spring punk house that's existed under various names over the past decade, and instead given its residents a chance to bring the building up to code first.

Kids making music they're passionate about isn't just good for them. It makes our community a better and more unique place, and we should encourage it whenever possible.

In Montgomery County, there are about 180,000 millennials, making up about 20% of the total population. As planning director Rollin Stanley points out, many of them have gone back to live with their parents. I did after I graduated college, as did most of my friends.

A map of where 35 of my friends and coworkers, all within 3 years of graduating college, were living in 2009. Yellow houses represent people living with their parents, while red beds represent those living on their own.

As the economy improves, we'll want to move out of the house and out of the suburbs as well. There's no shortage of articles about how millennials want to live in urban settings. My friends who've struck out on their own are trying to get near Metro or their favorite hangouts, both in DC and in suburban downtowns like Silver Spring and Bethesda. But the kind of housing and neighborhoods we want are in short supply here. After all, Montgomery County was and is still seen as a place to raise kids, and its built form represents what people thought was the best way to do so, with big, detached houses and cul-de-sacs.

A recent report (PDF) from economist Stephen Fuller suggests that the county will need as many as 60,000 new homes in the next ten years to accommodate new households. Nearly half of them have to serve households making less than $50,000 a year, while two-thirds will need to be multi-family homes. That's us: millennials moving out of their parents' houses, looking for small homes in close-in locations we can afford on entry-level salaries.

Developers are responding to the demand for housing. Both new and old apartment buildings are being repositioned to draw young professionals with high-end amenities, but their high rents price many Millennials out of the market. 20 years ago, my mother rented a one-bedroom in downtown Silver Spring for $685 a month. Today, that same apartment rents for $1,742 a month, but there are now granite countertops and swanky rooftop parties.

If the millennial generation wants to live the urban lifestyle, which can take cars off the road, conserve land and revitalize older neighborhoods, shouldn't we make it easier and more affordable to do so?

Increasing the supply of housing, like these recently-built apartments in Silver Spring, can help lower prices.

The best way to reduce or even eliminate what Matt Yglesias calls the "Metro premium" is to increase the supply of housing near transit, reducing prices. In the coming years, thousands of new residential units will be built at several of Montgomery County's 13 Metro stations. Even if 20-somethings aren't in the market for luxury apartments, they can help satisfy the demand for housing, lowering prices.

Increasing the variety of housing types will help as well. Montgomery County should encourage the creation of accessory dwelling units, also known as granny flats or laneway homes. They'll provide a new source of low-cost housing while preserving the character of close-in, single-family neighborhoods. In more urban settings like downtown Silver Spring, so-called "micro-lofts" or Single Room Occupancy (SRO) units like the Videre in Seattle provide compact, comfortable accommodations to singles who don't need and can't afford a lot of space. And for those ready to buy a home, small-lot houses like these in Portland can give privacy while keeping costs down.

For some Montgomery County residents, the term "affordable housing" conjures up images of crime and blight. But those who need low-cost housing are often your own kids, eager to stay close to the people and places they love. If Montgomery County wants the millennial generation to make their homes here, it needs to become more affordable. After all, one day we'll want to start families, and if we're already living here, we're more likely to stick around.

What do teenagers need? The ability to get around without a driver's license, for starters. A 15-year-old who can get around town on foot, on transit, or by bike or skateboard isn't just a convenience for their parents, who don't have to shuttle them around after school. They're given the tools for their own independence and self-discovery.

So the ideal place for a teenager is probably a neighborhood with sidewalks and bike lanes, ample public transit, and one which has schools, shops, and hangouts located within close range to home. That sounds a lot like Takoma Park, Bethesda, or below-the-Beltway Silver Spring. Rockville, with its new town center and excellent bike network, isn't far behind.

Scott Doyon at the PlaceShakers blog also notes that these places give kids the valuable opportunity to make mistakes:

For a child, having increasing opportunities to navigate the world around them, explore, invent, fall down, scrape knees, make decisions, screw up, get into—and solve—conflicts and, ultimately, achieve a sense of personal identity and self-sufficiency is a good thing. The right thing.

Kids talking on a stoop in Kentlands. Photo by the author.

The first time I was allowed to go anywhere by myself was at age 8, when my family lived in Georgian Towers in downtown Silver Spring. I was only taking the elevator from our apartment to the lobby, but I was so excited I screamed the whole way down. Pretty soon, I could walk to my friends' apartments, across the street to Woodside Park, around the corner to 7-Eleven, and so on. This ended a few years later when we moved to Calverton, where there's very little within walking distance. But I still knew that I had the power to do things on my own.

My 12-year-old brother, meanwhile, has spent his entire life in Calverton. When he's not at school, he's at home playing video games, but I've noticed he doesn't have a close group of friends because they don't live nearby. Last year, I took him to walk with my former boss, Councilmember Leventhal in a parade in Kentlands, one of Montgomery County's few truly walkable neighborhoods.

"Isn't this great, Tyler?" I asked as I took him around Kentlands' Main Street, where we could see kids ducking into shops and hanging out in a little green. "Kids your age who live in this neighborhood can walk to school, to friends' houses, and to the movies! Wouldn't you like that?"

Tyler looked at me like I'd said the sky was green. "Why would I want to walk?" he replied. "Mom and Dad can just drive me there."

Outside Blair High School on University Boulevard. Kids who have to walk in a place like this likely can't wait to drive. Photo by the author.

As a result, I tend to see most of the issues I write about, from better bike trails and infill development to skateparks and curfews, from the perspective of kids like my brother. I don't just think that good urbanism can make better communities. I think it makes better kids: confident, independent, and more aware of the world around them.

We talk about how urban neighborhoods are drawing young adults and senior citizens alike. But they have a lot to offer kids and teenagers, as well. That's the great part about good urbanism: it can work for everyone, regardless of age or situation.

Police must ask people suspected of loitering to explain themselves, and they also have to give a warning. Those who don't obey an officer's warning would be charged with a misdemeanor. The bill strengthens the county's existing anti-loitering laws, which were last amended in 2006 to remove the words "loiter" and "loitering."

Curfew supporters are skeptical of the anti-loitering bill. Councilmember Craig Rice, who represents the upcounty area, tells the Examiner that the lack of a curfew sent a message to kids that it's "OK for you to be out there at 2 in the morning" and causing trouble, while County Executive Leggett worries that the loitering bill was "overly broad" and could encourage racial profiling.

Ironically, Leggett's concerns are the same raised by curfew opponents. Both curfews and anti-loitering laws have been criticized for being hard to enforce and subject to abuse.

Chicago's anti-loitering law was struck down by the Supreme Court in 1999 for violating the First Amendment right to peaceful assembly, while Newark and several suburban towns in New Jersey revoked their anti-loitering laws for using vague terms like "no loafing." And in the District, repeated attempts to ban gatherings of more than two people have failed.

Nonetheless, Leventhal is confident that Montgomery County's bill, as drafted, would be less intrusive. "I think it raises far fewer civil liberties concerns than a curfew and I prefer this approach," he wrote in an e-mail. "I think it responds to the concerns that have been raised by the Police Department," who say current laws don't give them "necessary power to prevent harm to persons or property."

Crime, including youth- and gang-related incidents, has been dropping in Montgomery County since 2007, as Andrews points out. And just as Lt. Robert Carter of the Montgomery County Police predicted in August, crime fell in downtown Silver Spring when more cops were placed on the street.

Given these circumstances, it's reasonable to say our police are doing fine. But Leggett and Police Chief Thomas Manger have put considerable effort highlighting youth crimes to build the case for a curfew, making the public fearful. As a result, the burden's on opponents to produce a more palatable alternative that still shows we're Doing Something About Crime.

It's an imperfect solution, but far less imperfect than a curfew. What Councilmembers Andrews and Leventhal have done, however, is say what we've needed to hear all along: crime isn't limited to late nights and it certainly isn't limited to young people.

If this is what it takes to get Montgomery County off the backs of its teenagers, I'm curious to hear more.

The Montgomery County Council will hold a public hearing on the proposed anti-loitering bill on Tuesday, November 15 at 7:30 pm in the Council Office Building, 100 Maryland Avenue in Rockville. To testify or for more information, visit the Council website.

Disclosure: I used to work as a legislative aide for Councilmember Leventhal.

On other issues, Greater Greater Washington has provided an opportunity to have a thoughtful discussion about the issues and policies that could address them. We are looking for contributors who can do the same for education and child-raising topics.

Whether you have kids of your own, have a professional background in these issues, or just read obsessively about them, we'd welcome having you contribute. You can either take a topic that's been in the news, or some of your own experience and knowledge, and provide some explanation and policy analysis, like Caroline's, Mitch's, Ken's and Bruce's articles, among others.

All GGW contributors (and editors) are volunteers. We'd like you to be willing to write about 2 articles per month or more. If you are interested, please email info@ggwash.org. We're looking forward to helping share your ideas with our over 75,000 monthly readers and many of the area's policymakers.

Kuller states, "But it's a mistake to have a youth engagement event in this area. The police have tried to disperse the crowds in London, too. If you don't think that can happen in the US, you're wrong."

The Chinatown area has been the focus of concern regarding youth violence for some time. It is an area where kids of all ages gather, especially kids who may have nowhere else to go, and nothing else to do. It's a vibrant area with places that are open late and places that, unlike Proof, are affordable to people from all incomes.

There are issues with loitering. There are issues with violence. However, as another article by Klopott in the same issue of the Examiner notes, the District has made progress in reducing violent crime.

DC should be applauded for creating events such as this in hopes to give kids with nowhere else to go something productive to do. For too long we've focused only on treating the symptoms—breaking up crowds of kids, installing noise-making devices to discourage loitering. To engage these kids is a positive step forward.

The article also notes that business owners received little notice and several streets will be closed. Kuller is concerned that the crowds will impact his outdoor patrons' ability to enjoy their dinner. That's possible, and perhaps the program could have been communicated better, but there are often crowds in the area, and bad weather can also affect the patio.

More importantly, it is disappointing to see a local business owner decide that his patio seating for one Friday night is more important that engaging the children who are the future of this city. This is the precise attitude that makes it so very difficult to solve the complex problems our city faces.

It's so much easier to dismiss the children of our city as a violent mob-in-waiting. It's so much easier to waive your hand and say "please, not here." It's harder to say, "let's engage our children. Let's address the fact that these kids have nowhere else to go."

It is also upsetting, but not surprising, to see the Examiner engage in such fear-mongering. I am aware that the editors often write the headlines, but I can't excuse the entire tone of this article as being the act of editors. I am extremely disappointed with Mr. Klopott for his lack of understanding and sensitivity.

I also understand that Mr. Kuller is concerned about his business on a busy Friday night. However, I have a feeling that Mr. Kuller's business will suffer more when his customers are greeted by a crowd of citizens of the District who explain just why Proof should not be patronized.

As such, I invite you to join myself and other concerned citizens outside of the MLK Library at 9th and G St. NW, Friday evening at 5:45. Dress as if you are going to dine at Proof for the evening. We will have fliers to distribute to customers who are entering the restaurant. All we are saying is that it is inexcusable for a business owner in the District of Columbia to so easily dismiss the future generation of Washingtonians as people not worthy of engagement but merely a group of thugs waiting to set the city on fire.

That is not okay. That is not how we make our city a better place.

Update: Last night, Mr. Kuller posted a response regarding his comments in the Examiner. Mr. Kuller asserted that he does not believe London-like riots are likely, and that his quote was misinterpreted. It is disappointing that the Examiner sensationalized Mr. Kuller's comments, aiming to provoke a reaction of fear among readers.

As a result of the conversation that has grown out of this post, it was decided that the planned boycott of Proof this evening would likely not be fruitful and will not go forward.

Some would argue that class, not race is the biggest divider in today's Montgomery, especially with a black County Executive and three minority Councilmembers. But we're still far from being a color-blind society. At Saturday's community roundtable on youth issues, I talked to Joey, who lives in Four Corners and said he'd support a curfew. He won't take his family to Silver Spring at night because of "thug-looking kids" hanging out there. "And I'm not just talking about black and Latino kids," he quickly added. If we don't see race, is that statement necessary?

For years, Montgomery County has been proud of its liberal politics. Now that we're a majority-minority jurisdiction, we actually have to show our progressive values. After all, it's easy to be open-minded when the only minorities you see are the token black family on your cul-de-sac. It's harder when your kids go to a school that's 25% white and the signs in your neighborhood are all in Amharic or Spanish.

Some people are comfortable with that. The rest struggle each day to negotiate a world that doesn't look like it did just twenty years ago, unsure how to respond. Usually, they go with fear. And that can make even the most staunch liberal consider things normally offensive to their principles. Like trusting that police can pick out "bad" kids on a busy downtown street, even before anyone's done anything illegal, and not wrongfully accuse someone based on vaguely-defined characteristics.

The perennial debate over youth behavior and crime in Silver Spring has been going on for years. It's a reflection of how committed people are to ensuring that this community, once lost to disinvestment and urban decay, can remain vibrant and safe. Yet the discussion rarely touches on the elephant in the very diverse room and, as a result, can never be fully resolved.