Teens Need A Place Away From Trouble
It’s easy to read the newspaper and gasp at the increasing number of violent crimes involving teenagers. It’s simple to talk about the city, how it’s changed and how you can’t leave your house unlocked without fear anymore. It’s human nature to worry about the future and blame problems on the younger generation.
It’s much more difficult to do something about it.
Bob Lipe is trying. And he’s finding out just how hard it’s going to be.
Lipe, a long-time Spokane philanthropist, wants to spend his own money to open a teen center in the West Central neighborhood. The center, which would be in memory of Lipe’s wife, would be big enough for about 40 teens and would offer games, dancing and boxing.
The neighbors say no way. One went so far as to say she didn’t want to have to stay home on the weekends to guard her house, assuming that a teen center would attract ruffians and gangsters bent on making trouble.
That attitude sells teenagers short. Instead, the center could provide what Spokane kids have been asking for for decades: a safe place to go to meet friends, dance, talk and stay out of trouble.
Is that too much to ask? Apparently so, since technicalities look ready to derail Lipe’s dream. Critics do make some good points: The center would mean more traffic through the residential zone; the proximity to a grocery store that sells alcohol and tobacco is troublesome.
But the arguments ring hollow when the critics focus on their true, unfounded concerns of crime and litter caused by kids. The majority of Spokane’s teenagers are well-meaning, law-abiding people who care about their family, friends and community. They might not be down at City Council meetings every week, but you’ll find them involved in issues they care about that affect them. They’re picking up litter on state land, starting recycling programs at their schools, gathering money for the family of a schoolmate who was killed in an accident.
They’re studying, working, growing, learning and struggling with the difficult task of becoming adult. Remember how hard that can be? Any help Spokane can give them to chart the course is well deserved.
That means no roadblocks. It means helping to solve the problems that Lipe’s proposal may present instead of shutting down the whole idea.
Today’s young adults face a different world. Lipe’s center, along with a cooperative venture aimed at opening a teen center in the old Libby Middle School, may just give them the security, guidance and, yes, entertainment, that they’ll need to make it in that world.
The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Anne Windishar/For the editorial board