ST. LOUIS – The first weekend of late hours at St. Louis recreation centers wrapped up with a low turnout. City officials said around 50 teens were out at Wohl and Marquette for the extended hours.
“It’s always good for them to have them something to do cause when they’re just sitting at the house, there is more stuff to get into that’s negative instead of something positive to do,” said Lauren Cooney.
She’s a parent and knows firsthand the benefits of youth summer programs at the city’s recreation centers. Her kids are enrolled in daytime activities, but she is unsure about letting them stay late on the weekends.
“It’s a lot of things that have been going around in our city, and they’re even discussing should they have a curfew,” Cooney said. “And I kind of agree with that. So I don’t know if I like the 1 a.m. or 12 a.m. because that’s when they get into things.”
City officials said over the weekend, 40 teens went out to Marquette, and Wohl saw less than 10 teens.
“These types of events are meant to pull kids away who don’t have anything to do but see these kids every day and may be looking up to them and may have nothing else to do,” said Wilford Pinkney, Director of the Office of Violence Prevention.
With the recent shooting of 11 teens at an overnight party in a downtown office building, city leaders said the goal of the extended hours is to keep teens off the streets and out of harm’s way.
“Young people who engage in using weapons a lot of times these are spur-of-the-moment incidents where emotions get the best of them; they don’t have impulse control,” Pinkney said. “So you can pull some of those kids away because some of them are looking for something to do.”