The American Spectator

Print Email

Text Size

The Nation's Pulse

(Page 2 of 2)

For Spinetto, that's the crux of the problem. Suburban towns in particular, he said, have given over their urban planning to developers, as a result giving away "some of the most important parts of our democracy, handing over what you can say and do."

But he noted as well that, for suburban kids, "there's nowhere else to go."

Spinetto said that youth-oriented organizations like the YMCA and the Boys and Girls Clubs "are not even speaking to what the kids need. These kids are living literally in another century. For my son, pool's fun, but he won't even go near a ping-pong table. He plays all kinds of video games. I found him the other day playing a game on the computer and talking at the same time with a kid in Italy" -- this via a free Internet phone service.

He said youth organizations ought to get grants for the installations of "giant video screens so the kids can compete with each other" in the media they like.

INTERESTINGLY, THAT POINTS RIGHT BACK TO MALLS. Malls have lots of money. Youth clubs don't. Wherever different demographics mix, there is possibility for clashes, as Joel Garreau pointed out. The malls handle those potential clashes by putting youth-oriented features on one level and "the things the blue-hairs like" on another.

Further market-specific targeting could create just the kind of play environment Spinetto envisions -- and sell things, to boot. What worked would be kept, what didn't could be discarded.

"Trust me, these guys are very sophisticated," said Garreau of mall operators. "They know to the penny that a typical teen brings, say $27.50 to the mall on a Saturday night, and that he spends it all -- every penny."

topics:
Environment, Books