News
New activities planned for teens
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Published: May 13, 2008
The city of Winston-Salem is planning a smaller, indoor activity series to entertain teenagers this summer.
The series of 10 events planned at the Hanes Hosiery Recreation Center on Reynolds Boulevard will replace last year's troubled summer concert series for teens called The Drop.
Assistant City Manager Martha Wheelock told a committee of the Winston-Salem City Council yesterday that the city plans to offer athletics and video-game competitions, food, music, speakers, live performers and educational support. The series is scheduled to start June 6 and end August 15. It will run from 8 to 11 p.m.
The Drop was started last year in response to crowds of teenagers who gathered downtown after summer concerts. Winston-Salem police increased the number of officers at the concerts to control crowds.
Ed McNeal, the city's marketing director, said that teens have already started to come downtown on Friday nights. He said that the city did not move the event to Reynolds Boulevard to try to keep teens away.
Instead, Wheelock said, the event should be easier to control because it is indoors and has a capacity of about 200 to 300 people.
She said that about 1,400 teens attended The Drop when it was held in Corpening Plaza.
The crowd drew criticism for security problems. Police arrested handfuls of teens for mostly minor offenses.
In the most serious incident, a 13-year-old girl was hit in the jaw by a bullet fired from a car on North Trade Street as she was walking home from a concert. Two men, ages 17 and 19, were charged in the shooting.
City officials moved The Drop to the Dixie Classic Fairgrounds, saying it was a safer venue.
"A controlled facility will clearly allow us to identify those that are coming for a safe and secure time and keep those who want to cause trouble out of the facility," Wheelock said.
Wheelock told council members that the city wants to make sure only high-school and middle-school teens attend this year. The city may ask all teens to show school-identification cards to enter. The city also plans to have a police officer at the door and two in the building.
Council Member Vivian Burke said that the city is also reaching out to community members to volunteer as chaperones. She said that The Drop would be a good chance for people to mentor young people.
The city estimated that the event would cost about $15,000.
Blair Goldstein can be reached at 727-7284 or at
bgoldstein@wsjournal.com.
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Reader Comments
Posted by ( StyxPix ) on May 13, 2008 at 8:13 a.m. ( Suggest removal )
It appears that once again the city is going into the babysitting business this summer. I find it very ironic that while these supposed programs are for the teens of Winston Salem they, the programs, always seem to be held in predominately black neighborhoods and are always geared towards the black community. Where are the activities for the caucasian teens living over in the Wake Forest area, Polo rd area, Buena Vista, Country Club area etc etc.?
This is simply another example of wasteful government spending and throwing tax payer dollars, no matter how small the amount, at an issue which comes down to parental involvement and parental boundries. $15,000 for this program is a drop in the bucket of the overall cost of things but you add this drop to the many many other drops into the bucket and soon the bucket is overflowing with waste. It will be interesting to see when the first shooting at this event takes place.
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Posted by ( reddgrrl ) on May 13, 2008 at 9:58 a.m. ( Suggest removal )
The Hanes Hosiery was chosen because it is a new facility that has the capacity to hold larger crowds than other rec centers in the city. As it is a city funded facility, anyone is welcome to go to the center, regardless of race or where they live in the city. Anyone who lives in the Buena Vista, Reynolda Rd or Wake Forest Area can drive to the center in no more than 5 minutes, just like the fairgrounds.
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Posted by ( Clark ) on May 13, 2008 at 11:27 a.m. ( Suggest removal )
Mostly Minor problems!!! A 13-year-old girl was hit in the jaw by a bullet. What do you call a major problem?
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Posted by ( reddgrrl ) on May 13, 2008 at 12:32 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
The article did not say there were minor problems, it said teens were arrested for minor offenses. The article mentioned the shooting offense as serious.
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Posted by ( weh ) on May 13, 2008 at 1:22 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
The Hanes Hoisery facility used to have volleyball until it was renovated with new hardwood floors. Now it's ONLY for basketball and you know why. Our local government is there to provide for the black community with the taxes paid by others. W-S will always be divided due to reverse discrimination. Numbers do not lie; look at where the money is spent and where it comes from!
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Posted by ( reddgrrl ) on May 13, 2008 at 2 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
The adult volleyball league that plays at the Hanes Hosiery will be surprised to find out they aren't supposed to play on hardwoods. There is also an indoor walking track above the gym and a softball field outside. None of these are race specific. If Winston-Salem is divided, its because people choose to be divided. Our local government is the one we elected and if we don't like it, we should make changes at election time instead of standing by making critical comments that are untrue at best. I live near Parkland High School and I drive across town to take my son to the Hanes Hosiery for summer camp and for the sports leagues that are offered there because the rec center near my house does not provide these options. The coaches/supervisors at Hanes Hosiery are white as well as black. The students from Wake Forest University who volunteer their time at the rec are white. No one should feel that they cannot use the facilities based on race especially since there is no basis for such thought.
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Posted by ( Clark ) on May 13, 2008 at 7:34 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
Actually reddgrrl is says: "In the most serious incident". The column doesn't actually state the shooting was serious... And, all hair splitting aside, that is my point; the entire article sugar coats the events of last summer's debacle.
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Posted by ( wagwa2001l ) on May 14, 2008 at 5:37 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
I agree that there is a difference in how the city spends $, however, look at the city and you can see that it is the opposite problem from StyxPix and weh suggest.
The west side of this city gets new pavement regurally, the roads are nice, the city responds to problems... the east and southsides are like a different world... patches for years on roads that would have been repaved 3-4 times on the west side. Trash everywhere, bridges that have not been cleaned under in years, different enforcement in laws...
I mention the repaving only beacuse it is an obvious item that anyone can look at and see the difference... a symptom of a much larger problem underneath...
my only problem with this new series... last year 1400 show up so now the space is lmited to 300... means there are 1100 unsupervised kids about town.
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