At the Valley Plaza Mall in Bakersfield, a petition to ban unsupervised minors is gaining traction. Kasandra Gallegos, a store manager at the mall, started the petition on Change.org, titled “Ban unsupervised minors from Valley Plaza Mall.” It has already gathered over 7,400 signatures. The petition argues that groups of unsupervised minors create an environment where inappropriate behavior becomes common, affecting both the safety of retail workers and the shopping experience for other visitors.
According to the petition, retail workers have reported mistreatment and even physical assaults by unsupervised teens. The petition suggests that minors should be accompanied by a responsible adult while at the mall, a policy that has been successfully implemented in other malls across the country.
Despite the concerns raised, teens remain a significant part of the mall’s customer base and workforce. Many teens work at various stores within the mall, including Hot Topic and Abercrombie & Fitch, and also frequent the mall for leisure. Some local teens, like David Gonzales and Tyson Peters, expressed that the mall provides a place to socialize and shop, with Peters noting, “Teens come out, sometimes with their families, to buy stuff.”
However, there is acknowledgment that some teens may engage in disruptive behavior. Alana Rodriguez, a recent high school graduate, commented on the situation, noting that while some backlash is understandable, the troublemakers are a minority.
The Valley Plaza Mall, which opened in 1967, has a long history with teen culture, dating back to its inception. The mall was designed to appeal to teens, and its history includes events that specifically targeted this demographic.
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