We entered the mall at approximately 4:00 on a bleak January afternoon; the clouds covering the sky reflected the ambiguity of our situation, unsure of the hostilities we might have to endure as the clock ticked closer and closer to the hour of the curfew. Armed only with a pad and paper, we sat down at a coffee shop to plan our attack. By the time we decided the best course of action to take in the mall, it was about 4:30, and the mall had begun its shift towards curfew. As we moved among the various floors and stores, the security force began to take their positions around the establishment. We saw upwards of a dozen security officers on the same floor in about ten minutes as an Orwellian voice booming from the loudspeaker counted down the minutes until the curfew would take effect. We were proved wrong – the mall isn’t playing around.
Yet, the question remains, why was this curfew established? The rule was mainly enacted to maintain order in the mall – senior general manager Lisa Bisenius recently claimed in an interview with The Baltimore Sun that the mall is aiming for a “family-friendly” environment, an environment that teenagers have a history of jeopardizing. Around Christmas of 2015, a 16-year old was arrested for throwing rocks at police officers at the mall – certainly a dangerous situation.
To get a deeper understanding of the circumstances leading to the adoption of the rule, we spoke to Greg Green, formerly of the Baltimore City Police Department and the current Director of Public Safety at the mall. Although politicians called for the change after the previously mentioned Christmas incident, Mr. Green informed us that the curfew was put in place by GGP (General Growth Properties, Inc.), a large corporation that owns many malls nationwide, including Tyson’s Galleria in Washington D.C. and Water Tower Place in Chicago. According to Mr. Green, GGP has been implementing this rule slowly around all of their malls around the country, and the Towson Town Center was the next step.
After our interview with Mr. Green, Jack and I decided to hang around past 5 to see what would happen. Initially, we stayed in the same general area not talking all that much or creating too much noise; we soon realized, however, that our masculine physiques and deep manly voices may have been throwing the security officers for a loop, convincing them that we were older than seventeen, maybe college students, working adults, or even well-kempt retirees shopping for our grandchildren. To combat this, we began walking, joking, and engaging in some stereotypical teenage tomfoolery, making extensive use of the phrase “Yeah Hall.” After a few minutes of this, we were approached by a young woman wearing the uniform of the mall’s security force, who asked us for our IDs. Upon learning that we were only seventeen, the officer informed us that we had to leave the mall. Although we were tempted to refuse, just to see what would happen, we complied with her request and left the mall. Although we were not happy about being ejected in this manner, the security we dealt with was polite, and we left the building without a single injury.
Those against the rule are primarily the teenagers targeted by the rule. Unfortunately, the rule punishes all those in a certain group, even though only a few were the ones actually causing the problems (sort of like if the senior class at Calvert Hall were to lose the opportunity to be exempt from an exam due to the behavior of a minority of the students). The rule also takes away one of the main places youth might spend their weekend evenings, meaning that more teenagers may choose instead to go out to parties, drinking alcohol and misbehaving instead of standing in front of an Apple store. Mr. Green acknowledged this as a potential consequence of the rule, but he is unfortunately not in a position to make a change to the curfew.
From everything we’ve gathered so far, the main reason that the GGP implemented the rule is to create a more family friendly environment to help parents avoid rowdy teens that end up not purchasing anything from mall stores anyway. This, theoretically, would help create more sales at the mall, as more parents and adults would find the mall a more attractive place to bring their children. However, from everything we’ve heard, from the employees at the shops to Mr. Green himself, the sales haven’t really been affected at all. He even admitted that there were some minor grumblings from a few stores when the curfew first came into place. It could be argued that the places experiencing the most impact on sales are the restaurants inside the mall. In our experience, it’s almost inevitable that teens will buy food at the mall at some point during a visit. Losing the teenage customer base for 4 hours per night could be a tough blow for a few of these chains, especially the smaller ones.
From everything we learned from our experience, perhaps the most important piece is that the Towson Town Center itself doesn’t have much control over the situation – if the rule is to be changed, the best way to do it is to contact the GGP. Whether or not the curfew will be removed is up to you. There’s not much Paul, Jack, The Hall, or even Greg Green can do to change it – at least not alone. If you would like to hang out at the mall past 5:00, or want your little siblings to be able to experience what a whole Friday at the mall feels like, purchasing clothes that probably cost too much and eating an Auntie Anne’s pretzel at 8:00, contact GGP. You can make a difference here. You just have to want to.