Town needs insight into teen needs

Something was fundamentally wrong with the idea of giving Medfield teens a clean, well lighted, outdoor place this summer.
It was a great idea on paper. It failed to fly. Why?

Town officials should poll the students and find out. To be of any value, it would have to be a poll without names.
Some of the possibilities are obvious.
It is next to the Pfaff Center, directly opposite the Police Department. That should be a hint. Young people do not want to spend a wonderful night sitting in a spotlight directly across from the Police Department. Even a group of grown men would avoid this spot. It is like being in a fishbowl. Neighbors, surprisingly said, they did not mind the noise teens would create. Well, of course they wouldn't; all they need to do is call the cops and they could quiet down the noise in five minutes. If the town wants to have a true young people's place to hang out, it must ask all of them what they want.

Students who helped pick the Pfaff area were well intentioned, as were the townspeople who spent $3,000 on night lights.
But they were obviously not reading the rest of the teen population correctly.
Nobody showed. Fine tuning is what the town has to do now.
It's not a bad idea. It didn't work. Fine. So get more information, hold some meetings, try to come up with a solution.
Because if the town simply throws its collective hands in the air, it will be giving up. Giving up is the worst thing adults can do. It is a signal to youth that grownups are not really trying to help teens at all.

That - trying - is what is important. It is by no means easy. And it can be contradictory because, believe it or not, teens are individuals who have varying tastes. Teens are not all alike.
Older residents might never, ever find a good solution.

As long as they are trying, they are opening their arms to teens and telling them that the adults are striving for better communications, better conditions for teens.
Shut out the youngsters and the town's problems will be far worse.

Medfield Police Chief Richard Hurley said this summer brought just as many problems with teens as other years. He said the field might have been so unpopular precisely because of the expensive lights for which so many teens asked.

"There are lights on, and it's an atmosphere type of thing. I don't think kids like to be under the lights, if you know what I mean," he said. "We try to do what we can, but sometimes it's kind of hard to understand these kids."

That is exactly what must be attempted - figure out the teens.

15 September 2005

http://www2.townonline.com/medfield/opinion/view.bg?articleid=325186