Roody,

A lot of the problem is more subtle: We've had the problem here in Richmond, where the massive South Park Mall (between Richmond and Petersburg) became completely inhospitable to serious shoppers on weekends due to masses of teens and tweens turning the place into a giant clubhouse. The mall itself wasn't complaining until the stores who were renting space in the mall started complaining big time. For the majority of them, it wasn't worth being open from Friday evening through Sunday evening because the place was filled with kids who were hanging on and buying nothing.

Of course there were a few legal problems, but it hadn't exactly turned into New Jack City.

What was a pleasant environment for them was a lousy shopping environment for older (say, 21 and up) customers who would actually come into the place with the intention of spending money. Who shopped elsewhere in that time period. And that was hurting the businesses who were trying to make a living there. And it IS a mall - let's not kid ourselves, in this situation profit is what counts. Period. No freaking exceptions. And you're kidding yourself if you're trying to argue an exception.

In anything, too much excess ruins any situation. Take a nice public outdoor park, get too many starlings, geese, whatever natural species in there, and it becomes uncomfortable (territorial problems, excrement, whatever) for the humans who built the place. At which point, you start culling the wildlife back so the humans can start enjoying what they built, or at least paid for to be built. The mall is no different - the interloping specie just changes.

Malls are not public thoroughfares, they're private property who can limit who comes on the property and remove anybody for any whim (usually pertaining to the potential to hurt business). After the South Park matter hit the papers, I noticed the malls closer to where I live rapidly posted regulations that politely said, "If you're a teen, don't plan on making this your clubhouse. Feel free to come and shop, have a good time, buy lots of stuff, and leave."

Other hard cold reality we need to live with: In America, as I write this, if you're getting around by bus, bicycle, walking, etc., you're probably a poor person. Demographically, you're not good business potential. Yeah, that's changing. It hasn't changed enough yet for the malls to notice, or take seriously (with a few exceptions, I would guess). People with money drive cars. Life's a *****.