New rules for children under 18 go into effect at the Fashion District Monday
CENTER CITY - New rules are coming to Philadelphia’s Fashion District after recent incidents involving kids. Beginning Monday, anyone under 18 who enters the district after 2 p.m., needs to be accompanied by an adult age 23 or older. The city is trying to prevent any kind of chaos.
Keena McClennon works near the Fashion District and, after last Wednesday’s flash mob, where hundreds of teens turned out and a police officer was injured, she’s more cautious than ever.
"It’s like swarms of them outside. And, last Sunday, they were all up and down the block just standing on the walls, just, kinda, waiting for something to go down. That made me feel unsafe and that’s why I went home immediately," McClennon explained.
She’s happy to hear that new restrictions start Monday.
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"A lot of these kids are out of control and it’s just getting out of hand," South Philly resident Eion Brooks said. "You can’t even come down and shop no more in peace. You gotta worry about getting hurt and different things and it’s not peaceful down here anymore."
While on assignment for the story, the FOX 29 crew saw some kids acting up and getting kicked out by security while getting reaction from shoppers for the new restrictions. Shoppers say that shows exactly why the new rules are needed.
Others say the city needs to step up and give young people somewhere to go to get them off the streets.
"Children need a place to be safe for them to be children. We all learned. We all had to learn it was a learning process," Port Richmond resident Chanel said.
"These kids don’t want to do nothing anyway, that’s why there’s no more rec centers or stuff like that, because they won’t go in anyway," Brooks added.