THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, November 15, 1994 TAG: 9411150018
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A12 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Short : 50 lines
Shopping malls are the town squares of our time, where all members of the society congregate. But if the well-behaved many are to feel safe and secure, the boorish few must conform their behavior to accepted norms or face exclusion.
That's the point of a new code of conduct adopted by Hampton's Coliseum Mall. ``We welcome everyone, but insist that everyone behave within the boundaries of decency and respect expected in a civilized society,'' said mall manager Raymond Tripp.
Good for him! It isn't too much to expect patrons to refrain from physical or verbal threats, from fights, shouting or the use of offensive language. Going about in a state of undress, littering or using alcohol are also banned. So are running, skateboarding, bicycling and playing musical instruments tapes and radios.
The mall has a duty to protect patrons from threats to life and limb, but it has also recognized a need to protect them from assaults on their senses and sensibilities by louts and loudmouths, creeps and cretins.
It may be argued that these restrictions will fall most heavily on teens who are most likely to act up and most likely to get hassled for it by mall management.
T'was ever thus. Sometimes youthful high spirits get unfairly squelched because they grate on mature nerves. But more often, it is youthful anarchy that must be curbed and channeled and socialized. And if troublemakers are given the choice of shaping up or shipping out, many will shape up and be the better for it.
Malls are public spaces, but they are private property too. And that gives the owners the perfect right to insist on norms of conduct. It is bad for business if customers feel menaced or imagine they face a gantlet of noise, nasty talk and crude behavior.
It's also bad for our society if venturing forth is regarded as dangerous and disgusting. Coliseum Mall has done the right thing not only for the protection of its business but for the preservation of democracy. It's time for other malls and public spaces - libraries and parks, schools and city streets - to emulate the mall and insist on civilized conduct. It's time for preachers and teachers, politicians and private citizens to stop tolerating barbaric behavior. by CNB