Processing Youth

Process, process, process. I am so sick and tired about hiding behind process. The Star news story below on trying to create an independent live music venue for teens was quite disheartening but isn't this how our City seems to work these days?

Now we see the joys of the by-law keeping dancing only in the downtown. I guess the people at the breweries will be happy that under-aged teens will have to go to the bar district to dance! Expose them to beer-drinking early on!

It's so much easier to say NO isn't it rather than here is what you can do since you have such a novel idea to meet an identified need.

And what has happened since the Devonshire youth meeting...any new initiatives. Well not quite yet. They are still working on creating a youth council that can get together sometime in 2006, like right before the election perhaps. It's not all that hard to do. Just ask Bill Marra since he had an idea about how to do it! ["Hello Devonshire Mall Loiterers" BLOG, November 4, 2005]

"...a load of crap" -- little more than a gesture for the media." Oh well, Colin is young. He can take the setback. It is an early lesson in politics that he just learned.

City blocks rock shows
Dalson Chen, Windsor Star, Published: Tuesday, January 03, 2006

Colin McMahon is feeling pretty damn punk rock these days.

But the punk show promoter isn't letting his sudden unemployment get to him. He has other things on his mind.

Since the early months of 2005, McMahon has been struggling to create something for Windsor teens: an independent live music venue.

In a city where loitering at the mall seems an attractive Friday night activity for many young people, the majority of places where bands can perform happen to be drinking establishments.

McMahon and his fellow punk rockers have yearned for a place to hang out and hold shows without worrying about security guards, liquor licences, and bar owners.

But on Dec. 19, McMahon ran into his biggest obstacle yet. At a meeting with the mayor's assistant and representatives of the city's building department, he was informed that what he proposed violated municipal bylaws.

McMahon said the city officials told him his idea of a venue falls under the definition of an entertainment lounge.

"Nobody can start an entertainment lounge outside the downtown district," McMahon said. "Any show with dancing that's held anywhere outside of an entertainment lounge is not legal."

McMahon said he was told that music events at community centres are forbidden and even high school dances are technically illegal. And if he attempted anything more permanent, it would have to be shut down.

"They were sympathetic. It's not that they didn't want to help me out. But they said their hands were tied."

All things considered, McMahon said, the venue situation for Windsor teens hasn't changed much in the past year. They're still no closer to having a dedicated gathering place, even after airing their grievances at a town hall meeting for youths held by Mayor Eddie Francis at the Devonshire Mall in October.

Despite that event's fanfare, McMahon said he never had high hopes for it, and he now thinks it was "a load of crap" -- little more than a gesture for the media.

"All the stuff we talked about, none of that has made any progress, really," McMahon said. "It's basically the same as it ever was.... All we've gained is the knowledge of what's not allowed."

But Francis said that much work has been undertaken since the special town hall meeting, specifically in developing a council of youth representatives that can bring the concerns of Windsor's young people to the city government.

Francis said he expects the youth council to be in place sometime in 2006.

Regarding the creation of a youth gathering place, Francis was less committal.

"One of the things I said at that forum was: 'Don't look to the city government to do this for you,'" he said. "I also indicated to (the youth) that the first step in the process was to bring them to the table, and that this wasn't going to happen overnight."

Francis said he knew McMahon met with the city on Dec. 19, but he hadn't been briefed on what happened at the meeting.