Oh man I can't believe I have to defend a joke....ITS A JOKE!!!

Anyways, I also can't believe I have to describe this youth center again. All right here I go. You see the youth center will not be a "dance club", it will not be anything like "Jitterbugs", it will simply be a rec. facility with the youth in mind. It will not be just a room with couches, a stereo booming, drugs being passed out etc... it will be a facility ran just like the Kedron Field House. It will house many events, and group gatherings. It will be a place for the youth (middle schoolers and high schoolers) to go either in a separate room or on separate days, to simply hang out, with out the pressures of church, parents etc... IT WILL BE STAFFED!!! Not by Police, not by old men, but rather by people like myself or Art of the rec. department. These people will have to be able to connect to the youth. Only then will the youth come.

I have shown you in the past how these can be successful, how they can actually get some youth support. The Youth Council is very good at getting teens to participate in events, and I have full faith (as should you) that when they say they can make it work, then they can make it work. Considering they haven’t let us down yet...

Oh and by the way, the reason the seniors have a place of their own is that they can vote. We have responsible teens asking for the voters to help and some voters refuse to listen. (Perfect example, The fact I have to explain the same thing over and over again and some still don't understand means they arnt listening.)

Hey if the dogs and seniors can have their own place why can't the teens?

It will not be just a room with couches, a stereo booming, drugs being passed out etc... it will be a facility ran just like the Kedron Field House.

It will house many events, and group gatherings. It will be a place for the youth (middle schoolers and high schoolers) to go either in a separate room or on separate days, to simply hang out, with out the pressures of church, parents etc... IT WILL BE STAFFED!!! Not by Police, not by old men, but rather by people like myself or Art of the rec. department. These people will have to be able to connect to the youth. Only then will the youth come.

Ummmmmmmm.....WHY IN THE SAM HILL DO WE NEED ANOTHER CENTER IF WE HAVE ONE ALREADY ("just like the Kedron Fieldhouse")? The Kedron Fieldhouse already has everything that you say you want....a room "to simply hang out". It has cable TV, a stereo (at least it did - maybe that went away), ping pong table, foosball, etc. And they're staffed, too!

Maybe Art needs to move his office up there, since it appears that he must not be there for these things. Especially since the "old men" who work at the Fieldhouse are probably younger than Art himself!

You have the staff member available to coordinate the events, you have a location for events....why again do we need a youth center? I'm just missing the point.

The Youth Council is very good at getting teens to participate in events. I'd like some statistics to prove this statement. Give us exact figures - how many teens did you have for each event?

Shelby - you're really not giving us much to support you on, here, especially when there are many different alternatives. Maybe you should really think outside the "box" of "we need a youth center". We have one already. It's called Kedron. Work with that.

Hey, if teens would just do what they're told, we wouldn't need to worry about this!

Actually the truth is that we have just recently been approved for one night a month at the Kedron field house.One is a step in the right direction, thanks Rec Department!!

Kedron is a great facility that is utilized daily.
The problem though is that there are always conflicts, so it is EXTREMLY hard to house a concert, a tournament, or any special event. This is great, don't get me wrong, the more activities the building has, the less kids there are out "roaming the streets”.

What would be perfect though is re-modeling Glen Lock so that it will be more appealing and be able to house bigger and more events. We would love for the solution to be that simple, in fact that is one idea being proposed. If we show with Glen Lock it can work then maybe we can get our own place, that's perfectly fine.

You see, Kedron is an awesome facility but it does not have the capacity to handle youth activities on a daily bases. This is why we need a place just for the youth of the city.

As far as statistics for the youth council goes...

Here is a link of every successful thing the Youth Council has done.
http://www.theyouthcouncil.com/Timeline.html

I appreciate all of the ideas that are being given, now that we understand there is a need some sort of place, we must realize what the place should entail, and I don't pretend to have all of those answers.

I would like to say though that when I mentioned Art's name in staffing the youth center, in no way did I mean that he should be the one doing it. Art is a great guy that is a mentor for a lot of kids, while being a friend to even more. This is the kind of staff that the youth center needs to have to be successful.

Thank you,
Shelby Barker
(Former PTCYC President)

shelbybarker@gmail.com

Hey if the dogs and seniors can have their own place why can't the teens?

Allowed to use Kedron one day a month? Wow! That should be enough, don't you think?
What do adults do for recreation and relaxation? Some go to bars, actually many. Some play poker a night or two a week. Some go to the "club" with or without their wife, but never with their family except maybe after Sunday church. Some go to the big city and do what they please a couple of nights a month (maybe night clubs, maybe plays, maybe dinner, maybe movies, maybe plays, maybe to just hang or swing. Some go to London or Paris for the week-end--kids stay home. Many go to the Islands, California, etc.
What the teens need is their own place---built like a Marriott Atrium, but with one floor, and designed for safety, and run like a huge YMCA used to be. They deserve it and we should share our money with them and maybe they won't feel left out.

You are exactly right!! These are the things that will be done in a youth center. Middle schoolers are very important in the plan; I believe there will be programs that will have the high schoolers acting as mentors (this process is already beginning). I will tell you if you or anyone else has a middle school child, the youth council has started a new branch just recently for middle school kids, please visit theyouthcouncil.com.

I ask anyone with these ideas (because they are so good, and we are so wrong) please come to the planning meeting that the youth council is putting on

Tuesday March 7th at
6:30 McIntosh High
School Cafeteria!!!

And please share your concerns to these teens. Everyone in here agrees it first starts with the parents; this is why every youth council meeting is open to anyone, any age in the community.

And finally, I feel that you think I am in this for myself, that I am being some sort of stubborn teenager. Let me tell you that I am a full time student, full time employee, full time dad, and full time boyfriend. Do you think that I just sat here one day and said "whoa!!!? you know what I want to take a controversial topic and see what I can help make happen" I don't have time to do that, in fact right now I am running late for my Sat. political science class, but I feel so strongly about it I am sitting here typing as fast as I can. Also, when this facility is finally built, I will be like 25 so I will not be able to use it at all. The only reason I am fighting so hard is because I have seen where I grew up in Olathe KS. that a youth center is a great thing. I also graduated here in Peachtree City and I have seen all the problems our city has with its youth. I know a youth center would be a step in the right direction, to hopefully help our teens, pre-teens, children etc...

I have seen it work first hand, our children say it will work, let’s help make it work for them!!!

Thank you,
Shelby Barker
(Former PTYCY President)
shelbybarker@gmail.com

Hey if the dogs and seniors can have their own place why can't the teens?

Whoa…slow down a bit. I don't think you understood the point I was making. First, I think that you, personally, want to help your community. I don’t think you are selfish, I just think you have a very limited perspective. The idea comes across as being poorly thought out and self serving for teens in general. Forget about the goal to ‘entertain’ bored teens with socialization. Their obsession with their peers and their lack of initiative to take responsibility for their own apathetic, lethargic state of existence IS the problem. And it is why we will not support it. Teens already have many choices for recreation and social interaction in a variety of different venues.

Mentoring is a great idea. Keep going in that direction. But middle school kids should not interact with older teens on a regular basis. What parent in his right mind would want his 12 year old daughter ‘hanging’ with 16 year-old boys at a youth center on a regular basis?

I'm talking about latchkey kids age 11 to 13 or possibly 14, kids who are from single family homes or have two-parent incomes. They are too old for daycare and too young to go home to an empty house act and act responsibly. The After School Program is a great resource until they hit that awkward stage. Parents would appreciate help in supervising these preteens for 2.5 hours after school. They need a safe place to go for a healthy snack and adult assistance with their homework. The YMCA Summer Camp is an excellent choice for Summer. In fact, that organization (and not the City) is an excellent place for you to turn to for what you want to accomplish.

The only thing I would like the City and the County to do is to consider extending the hours of their holiday/summer programs that they already offer so kids with working parents could participate. 9 am to 3 pm just won’t work for us. Or offer some recreation programming at 6:30 p.m. or on the weekends so we can have time to get off from work and get our kids there! There has been a lot of stuff my kids wanted to do, but they could not participate because everything was planned around a stay-at-home parent’s schedule.
Leoah Whineknott

Whoa…slow down a bit. I don't think you understood the point I was making. First, I think that you, personally, want to help your community. I don’t think you are selfish, I just think you have a very limited perspective. The idea comes across as being poorly thought out and self serving for teens in general. Forget about the goal to ‘entertain’ bored teens with socialization. Their obsession with their peers and their lack of initiative to take responsibility for their own apathetic, lethargic state of existence IS the problem. And it is why we will not support it. Teens already have many choices for recreation and social interaction in a variety of different venues.

Mentoring is a great idea. Keep going in that direction. But middle school kids should not interact with older teens on a regular basis. What parent in his right mind would want his 12 year old daughter ‘hanging’ with 16 year-old boys at a youth center on a regular basis?

I'm talking about latchkey kids age 11 to 13 or possibly 14, kids who are from single family homes or have two-parent incomes. They are too old for daycare and too young to go home to an empty house act and act responsibly. The After School Program is a great resource until they hit that awkward stage. Parents would appreciate help in supervising these preteens for 2.5 hours after school. They need a safe place to go for a healthy snack and adult assistance with their homework. The YMCA Summer Camp is an excellent choice for Summer. In fact, that organization (and not the City) is an excellent place for you to turn to for what you want to accomplish.

The only thing I would like the City and the County to do is to consider extending the hours of their holiday/summer programs that they already offer so kids with working parents could participate. 9 am to 3 pm just won’t work for us. Or offer some recreation programming at 6:30 p.m. or on the weekends so we can have time to get off from work and get our kids there! There has been a lot of stuff my kids wanted to do, but they could not participate because everything was planned around a stay-at-home parent’s schedule.
Leoah Whineknott

Mr. Barker:

Please heed the advise of Leoah - create programs for middle schoolers, hold them in facilities that are already existing (Kedron Fieldhouse, Glenloch Rec Center, OR THE SCHOOLS!).

That's one thing I haven't heard in any of this discussion. Folks are quick to suggest that the CITY government should create a center. There are TEN buildings in Peachtree City that are not always used by kids when they're outside of schools. They're all already built, paid for by taxes, and contain many things that good teen centers need - dining facilities, large open spaces for dances or other activities, clean restrooms, etc.

They're called our schools. Would it be so terrible to maybe keep one or two classrooms flexible enough to allow such a "teen center". A partnership with the school system may allow kids to stay focused partially on education and understand that there is more to school than just tests.

I think that the focus of any youth councils should not just be to create activities, but to ADVERTISE the MANY activities that are available in the area.

I know for a fact every summer the Kedron Fieldhouse and Aquatic Center has arts camps, sports camps. The YMCA provides day camps, and NOT just for those under 10 years old.

Every resource that is needed to keep pre-teens interested in something are available already. FIND the resources out there, USE the resources you have, STOP the political "in-fighting" that is probably out there.

Don't ask for more buildings - use what you've got first. Build that up so that there's no excuse BUT to build another building.

I agree entirely, and I have been telling the school board and anybody who would listen the same thing for years.

When the Fayette Recreation Department surveyed the citizens, about three years ago, about recreational facilities needed in the county, I wrote them a letter explaining how our public schools can serve as facilities serving the public at large (at the proper times). I also told them about the need for publicly-supported swimming facilities in the county, which could be anchored in our schools and serve a dual purpose. (Anybody can put up a basketball goal in his driveway so kids can practice their basketball shots, but the cost and upkeep of swimming pools requires a pooling of resources and intelligent management.)

We need public facilities for people of all ages in the county, and our school buildings and facilities can serve more than one constituency. So-called senior centers that would operate outside of school hours (evenings, Saturdays, Sundays, summers) could possibly be located in school facilities.

It would of course take imagination and a spirit of cooperation for our elected officials to make this happen. Nothing is possible until people are willing to adopt a positive attitude and give it a try.