How about closing the Monte Carlo and putting the teen center there?

When i was younger the teen center was just a place to go hook up with girls and see gangsters outside how is this suppose to be a good place for children?

This being Silicon Valley, I want to see empirical evidence that Teen Centers as historically envisioned "work" against gangs and gang violence.

Should we have year-round, all day school (and ensure that everyone attends) so that kids don't have as much slack time without parents? Within labor laws, should we provide innovative ways for kids under 18 to work on the weekends so they can make extra money and stay busy? Should we keep Crittenden and Graham open to provide a "not so quiet" teen library/gym for nighttime and weekends with programs and staff who can speak Russian, Spanish, Vietnamese, and other languages? Do we need to provide more support for working parents so that their kids can feel supported and like they "belong"?

We need to spend more time talking with EACH at-risk kid on *why* they do what they do. Talking with EACH kid who have escaped that world on how they did it. Talking with EACH parent of at-risk kids on why they think things have gone wrong. Talking with EACH senior who expresses a NIMBY attitude toward a potential shared senior/teen center to figure out what's given them the impression that kids are nothing but trouble.

It's a slow process, but only then can we figure out what we really need. Figuring out how to better support teachers and counselors in the work they do. Figuring out how we as a community can stop relying on the police to solve everything and start having the tools to say both "not in my neighborhood -- but yes in my neighborhood".