Readers Weigh in on Broadway Youth Center

Many readers weighed in on their thoughts on the Broadway Youth Center after a South East Lake View Neighbors (SELVN) meeting Monday night. Comments ran the gamut, with some saying the Center should leave the area, some stating it should say and others offering alternative solutions. 

The Broadway Youth Center has been operating inside the Wellington Avenue United Church of Christ since June, but learned recently that they'll need a special-use permit to stay open. Some residents are against the church being used as the Center, saying it has brought a wave of crime into the area. 

The majority of Patch commenters were against the Broadway Youth Center remaining at its current location, with only one comment in favor of the Center staying and fourteen comments saying it should move. (An additional twelve commenters did not take a firm stance in their comments or the comment was off-topic.)

"The use of the word 'criminals' to describe the clients of the Center is inaccurate at best," commented reader Katherine Wolf about the youth. "Most of the youth using the Center do not have criminal records, and even for those few who do, their records with law enforcement are not their main defining characteristic as people." 

User Grumpy Old Man believes that those using the Center should follow rules of conduct.

"So, we residents are to accept surviving by crime as an acceptable community standard?" wrote user Grumpy Old Man in a comment. "People who are legitimately in need of help should have no problem in conforming their behavior to acceptable community rules of conduct and social service agencies private and public should have no problem with requiring they do so." 

Commenter Richard wrote that the Center should be moved to a different location. 

"There are so many more appropriate places for the youth center," Richard wrote. "The fact that so many neighbors disagree with it being on Wellington should be the first clue." 

Editor's note: The content of comments were not changed, although some were edited for spelling and punctuation. Similarly, some comments have been cut down for brevity. 

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