Concerns in Birmingham over Crowds of Kids

BIRMINGHAM, Mich. - It's a popular place to shop, wine and dine, but lately you might have to dodge the rowdy crowds, too. Complaints are piling up about downtown Birmingham turning into a playground for unruly teens.

It's like clockwork. Every Friday and Saturday night in the summer downtown Birmingham becomes a hangout haven for tweens and teens. Most are dropped off and come in from everywhere.

"Everyone comes here because it's just a place to hang out," said one girl. "No one really has any houses to hang out at."

"I think parents think that Birmingham's like a baby-sitter. So, just kind of leave them around and then they all come in and just sit around and be annoying and loud and not buy anything," said Alex Fountain.

He's a shift manager at Cupcake Station and claims it causes customers to get up and leave, pushing business away.

"Next to Panera is a huge gathering place. There'll be hundreds of kids," said Andrew Bergstrom.

He snapped a picture last weekend that shows so many kids congregating on the sidewalk that they are spilling out into the streets.

"I just want to get it addressed because when I come out of the theater with my son and he says, 'Daddy, I'm scared.'" I mean, it could be a bunch of clowns walking around, but if you see a hundred clowns or anything you're going to get nervous," Bergstrom said.

Hundreds of kids mostly just stand around at Woodward and Maple taking up space. However, according to police, there have been several, minor incidents on different corners throughout Birmingham.

"They just started rocking the car and laughing. It was terrifying. We've seen them walk kitty-corner through the intersection late at night and just walk down the street and push each other and push into people. Fist fights," said Bergstrom.

"Recently, the police have been asking us to pull our tables and chairs in at the end of the night instead of leaving them outside because they don't want to encourage loitering," said Kilwins Manager Courtney Butler.

Police are worried it may get worse and have since beefed up manpower. Officers are now standing guard. Residents and regulars of this town hope it helps.

"No one really could control it for the longest time, so we'll see what happens now," said one man.

"It shouldn't be this way, and we should expect the same stability here and calmness in our streets that they do in any other community," Bergstrom said.

Police are encouraging parents not to drop their kids off randomly in the middle of a city and leaving them for a couple of hours. Try to monitor what they are doing.

Police also plan to closely monitor the situation in downtown Birmingham on the weekend and make young people aware of their presence to discourage them from doing anything.