Role of The Community - Restrictive or Helpful ?

Many people complain about the activities that our youth get up to, but much fewer people play an active part in helping to provide constructive diversions for them.  Certainly many local councils and planning authorities have much to answer for and one has to question just how sincere they have been in putting the long-term interests of the communities they represent ahead of other interests.  There are many housing estates without safe practical access to local community and sports facilities, never mind safe parks to play in at night as well as during the day.  (While in countries with long summer evenings, special provision for night time facilities may be unnecessary, in countries where winter evenings are falling before children have even left school this is not the case.  Communities should consider that even if cold winters nights tend to keep their youth off the streets, those that have not found alternative activities will invariably be 'up-to-no-good' during the long evenings of summer.  Imposing a curfew may be quite appropriate in some areas after certain times, but the need for it would suggest that families on one hand and local communities on the other are not shouldering enough responsibility to provide meaningful alternatives to the boredom experienced by our youth.)

Historically, while facilities for the very young such as swing parks and slides, have generally featured somewhere in the area of each local council's jurisdiction, facilities for teenagers have often been an after-thought at best.  This is perhaps hardly surprising, given the minimal input that teenagers have.  Land can generally be found for tennis courts and bowls clubs, but roller-blade ramps are generally scarcer which exacerbates the problem because those that do exist are perhaps more likely to attract a 'less-desirable element' from other estates.  While we may believe that sporting or musical activities are 'healthier' pastimes for our youth, how many of our local councils have provided access to indoor football, tennis or squash courts that can be used all-year-round?  How many have provided access to musical instruments such as guitars and drums, as well as harps and violins, for our youth to practice on (and to perhaps release a little aggression through)?  How many have provided evening access to education on the Internet via our schools or libraries?  While there are endless possibilities for those local councils, as well as national governments, to explore if they have a mind to, no one would suggest that such facilities can be had without a cost.  This cost rises, the higher the number of personnel required to administer and control use of these facilities.  Never-the-less, these added costs could well translate into savings if theft and vandalism were to decrease and our more troublesome youth became positive contributors to the neighbourhoods we would all prefer to live in.

What about communities that endeavour to do the right thing but suffer because adjacent communities do not have the resources or intent?  This is perhaps one area where it is justified for central government to step in.  Community facilities may not demand the same level of concern as our hospitals and schools, but if one level of our community feels alienated from the others then all will suffer.  Teenagers too young to be allowed into local drinking establishments (seemingly an outmoded, as well as anti-social concept, given our gradual progress towards European integration) but too disenchanted to join after-school clubs (of which there are still too few) should still have access to the positive environment of alternative facilities for productive social interaction, personal advancement or simply personal enjoyment.  Perhaps it is actually time that the youth of the country have some input to community facilities that are planned - perhaps this should even be compulsory for all 'so-called' local community projects?  Where local councils appear negligent in providing facilities for their youth, then perhaps a percentage of their finances should be placed in a government administered youth trust specifically geared to address this issue while recognising that no single action will rectify the myriad of problems primarily associated with social deprivation? 

Some ideas, which may spark helpful initiatives if undertaken by local communities / local councils:

Suggestions On Improving The Local Community For Our Youth

	Create more facilities which extend beyond the traditional perception of how adults believe our youth should pass their time  the more attractive facilities are to our youth the more likely they can be encouraged to exploit them constructively, and with the appropriate level of control, discouraged from abusing other facilities.
	Introduce free transport or encourage local transport operators to provide free passage to youth card holders traveling in the evening to sports, recreation or community facilities in the same manner that properly integrating our various mass transport systems would encourage their greater use, allowing our youth maximum access to public facilities at the minimum cost would increase the numbers exploiting those facilities.
	Introduce free youth local community pass cards  in order to encourage respect for all local council facilities, it would appear sensible to tie use of all facilities together so that abuse of one would cause a temporary cessation of rights to all.  This scheme will be most effective in areas where local councils attempt to satisfy the genuine positive interests of all their local youth, not simply a select few.  Tying serious abuse of facilities to temporary loss of participation in youth training schemes, or even applicable social benefits may also warrant consideration, but the onus should be on encouraging community participation not discouraging it.
	Mix types of facilities to encourage a broader interaction of our youth  while some may view this negatively, for example a bookworm may not welcome the thought of a combined sports hall and library, besides the fact that the sports-oriented may at least be tempted to look at books on sports training methods the avid book reader may come to appreciate that not all of life's experiences can be gained through reading.

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