Come to the Teen Power Project kick-off with your kids on Wednesday, April 21st between 2:30 - 6:00pm. It's celebrating teens who are living in Montclair Village and Montclair Park...on every Wednesday afternoon. Here's the announcement from the Montclair Village Association, to merchants and neighbors:

Greetings!

Merchants and shoppers have expressed concerns about school-aged kids hanging out in the Village, especially on Wednesday afternoons when school gets out earlier.

Most of these youths are polite and good shoppers. A few, however, especially in the spring (fever), get rowdy and have been known to intimidate folks on the street. Most of us have forgotten how we may have acted in our youth, and complain about "today's kids," rather than doing something constructive to address the situation.

Well, a group of mothers, with the help of our Village Park Director, Mark Zinn, and one local merchant, Kevin Benafield, owner of The Magpie on La Salle Ave., have been working quietly with the kids from the local schools to develop after-school activities in the Park that are more appealing than standing on a Village street corner waiting for a parental pickup.

Now they want all to know what they have developed and are asking for your support. They have developed a program called Teen Power:

* A Teen Snack Shack
* A 1/4 pipe skate ramp (possibly a 1/2 pipe) with professional boarders and prizes
* A Teen Stage with local teen musicians and DJ's

(Ramp and Stage Set up: Mon, 10 am - noon and Wed, 10 am - 1 pm.)

The organizers (again, all local volunteers) would love for the community to come out and support this event. They request that the community members who have children that are younger then 6th grade come to watch the show but stay off the ramp for this event only. Parents are welcome to bring the younger ones at a later date or wait until the event ends.

This 1/4 pipe is intended for the teens 6th - 12 grade. They must bring protective gear and will be asked to wear it even if the professionals don't. Teens are expected from Montera, Skyline, Oakland Tech, Oakland High and Bishop O Dowd schools.

This group of volunteers need more parents and interested adults to help keep this project alive. There are plans for renovating a portion of the Park adjacent to the tennis courts that currently is overgrown with bushes, and turn it into a weekday afternoon teen gathering place (with adult supervision). Volunteers who can help with the clean-up as well as supervision are needed.

So, stop complaining about our youth and help us provide supervised activities that they really do value more than "hangin' in the Village."

See you in the Park!

Roger Vickery
MVA Executive Director

Phone: 510-339-1000
E-mail: montclairvillage@sbcglobal.net