Gloversville residents are demanding officials take action amid an uptick in youth violence.
It was standing-room only at Tuesday’s Gloversville Common Council meeting — dozens attending after a summer marked by violent acts by youth seemingly reached a breaking point this past weekend.
An incident at Railfest, an annual community celebration and fundraising event, resulted in six juveniles being arrested.
April Reinhardt was one of a handful of residents who spoke during the meeting’s public comment period.
“The community needs to start coming together like this today, and start standing up and showing these young youth what a community can do together," Reinhardt said. "Start pooling money, start opening recreation, start opening housing, I know there’s houses y’all are trying to sell off in the community."
Reinhardt suggested further cooperation with the Fulton County Department of Social Services and other local organization to lend a hand to parents in need.
“Parents are disregarding their kids because they can’t handle their kids,” Reinhardt said. “They don’t have the community backing anymore, they don’t have a neighbor to say ‘hey can I have your help?’”
Jeff Walters said officials are losing control of the situation – a sentiment shared by many in the room.
“You had a baseball bat and brass knuckle fight the week before [Railfest]," Walters said. "We had the senior that was put in the hospital at the Cumberland Farms before that. There were several incidences before that. The violence in this city has gotten crazy."
Residents spoke in favor of implementing juvenile curfews or legislation that would hold parents accountable for their children’s violence.
Such a measure has been proposed in Albany County. The bill under consideration there would require training and community service for parents or guardians found to be negligent or reckless in supervising youth offenders covered under New York’s Raise the Age laws. Those moved the age at which individuals can be tried as adults from 16 to 18-years-old.
Nothing of the sort has yet been proposed in Gloversville.
For his part, Gloversville Mayor Gary Antonucci said city officials were working diligently to address the apparent spike in youth crime; he said a public forum would be held after officials had met with DSS and other organizations to brainstorm solutions, though no date was given.
Vicky Savage, a lifelong Gloversville resident, left the meeting more frustrated than when she arrived. She said the mayor’s lackluster response to the numerous public comments is disappointing.
“No, they listened to those people," Savage said. "They didn’t say a word, they didn’t counteract and they went on to who’s getting voted in to—this was a waste of time. It really was."
A statement released by the city ahead of Tuesday's meeting noted the state’s Raise The Age reforms “changed the options available to law enforcement and municipalities when responding to offenses committed by young people.”
Megan Mazza said her business has been the target of multiple instances of vandalism by juveniles in recent months.
“Our understaffed officers are stuck in a revolving door, arresting the same repeat offenders just to watch the courts release them," Mazza said. "It wastes critical police hours and guts morale. And let’s be honest about yesterday’s press release. City hall waited until the day before this meeting to put it out only because the public demanded action after this weekend’s incident. What about all the issues that have been escalating since before the end of the school year? Putting out a statement to say you’re working behind the scenes with different agencies after months of silence is not enough."
