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Crime and hanging out in gangs is no fun
• IT amazes me when I hear that line teenagers are bored and have nothing to do (CCTV that victimises teenagers, May 28).
I grew up in Somers Town more than 40 years ago as have my family.
Through the years, when I was a teenager, we had to find our own things to do. Those things certainly did not include, crime, gangs, intimidation etc.
The teenagers around Somers Town seem to think that hanging out in gangs with a dog they do not even care for, intimidating people and making noise late into the night is fun!
Why do they not find a hobby that is fun, go to evening classes, take up a sport?
Look at the two dance groups on Britain’s Got Talent, Diversity and Flawless.
This is a fantastic example of how youths can channel their energy into something really positive.
If they can do it, then anyone can.
Dan ramirez
Address supplied, NW1
Start here to help youths
• YOU must be Congratulated for your balanced report on the meeting regarding youth issues on the Ossulston Street estate (CCTV that victimises teenagers, May 28).
Residents made it clear that one of the major issues in the area is the lack of activities for its large number of young people and, indeed, the lack of space – in the midst of often overcrowded housing – for them to simply live and play.
Yet a short-term solution, at least, is sitting on the community’s doorstep here.
There is more than three acres of land behind the British Library sitting empty, (pictured above) and since there has yet to even be a development application put in for the site, whatever you think of the plan for a medical research laboratory there, it is clearly going to be years before any work starts.
Just imagine, places to kick a football, places to grow vegetables and stroll among them, maybe a skate ramp, maybe some basketball hoops, a small amount of money and a little effort could produce a facility of considerable benefit to the community.
The consortium that owns and plans to build on the site assures us that it wants to support and become part of the community.
This would be a good way for it to start.
Natalie Bennett
South Camden
Green Party co-ordinator
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