Schenectady teen dance club patrons cause late-night angst

PHOTOGRAPHER: Kathleen Moore

Dozens of teens are walking through the Woodlawn neighborhood after midnight every weekend, upsetting some neighbors who are not used to seeing anyone walking late at night, much less groups of children.

The teens are walking home from the Stoop, a new weekend teen dance club that opened in December and draws 140 customers on a typical Friday night. Because the Stoop is located at the far end of the city, in the Aldi’s shopping plaza on State Street, many of those customers must walk two miles to get home when the club closes at midnight.

“They shouldn’t be out at 12 o’clock at night,” said resident Raymond James. “They’re kids, young kids, big groups of them. And if you approach them as an adult, they’re going to hurt you.” He hasn’t seen teens attack adults, but they have rung doorbells, he said. They’ve also ruined his flowers and broken his yard lights.

“We have to sit out every Friday night at 12 o’clock and protect our property. They run up onto the property,” he said. “They just destroy everything.”

They have caused some problems at the Stoop, too. Earlier this month, one boy punched the doorman when he insisted that all bookbags be checked — a rule that another boy was trying to flout. Police were called and arrested four teenagers.

Older teens caused so many problems that the Stoop no longer lets in anyone over the age of 16.

“I tried 17 to 20. I truly love these kids . . . but the mouth, they walk in and they already have the attitude with somebody else. You know what’s coming. I kicked them out,” owner Jessica Bonjukian said.

Two weeks ago, she announced a new age limit. She will only admit those between the ages of 12 and 16.

“Since then I haven’t had many problems” with neighbors, she said.

Bonjukian has also secretly followed some of the teens to see whether they were misbehaving, as neighbors allege. She’s also asked for more police patrols, which she says she has received.

Originally she had planned to only let teens leave the club when their parents arrived to take them home.

But she said she discovered that was impossible. Many parents don’t have cars — and some have younger children at home asleep.

“I know some of the parents who don’t have cars, and I’m not going to tell their kids not to come. They’re good kids,” Bonjukian said.

But both she and the teens wish no one was walking home.

“I would love parents to pick them up, just so I know they’re getting home safe,” she said.

One 15-year-old girl walked alone to the other side of the city, Bonjukian said.

“That scares me. But I can’t legally put her in my car,” Bonjukian said.

Instead, she now requires them to walk home in small groups. Every member of the group must show her their ID, which she uses so she can identify which teens are accused of causing problems.

The teens said they’re not thrilled by walking for 20 minutes or more — but that it’s sometimes the only way they can go to the club.

“My friend’s dad was picking up his sister and there wasn’t enough room for us,” said Elijah Winfield, 12, one of the youngest walking home from the club on a recent Friday.

He had planned to get a ride with his friend — but instead he joined a group of walkers who were passing a cellphone from person to person, calling home.

Each child gave the same information: what cross-streets they had passed, how close they were to home, who they were with. Then they handed the phone to the next walker.

One of the girls shrugged when she was asked why her parents hadn’t picked her up.

“Some parents don’t have cars,” she said.

Winfield added that residents shouldn’t have feared him as he walked home.

“Let kids get home how they want to get home,” he said. “We were just dancing.”