SHAKER HEIGHTS, Ohio — The Van Aken District is often seen as vibrant, lively, and family-friendly. But in late March, a different theme overtook the area, leading to a stricter youth chaperone policy that began this month.
On March 22, Van Aken District General Manager Jesse Rathner told me more than 100 unsupervised teens, presumably ranging from 14 to 18 years old, took over Market Hall.
"We did have a much larger event, something that you will see and that's happening all over the country, these organized teen takeovers that generally are spearheaded online," Rathner said. "They were lined up all around the market hall just right here, and then along the other side. It did get, you know, a little shovey at times between the group."
News 5 was there as it all unfolded.
News 5 Photographer Ian Wrenn described the ordeal as chaotic, saying Shaker Heights police were on scene attempting to de-escalate it.
"We did end up having to close the market hall early and shut down businesses for the night. It was frightening. There were many patrons who left that evening. We also had kids just kind of running across freely between here and Shaker Plaza. It was a dangerous situation," Rathner said. "We have residents who live upstairs. This is their front door. We have businesses that pay rent here. This is where they work. They have the right to not want bicycles riding through their store space, and they have the right to not have kids yelling vulgarity and profanity, smoking."
Fortunately, Rathner said there was no damage to the shopping district.
Rathner said the district does not want to take the chance moving forward, though, which is why the youth chaperone policy has been tweaked.
Van Aken's original youth chaperone policy curfew was 8 p.m., which began in August 2025.
According to Van Aken District signage, visitors 17 years of age and younger are now required to be accompanied by a parent or supervising adult age 25 or older on Fridays and Saturdays after 4 p.m.
Unsupervised youths shopping prior to 4 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays must leave the mall by 4 p.m, or immediately be joined by a parent or supervising adult.
Proof of age may be required for the youth and/or supervising adults. Those who lack proper identification may be asked to leave the property, according to the Van Aken District.
Valid forms of ID include a state-issued driver's license or identification card, a military card, a school ID card, or a passport. The identification must be tamper-proof and include a photograph and date of birth, per the Van Aken District.
One adult may accompany up to four youths. All accompanied youths must remain with the supervising adult.
Supervising adults are responsible for the actions of the youth they accompany, according to the Van Aken District.
The only exception to youth being in the district after 4 p.m. is for those who are working there at the time.
Van Aken is just one of many shopping districts to have recently implemented a youth chaperone policy.
In 2022, Pincrest in Orange created a similar requirement for parents. No one under the age of 18, regardless of the day of the week, could be unsupervised.
As of 2023, Crocker Park no longer allows anyone under the age of 15 to be without an adult.
I reached out to both shopping centers for an interview, but did not hear back.
"We've tried to be very gradual in how we implemented a policy because we want to remain open to the public," Rathner said. "Last year we opened up a police resource center with the Shaker Heights Police Department. We have a Shaker Heights police officer who offices out of the district down the road right over there. These are all steps we took to try to help kind of combat the issue along with our in-house security team, de-escalation tactics, talking with these kids, and really to just try to slow walk this as much as we could. Unfortunately those efforts were not the most fruitful, and we saw the problems getting worse."
The policy, as of now, is indefinite, according to Rathner.
"In order to be fair and encompassing, it has to be applied universally," Rathner explained. "We've seen a consistent trend of this continuing in numbers that we really needed to take a preventative approach, not one that was reactive to once the issue's already here, having police come, having more security officers here, which is also creating an optic of a non-friendly environment."
He said since implementing the new policy, the Van Aken District has seen fewer incidents.
"One of the misconceptions about this is that, you know, kids might be seen as not being welcomed, and that's entirely not the case," Rathner said.
However, Shaker Heights parents, like Michael McCarthy and Melissa Kalan, whose teens frequent the shopping district, now feel like their kids are not welcome.
"We have two young kids that have enjoyed going over there. Something that was described to us by the developers in the city when it was being built as Shaker's new downtown, and we've really treated it that way, and so it's been really disappointing to see that now members of our family are being told you're not welcome in the city's downtown," McCarthy said on Sunday.
He said he's already witnessed some kids told to leave while others can stay.
"The first night that the policy was put in place, two of my daughter's classmates were asked to leave by security. And then two of my other daughter's classmates who looked differently than them were allowed to stay, and I hate to see something like that happen in our community," McCarthy said.
McCarthy told me his daughter recently took a trip with almost 300 Shaker students to Europe over spring break, where they were allowed to be unchaperoned in groups of four.
"Not a single incident was reported. They're representing, you know, our city, our country abroad. They behaved wonderfully and respectfully, but they're not allowed to prove that here in our own city. That's incredibly frustrating," McCarthy said.
Once back from Europe, McCarthy said his daughter and eight of her friends wanted to celebrate the trip by going to dinner in the Van Aken District this month, but they had to cancel it once they found out they'd need parental supervision after 4 p.m.
"They couldn't hold it at the Van Aken District, a place where they always met previously and spent their money. They had to go outside the district, in fact, outside the city to have that dinner, and that as a taxpayer doesn't make any sense to me," McCarthy said.
Kalan said her almost 16-year-old son was walking through the Van Aken District recently, as he normally does on his walk home from hanging out with his friends in the middle school area.
"This is just a cut through. It basically leads from one neighborhood to another. He's just walking through to come home. He has his earbuds in, he's on his phone by himself, minding his own business, and he's approached by security to say, you know, you can't be here. He respectfully explains, 'I'm just walking through.' That's a poor precedent to set, that no matter what you're doing or where you are, you're going to be harassed or told that you can't be in your community," Kalan said.
Neither McCarthy nor Kalan agrees with the policy, as they believe the shopping district should have opened the discussion to parents before making any changes.
"Unfortunately it's entirely arbitrary and doesn't really solve for what I understand are the reasons it was put in place," McCarthy said. "I would love a conversation. In fact, my wife reached out to the manager at the Van Aiken District to have a conversation with ourselves and other concerned parents in the area. Unfortunately, she (his wife) was told they would love ways to gather feedback, would love to receive it, but he's not interested in the conversation and is not interested in meeting with any of us."
McCarthy said the lack of dialogue makes his family feel undervalued.
"There seems to be talking points that keep being reiterated if you ask questions, if you pose concerns, but it doesn't seem like there's any real interest in making any changes right now to listen to the community, to hear us and what we're asking for. We fully respect their choice to keep the district safe if that's what they feel like they need to do, but a four o'clock curfew seems very extreme," Kalan said.
Kalan said the 8 p.m. curfew seemed like it was working and wants to know why the district "backtracked" in progress.
McCarthy and Kalan have reached out to their respective council members in Shaker Heights to discuss their concerns. That meeting is scheduled for next week.
"Hopefully then as well we can have a conversation with the city's development director and we're hoping that they're able to open a dialogue with the manager and the developers at Van Aken to come to a more reasonable policy," McCarthy told me on Sunday.
Kalan said she wants the shopping district to understand how much money will be lost if the policy continues as is.
"Our kids work in the district. Our kids spend their money in the district. We as families spend our money in the district, and I know that some parents are going to start choosing to spend their money elsewhere if their kids are not welcome to be in this space," Kalan said.
Rathner told me the district will continue to look at data, the number of incident reports, and the impact on businesses and visitor experience.
"We'd love to eventually get to a place where maybe we could peel this back. I think the struggle is that Van Aken is a first and second place for a lot of people because it's their place of business or their residence. It's also a third space for people, but we have to think about the first and second place first because people are choosing to establish their livelihoods or where they live here. We certainly want to accommodate the third space customer," Rathner said. "For us to make any change to our policy here we need to start seeing that systemic change."
He wants the community to start asking what spaces, beyond shopping centers, and what resources are being provided to kids.
"That's a much larger discussion than just at the shopping center level," Rathner said.
To read through the district's Code of Conduct, click HERE.
