ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) — Albany Mayor Dorcey Applyrs was joined by city officials to announce engaging programs and places for students while school is out on the city’s website. Applyrs says getting the word out about the programs is key to preventing youth violence.
“While this is about unveiling a tool, it is a tool really intended to save lives,” said Applyrs. “I want to make that very clear and plain, as we know that when our young people don’t have constructive things to do, there are other things that will take their attention.”
Get the latest news, weather, sports and entertainment delivered right to your inbox!
Some of those other things could include being disruptive to local businesses, which is what happened to Kasim Kurd. Kurd sold his restaurant, Pizzaroni on Madison Avenue in downtown Albany, because he had problems with customers. Some of these problems were run-ins with students after school.
“They were very, very problematic,” said Kurd. “It was a big problem, actually. I was closing down [at] 3 p.m. for thirty minutes.”
Download our WTEN+ streaming app on Roku, Fire TV and Apple TV!
Kurd said when a new principal took over at the nearby middle school, the issues with kids got better, but the violence from his customers persisted. After the COVID-19 pandemic, it got to the point where he would not bring his own family to the shop…