disorderlyvision
07-28-2009, 05:42 PM
http://www.buffalonews.com/cityregion/story/741867.html?imw=Y
Some Amherst Town Board members question whether Chuck E. Cheese’s really is the place “where a kid can be a kid.”
In a 3-3 vote this week, the board failed to approve a game license for the kids-themed food and entertainment venue on Harlem Road, citing concerns about violent video games and bad behavior by patrons that require police intervention.
Council Member Shelly Schratz said she was disturbed by several “action-packed shoot-and-kill games” that were accessible to children as young as 4.
“When I see 6-year-olds, 8-year-olds playing those games, when all the time we’re opening the paper and seeing those stories on youth violence, do we need those games to make money?” she said.
Schratz was one of three board members who voted against renewing the establishment’s game room license, which is necessary for the business to legally run its arcade games, a major draw for families that patronize the chain’s 500-plus locations from coast to coast.
The decision to withhold the game room license is not sitting well with patrons or corporate officials, who plan to send a representative to the next Town Board meeting to get the Amherst location’s game room license restored. It is set to expire at the end of the month.
“It’s a very big deal to us,” said spokeswoman Brenda Holloway. “We definitely will respond.”
She said Chuck E. Cheese’s will do everything possible to address board concerns.
Game room licenses usually are passed by the board as a matter of routine. Businesses that offer pay-for-play type games, including video games, must apply for an annual game room license.
Licensing brings in revenue for the town, including a $100 application fee, an additional annual license fee of $200 for up to five games, and $40 more for each additional game, according to the town code.
Monday’s vote was first time a game room license was denied. But Amherst Town Attorney E. Thomas Jones said he doubted Chuck E. Cheese’s would be forbidden to operate its games before a public hearing is held.
The three board members who voted against the license had varying reasons for doing so. Schratz was concerned about the types of games Chuck E. Cheese’s offered.
Council Member Guy Marlette voted against granting the town license because he said the board should have more specifics on what the game room license is for and was concerned about the number of police calls to that location.
He said when he participated in the Citizen Police Academy in the spring, officers told him that the Chuck E. Cheese’s on Harlem Road was one of their top trouble spots.
He and Council Member Daniel Ward — who also voted no — both argue that if the Town Board is ultimately responsible for approving game room licenses, it should be receiving reports about the game room operators from the town staff, not rubber-stamping their approvals.
Ward, who always votes against game room licenses, said he didn’t think the board should be involved in licensing at all.
Even so, when the Chuck E. Cheese’s resolution failed to pass Monday, the entire board seemed surprised. Schratz — who was the first to express concern about the appropriateness of the business’s arcade games — tried to change her vote after the fact and table the resolution.
“I should have—and I didn’t — just table it from the start,” she said. “But I thought if I brought to the board’s attention the information about the games that I saw, that people would comment. But they didn’t.”
After much confusion, parliamentary discussion and consultation, Schratz gave up trying to change her vote and said she would address the issue at another time. She said she wants assurances from Chuck E. Cheese’s corporate office that more violent games designed for older children are clearly marked as off limits to children under a certain age.
Supervisor Satish Mohan and Council Members Mark Manna and Barry Weinstein voted in favor of the game room license. Manna was particularly vocal about the resolution’s defeat.
“By what moral authority does Shelly Schratz have to go into a business and say what you have is not age-appropriate?” he said. “It’s clearly Shelly sticking her nose in where it doesn’t belong. I’ve never seen games [there] that are gory or explicit. There is more violence in a Bugs Bunny cartoon.”
On behalf of the Chuck E. Cheese’s, Holloway stated that its locations offer only game packages appropriate for use by the public.
A brief tour of the Harlem Road Chuck E. Cheese's on Wednesday indicates, however, that the venue also offered about half a dozen yellow-rated games, which include some nongory and non-explicit violence.
This included shooting and hunting games in which people, animals and various zombies, aggressive creatures and monsters are attacking or being attacked by the game player. These games were separated from the toddler play area but sprinkled amid other nonviolent video games and skill games such as skeeball.
Snyder resident Jenny Boggil, who was heading into the establishment Wednesday afternoon with her 9-year-old daughter, said she was surprised and sorry to hear that the Chuck E. Cheese's was facing the loss of its game room license.
She disputed both the idea that the establishment has violent games or and is unsafe for families.
"I don't see the violence; I don't see the safety issue," she said. "I never have."
She also said she didn't think the town should be making decisions for parents who enjoy bringing their children there and hosting birthday parties.
"It should be up to the parents," she said. "If they don't want their children to play those games, they don't have to bring them."
Some Amherst Town Board members question whether Chuck E. Cheese’s really is the place “where a kid can be a kid.”
In a 3-3 vote this week, the board failed to approve a game license for the kids-themed food and entertainment venue on Harlem Road, citing concerns about violent video games and bad behavior by patrons that require police intervention.
Council Member Shelly Schratz said she was disturbed by several “action-packed shoot-and-kill games” that were accessible to children as young as 4.
“When I see 6-year-olds, 8-year-olds playing those games, when all the time we’re opening the paper and seeing those stories on youth violence, do we need those games to make money?” she said.
Schratz was one of three board members who voted against renewing the establishment’s game room license, which is necessary for the business to legally run its arcade games, a major draw for families that patronize the chain’s 500-plus locations from coast to coast.
The decision to withhold the game room license is not sitting well with patrons or corporate officials, who plan to send a representative to the next Town Board meeting to get the Amherst location’s game room license restored. It is set to expire at the end of the month.
“It’s a very big deal to us,” said spokeswoman Brenda Holloway. “We definitely will respond.”
She said Chuck E. Cheese’s will do everything possible to address board concerns.
Game room licenses usually are passed by the board as a matter of routine. Businesses that offer pay-for-play type games, including video games, must apply for an annual game room license.
Licensing brings in revenue for the town, including a $100 application fee, an additional annual license fee of $200 for up to five games, and $40 more for each additional game, according to the town code.
Monday’s vote was first time a game room license was denied. But Amherst Town Attorney E. Thomas Jones said he doubted Chuck E. Cheese’s would be forbidden to operate its games before a public hearing is held.
The three board members who voted against the license had varying reasons for doing so. Schratz was concerned about the types of games Chuck E. Cheese’s offered.
Council Member Guy Marlette voted against granting the town license because he said the board should have more specifics on what the game room license is for and was concerned about the number of police calls to that location.
He said when he participated in the Citizen Police Academy in the spring, officers told him that the Chuck E. Cheese’s on Harlem Road was one of their top trouble spots.
He and Council Member Daniel Ward — who also voted no — both argue that if the Town Board is ultimately responsible for approving game room licenses, it should be receiving reports about the game room operators from the town staff, not rubber-stamping their approvals.
Ward, who always votes against game room licenses, said he didn’t think the board should be involved in licensing at all.
Even so, when the Chuck E. Cheese’s resolution failed to pass Monday, the entire board seemed surprised. Schratz — who was the first to express concern about the appropriateness of the business’s arcade games — tried to change her vote after the fact and table the resolution.
“I should have—and I didn’t — just table it from the start,” she said. “But I thought if I brought to the board’s attention the information about the games that I saw, that people would comment. But they didn’t.”
After much confusion, parliamentary discussion and consultation, Schratz gave up trying to change her vote and said she would address the issue at another time. She said she wants assurances from Chuck E. Cheese’s corporate office that more violent games designed for older children are clearly marked as off limits to children under a certain age.
Supervisor Satish Mohan and Council Members Mark Manna and Barry Weinstein voted in favor of the game room license. Manna was particularly vocal about the resolution’s defeat.
“By what moral authority does Shelly Schratz have to go into a business and say what you have is not age-appropriate?” he said. “It’s clearly Shelly sticking her nose in where it doesn’t belong. I’ve never seen games [there] that are gory or explicit. There is more violence in a Bugs Bunny cartoon.”
On behalf of the Chuck E. Cheese’s, Holloway stated that its locations offer only game packages appropriate for use by the public.
A brief tour of the Harlem Road Chuck E. Cheese's on Wednesday indicates, however, that the venue also offered about half a dozen yellow-rated games, which include some nongory and non-explicit violence.
This included shooting and hunting games in which people, animals and various zombies, aggressive creatures and monsters are attacking or being attacked by the game player. These games were separated from the toddler play area but sprinkled amid other nonviolent video games and skill games such as skeeball.
Snyder resident Jenny Boggil, who was heading into the establishment Wednesday afternoon with her 9-year-old daughter, said she was surprised and sorry to hear that the Chuck E. Cheese's was facing the loss of its game room license.
She disputed both the idea that the establishment has violent games or and is unsafe for families.
"I don't see the violence; I don't see the safety issue," she said. "I never have."
She also said she didn't think the town should be making decisions for parents who enjoy bringing their children there and hosting birthday parties.
"It should be up to the parents," she said. "If they don't want their children to play those games, they don't have to bring them."