Aurora | About 50 community activists asked Aurora City Council Monday, May 14, to pressure the Town Center at Aurora to make changes to policies they claim allow racial profiling in the mall.
"The Aurora Mall has put in place policies that are discriminatory in practice and the way they enforce them," said Jamal Miller, an Aurora man with Colorado Progressive Coalition, a community activist group. "These policies have many of us in our community feeling that we are targeted for exclusion when we go to the Aurora mall, particularly youth and people of color."
The activists - many wearing green shirts and arm bands to show solidarity - said Simon Property Group, which owns the Town Center, would not address their concerns, and asked city council to approach Simon with suggestions.
Proposed changes included giving mall security guards cultural awareness training, setting up a formal complaint system to address grievances, and revising the mall's code of conduct.
After a shooting in 2005, the mall changed its name and introduced a Parental Escort Program barring teens younger than 16 from entering the mall after 5 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays without a parent or guardian.
A handful of activists and a former mall employee told city council they believed the escort program and the mall's dress code are used by security guards and volunteers patrolling the mall to discriminate against minorities.
Simon could not be immediately reached for comment.
Simon disputed a report released in March by the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, detailing claims of discrimination at the mall. The property group issued a statement saying the shopping center "has zero tolerance for discrimination."
But city council members said they see a problem and pledged to work with the activists and mall management to find a solution.
"There is a problem," Councilman Larry Beer said. "... I believe as a city we should have a policy of zero tolerance for racist behavior. I personally repudiate any activity at the Town Center that smacks of racist behavior."
Beer also said Simon invested $85 million to redevelop the mall and has a right to protect its investment.
Lawmakers cautioned that Simon is a private company and they would have to check with the city attorney to see what they as lawmakers could do to put pressure on the mall.
"This is a good start," Miller said after hearing city council's response to concerns surrounding the mall. "We just want to be heard and we were heard. There's going to be some change." |
