Police Commissioner Ernest Cipullo would like to make the parents of Garden City Middle School students aware of a growing problem after school dismissal on Fridays: an event created and locally referred to by middle school students as Fridays on Seventh Street.

Since Fridays on Seventh Street begins after middle school dismissal, more than 100 unsupervised middle school children walk directly to the shopping center district on Seventh Street where they hang out for approximately two and one half hours.

Initially, the business community welcomed these children. But the children soon become bored and look for ways to entertain themselves. In many instances, they are placing area pedestrians as well as themselves in danger as some of these activities include chasing each other between parked cars into the street without looking, conducting shopping cart races on the sidewalks, throwing food, matches, balls and other objects at each other, harassing patrons on the sidewalks, blocking sidewalks with their backpacks and bicycles and acting disorderly.

Since the beginning of this school year, we have experienced a continuation of the disorderly behavior and have assigned police officers to address the problem. However, in order to alleviate the problem, the parents of the middle school students must take necessary steps to know where their children are and to supervise their activities on Fridays.

"The safety and protection of our community's children is one of our primary concerns, especially during the school year, Police Commissioner Ernest Cipullo said. "The cooperation of the parents when problems such as 'Fridays on 7th Street' get out of hand is necessary and desirable both for your children's safety and the business community's desire for harmony with its customers."