The problem of internet cafes seducing students to escape school has a city councilman worried. Councilman John Liu announced yesterday that he is presenting a bill prohibiting students below high school age from going to Internet cafes during school hours. If caught, the city could issue a ticket to café owners of $150 to $300. This bill only concerns school hours for youth and children. The Internet café’s business hours and rates would not be affected.

Yesterday, Councilmember Liu, State Assemblyman Barry Grodenchik, representatives from Flushing 109th Precinct and Bayside 111th Precinct, the principal of I.S. 237, and Korean American Association representative Terrance Park announced the bill together. The police presented their support.

The commanding officer of the 111th Precinct, Captain Julio Ordonez, said that because they are a new, unregulated kind of business, it is difficult to police the many Internet cafes in Bayside. The police can only go investigate after something has happened. If the law passes then the police will have more control.

Councilman Liu’s bill would only apply to private Internet cafes, not the computers in libraries or schools. Internet cafes would prohibit high school or below high school age students during school hours. Other times like weekends, holidays, or non-school hours would not be monitored.

I.S. 237 principal Joseph Cantara said a lot of students from his school were cutting class and avoiding school. He discovered that most of them are hanging out in Internet cafes. He sent a letter to the café owners asking them to control the situation and received no response. Therefore he presented his case to Councilman Liu and asked for a law.

Most of the Internet cafes in the Flushing area frequented by Chinese are owned by Korean business owners. According to the 109th Precinct, Flushing has 15 Internet cafes. The police stated that if the Internet bar had no regulations regarding youth, then delinquency related to Internet cafés has no solution. Internet cafes in Flushing and Bayside are often sites of underreported robberies and fights.

The City Council’s consumer affairs committee plans to discuss the bill. After that, there will be a lot of public hearings where the community, parents, schools, and businesspeople will voice their different opinions. Even if it proceeds smoothly, the bill will need about 10 months to go into effect.