GRE Argument Essay- Skateboarders VS. Shop Owners

GRE Analytical Writing

The following appeared as a letter to the editor from a Central Plaza store owner.

"Over the past two years, the number of shoppers in Central Plaza has been steadily decreasing while the popularity of skateboarding has increased dramatically. Many Central Plaza store owners believe that the decrease in their business is due to the number of skateboard users in the plaza. There has also been a dramatic increase in the amount of litter and vandalism throughout the plaza. Thus, we recommend that the city prohibit skateboarding in Central Plaza. If skateboarding is prohibited here, we predict that business in Central Plaza will return to its previously high levels."

Write a response in which you discuss what questions would need to be answered in order to decide whether the recommendation is likely to have the predicted result. Be sure to explain how the answers to these questions would help to evaluate the recommendation.

The Central Plaza store owner makes a generalized conclusion that the increase in the population of skateboarders and higher incidence of vandalism and littering has negatively affected the number of shoppers at this particular location. The author also states that forbidding skateboarding on the premises of the Plaza will most return business to its normal sales levels. There are many holes in this assumption and many questions about this situation need to be answered before any mandates go into place.

The author states over the past two years, the number of shoppers at the Plaza has been steadily decreasing. Are skateboarders the actual reason for the decrease? This decrease in shoppers could be for a number of reasons. Could this steady decrease be because of a newer and therefore nicer shopping facility? Perhaps a larger shopping mall with new stores opened its doors two years ago and shoppers have since been flocking there. Are the shoppers frequenting other locations due to the vandalism and litter problem? Another question to pose is have the shops in the Plaza increased their prices over the last two years to account for lower sales? Answers to these questions would help to further evaluate the reasons for a decline in shoppers.

Also, the author links the popularity of skateboarding in this particular location with a decrease in sales. Is this location the only location in which skateboarders frequent? Could it be possible that skateboarders frequent the area because it is not a busy location for shoppers and therefore they have more free area to perform skateboard tricks? They might have chosen this location so they wouldn't be "run off" as often as more populated stores, malls or parking lots, as they often are.

There are also claims that these skateboarders are littering and committing acts of vandalism. Although these acts are sometimes associated with younger individuals, proof that it is this group of people committing these acts is needed. Have any employees or shoppers actually witnessed these individuals in the act? Are there security cameras? Have they caught any such actions on camera that would without a doubt tie these individuals to these crimes? Perhaps other individuals are littering and vandalizing the area. There could be an influx of vagrants in the area and perhaps it is these people to blame. The question we need to have answered is who exactly is committing these acts. Without this information, it is unfair to blame one group of people.

Without asking many of these questions, the author is assuming that banning skateboarding will return sales to normal and vandalism and littering will cease. Many of these questions need to be answered before deciding on whether to implement the ban on skateboarders in the Plaza. Without knowing these answers, we do not know whether the decision made would have the desired outcome of returning sales to profitable levels.