I see a lot of people hypthesizing without really any first-hand observations.

I grew up in Birmingham and spent a lot of time in downtown B'ham has a teen in the 90's. Back then, yes, teens did hang out there but it was pretty much limited to the local area teens from B'ham/Bloomfield/Troy. There wasn't much to do in the evenings other than walk around and maybe go to Coney Island. Once the original B'ham movie theater opened up it became much more of a draw.

Fast-forward 15 years and yes, downtown Birmingham on a weekend night is much different. The Pallidum opened up in 2002 or so and there are many more restaurants/bars than there used to be down there. These establishments have drawn a much different crowd into downtown in the evening.

The movie theater is drawing an element that didn't used to be in Birmingham, particularly since there are no movie theaters in Detroit for teens / young adults to attend there. They are indeed coming to Birmingham.

There has been increased crime in downtown Birmingham recently. Teens were held up in Booth Park, significant increase in car break-ins, a teen was caught with a loaded gun in the movie theater, many more fights, assualts, etc. Although not teens, but the Blue Martini caused a ton of problems for Birmingham, including a stabbing in that club.

So yes, there is a problem in Birmingham much more than a bunch of teens wandering around with nothing to do.