Tenant complaint about neighborhood kids- Advice?

[Anthony Barbato]

I just received a very nice email from a fairly new tenant in one of my duplexes. She said that, over the last month or two, she has come to the realization that a very large number of the neighborhood children, along with a couple of the next-door tenants children, seem to use the shared front porch as a hangout. She included a picture that looks like it was taken from the road while in her car, and there are at least 10 little kids hanging all over the porch and railings, and leaving trash everywhere. She proceeded to tell me that she did speak with the other tenant, who said she completely understood and will try to keep some of the children away. Well, nothing has seemed to work. And she is telling me that it is at the point where her children will tell her they're going outside, look out the window, and say "eh, nevermind." The last thing I want is for a tenant, especially a new one, to feel uncomfortable in a unit of mine. This duplex is in the inner city where I live, but it's a nicer area of the city, and the property itself is in great shape and newly rehabbed. Along with not wanting to inconvenience the tenant, I know this will cause additional wear and tear on my property, or at least the front porch. Does anyone have any advice on how I should handle this?