Columbus Council debates curfew for minors in Uptown District, delays vote
The Columbus Council decided during its May 26 meeting to continue the first reading of a proposed ordinance that would implement a curfew on minors in the Uptown District.
Uptown Columbus Inc., the nonprofit organization that promotes downtown businesses, proposed the ordinance after reporting over 400 incidents during the past year in the district, according to the Columbus Police Department.
While the council unanimously voted to create a committee to look into this issue, they also agreed to come back to continue the first reading on the curfew in two weeks.
In the 7-3 vote to continue to June 9 the first reading of the proposed curfew, voting yes were Councilors Simi Barnes of District 1, Glenn Davis of District 2, Bruce Huff of District 3, Toyia Tucker of District 4, Joanne Cogle of District 7, John Anker of citywide District 9 and Travis Chambers of citywide District 10.
Mayor Pro Tem Gary Allen, the council’s District 6 representative, was joined in opposition by Councilors Charmaine Crabb of District 5 and Walker Garrett of District 8.
The council unanimously approved a motion to identify funding options to provide Uptown with as many as 10 additional off-duty officers from 8 p.m. to midnight Fridays and Saturdays through Labor Day.
What the proposed Columbus curfew says
The curfew would make it unlawful, except for certain exemptions, for anyone under the age of 18 to be in any public place, street, sidewalk, park, parking garage or other public area from Eighth Street to 14th Street and between Second Avenue and Bay Avenue from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. each day.
The ordinance wouldn’t apply to minors who:
- Are accompanied by a parent, legal guardian or other adult having the lawful care and custody of the minor
- Engaged in lawful employment or traveling to or from employment
- Attending to traveling to or from a school-sponsored, civic, religious or other approved organized activity
- A current Columbus State University student and housed in the Uptown Columbus area
- Attending or traveling directly to or from an activity exercising the First Amendment rights protected under the U.S. Constitution
- Staying at a hotel or lodging facility in the area.
Any parents, legal guardians or other adults having custody or control of any child under the age of 18 will be held responsible if the minor is found to be violating the curfew. Adults convicted of violating the ordinance would be punished with a fine of up to $1,000, imprisonment for up to 90 days or both, in accordance with Sec. 1-8 in the city code.
Origin of the proposed Columbus curfew
The conversation about a curfew developed over several months through ongoing coordination between Uptown Columbus, the Columbus Police Department, the juvenile court, the district attorney, city leadership, merchants, business owners and public safety personnel, Uptown Columbus president and CEO Steve Morse told the Ledger-Enquirer in an email.
“As Uptown has continued to grow in visitation, events, entertainment and evening activity, we began seeing increasing concerns involving large groups of unsupervised juveniles during weekend evenings,” Morse said. “The proposed ordinance came from discussion about how to proactively address those operational and public safety concerns before any larger issues develop.”
During the meeting, Columbus Councilors and members of the public expressed concerns about how the impact of a curfew in one area could impact the rest of the city, how it would be enforced and how to avoid bias against marginalized groups and how to create alternative recreation for the youth in Columbus.
“Uptown is very vibrant,” Morse said during the meeting. “We’re very compact. We’re very compressed down there. And when you put 200, 300, 400 kids, unsupervised, in Uptown, we’ve got an issue. Kids aged 8 to 17 are being dropped off in Uptown and left unattended for Uptown and the small businesses to fund all the police that it is taking to supervise these juveniles.”
Last September, a teenager was killed on Bay Avenue, Morse told the Columbus Council during the May 26 meeting. While things were quiet during the winter months, he said, there has been an increase in unsupervised minors as the weather has warmed up.
Additional police is not the answer for the district, which already employs about 14 police officers, Morse said. CPD also has 18 to 20 new recruits patrolling Uptown on Friday and Saturday nights, he said.
“They need a tool to be able to deal with the unsupervised juveniles,” Morse said. “Right now, there’s not a tool or an ordinance for them to be able to do this.”
This ordinance is meant to be proactive and not reactive, Morse told the L-E.
“Uptown is not unsafe,” he said. “And this proposal is not about targeting youth. It is about protecting the positive momentum, visitor experience, businesses, residents and family-friendly environment that Uptown has worked very hard to build as activity levels continue to grow, while also providing public safety personnel with an additional tool to help address large groups of unsupervised minors within the district.”
If passed, the ordinance would end Sept. 30, city attorney Clifton Fay said, which would allow the council to reevaluate the curfew.
What Columbus Councilors say about proposed curfew
Huff said during the meeting he understands and supports what Uptown Columbus is trying to accomplish with its proposed ordinance. But he expressed concerns about the curfew applying to only Uptown.
“What I’m saying is when they leave there, and they go to Macon Road or they go to this side (of town,” he said., “… what are we doing, first of all, to supervise the entire city? What are we doing to try to find a remedy — to have somewhere for them to go and for them to hang out?”
Youth need an alternative place to go, Huff said, especially during summer.
Huff said he knows it’s not appropriate for them to hang out in masses and having a negative impact on Uptown businesses. But businesses in other areas of the city could be affected if these groups shift to areas like Macon Road, St. Mary’s Road or Columbus Park Crossing, he said.
What is done for Uptown should be implemented for the entire city, Huff said, by gathering ideas from city leaders, business owners and their constituents.
Tucker agreed with Huff, saying she has seen this happen when parks have closed early.
“When Carver Park closed, they went to Rigdon Park,” Tucker said. “You just shift (people). It’s kind of dispersing people to multiple parks.”
Along with needing to find a good alternative to entertain the youth, Tucker said, she also is concerned about the penalty.
“Everybody doesn’t have $1,000 to spend when their kids get in trouble,” Tucker said. “Then you’re in court, having to pay fines. And if you don’t have that money, they’re on probation. You’re really creating this snowball effect. You’re creating a worse effect for youth.”
The issue Uptown is having is a symptom, Tucker said, and the problem is that kids don’t have a lot of activities.
“Until we address the activities, you’re going to continue to have kids coming down there,” Tucker said. “And then we are just, sadly, making a worse situation for kids in reference to the judicial system.”
While police made 331 arrests from 434 incidents in the Uptown District during the past year, according to CPD, those numbers don’t specify how many of the arrested people were under 21 years old, Tucker said.
Tucker also voiced concern about how the curfew would be enforced.
“My mind goes to stop-and-frisk,” she said. “That, to me, just brings back horror stories of New York.”
Stop-and-frisk was a policy that allowed New York police officers to stop, interrogate and search citizens on the basis of “reasonable suspicion.” A federal judge ruled the policy was unconstitutional in 2013, stating statistical and anecdotal evidence showed minority groups were treated differently.
This isn’t about creating an unfriendly environment, Morse said, but it’s about keeping Uptown safe.
“We’ve got to remember that we have juveniles in Uptown who are truly trying to do what they need to be doing and are not bad kids,” Morse said. “But we’re also dealing with ones that have the backpacks, the guns and other things who are causing havoc. … That is causing a lot of safety concerns for our merchants, our residents and those visiting Uptown.”
Tucker said this proposal, appearing on the agenda last week, was the first time she had seen it, and it’s too short a time to decide in two weeks. She would have liked to be more involved when they began working on the proposal, so the council could have had greater access to the information as it was being evaluated, Tucker said.
“I have a teenager, too, who loves Uptown,” she said. “And I know for a fact that teenagers go down there. That’s one of the places they gravitate to because they like Agave. They like Kilwins. They like ice cream and all of this other stuff. It’s like a mini Savannah, in essence, that’s entertainment.”
Tucker said he is concerned about safety because she doesn’t want people to lose businesses or feel threatened. Still, she also wants to ensure kids can “enjoy the summer as well without feeling like they’re being ostracized because they’re being put in the bowl with the bad apples,” she said.
Columbus Police Department responsds
When criminal activity happens, said Columbus Assistant Police Chief Lance Deaton, CPD makes those arrests.
“The point of this curfew, which the police department supports 100%, is simply to take a proactive approach,” he said.
This ordinance would allow them to deal with the parents, Deaton said, and hold them accountable.
“When you have two 9-year-old little girls who Uber to Uptown, and the mother of one of the 9-year-old little girls pays for the Uber, I don’t think there’s anybody in this room and anybody watching this who thinks that’s OK,” he said.
Some of the minors are coming into Columbus from Alabama, Deaton said. The individuals who killed the 15-year-old on Bay Avenue were from Phenix City, he said.
“The best we can tell, based on the officers who are actually making contact with these juveniles and parents, about 50% of those are coming from Phenix City or the surrounding areas,” he said. “What do we do about that? The curfew is what allows us to deal with them because now we have an opportunity to hold the parents who live in Phenix City accountable for allowing their children to come to Columbus and wreak havoc.”
In response to concerns about this curfew potentially resulting in CPD having to pull units from other areas of town to address Uptown, this is already a problem, Deaton said.
Uptown already pays for 12 to 14 officers, he said, and when one of the “takeovers” happens, then Deaton has to send two of his specialized units into Uptown with two supervisors to support the officers there.
The curfew would give him a proactive approach, Deaton said, which would help prevent these situations.
“We’re trying to keep them safe,” he said. “We’re trying to keep those kids safe. It is about safety to me. That’s what we’re trying to accomplish.”
