Columbus Council votes on proposed youth curfew. Here’s the result

The Columbus Council voted at Tuesday’s meeting to implement a curfew for minors in Uptown Columbus. No councilors voted against the ordinance.

Uptown Columbus Inc., the nonprofit organization that promotes downtown business, proposed the ordinance last month after more than 400 reported incidents occurred in the district last year, according to the Columbus Police Department.

CPD Assistant Chief Lance Deaton said a little less than half of the cases involve juveniles, but the number does not include contacts police made with juveniles during that period.

The curfew will go into effect 10 days after Mayor Skip Henderson signs the ordinance. It will last until Sept. 30, which is when the council will reevaluate the curfew, city attorney Clifton Fay said.

What the curfew ordinance says

The curfew ordinance says it is unlawful for people 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 in Columbus from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. each day.

Exceptions listed in the ordinance are for 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 or traveling to or from a school-sponsored, civic, religious or other approved organized activity
• A 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.

According to the ordinance, parents, legal guardians or other adults who have 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 will 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.

Why Uptown Columbus wants a curfew

Uptown Columbus, CPD, the juvenile court, the district attorney, city leadership, merchants, business owners and public safety personnel coordinated to develop the ordinance, Uptown Columbus president and CEO Steve Morse told the Ledger-Enquirer in an email.

“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,” Morse said during a June 2 council meeting.

The ordinance is intended to be a proactive measure and not a reactive one, Morse told the L-E. He said Uptown is not unsafe, but with large groups of unsupervised minors hanging out downtown, a curfew would ensure future safety and maintain a family-friendly environment.

According to Deaton, juveniles primarily hang out in Uptown on the main thoroughfare of Broadway and in parking garages.

During the June 2 council meeting, Councilor Bruce Huff of District 3 and Toyia Tucker of District 4 expressed concerns about the curfew applying only to Uptown. Huff said at the meeting that implementing a curfew in Uptown could shift minors to other parts of the city, affecting business in other districts of Columbus. Councilors also spoke about the need for additional recreational activities for minors during the summer.

Deaton said the Uptown curfew would lead teens to congregate in other areas but in places with less public space and CPD would be able to handle transgressions there with existing state laws and city ordinances.

During the council meeting Tuesday, Councilor Travis Chambers of citywide District 10 filed a motion, which Counciior Simi Barnes of District 1 seconded, to consider implementing the curfew in all neighborhoods as opposed to only Uptown.

“A localized curfew does not solve the problem,” Chambers said. “It simply moves it.”

Councilor Joanne Cogle of District 7, a candidate for mayor in the runoff election, spoke against a citywide curfew.

“If we put a 9 o’clock curfew citywide, we handcuff some of the other businesses that are in our city that are conducive and open to our youth,” Cogle said.

The motion to broaden the curfew beyond Uptown did not pass.

Residents voice concerns about racial bias behind curfew

At a June 9 meeting, several residents told the council the ordinance could disproportionately affect Black people and result in unequal enforcement.

“What you are lining up is a problem of setting up a curfew for a selective area, and it is racist,” said Theresa El-Amin, chairwoman of the Southern Anti-Racism Network, at the meeting. “Because when I looked at the videos, I saw all the Black kids who had gathered in the parking decks, and the police are going way too far.”

Other residents also expressed concerns about a decrease in trust between CPD and Columbus communities if police primarily stop Black teens downtown as a result of the ordinance.

In response to the public comments, Morse wrote in an email to the L-E that Uptown Columbus understands and respects the concerns raised at the meeting.

“We appreciate the community’s input and support a fair, transparent process as City Council considers this proposal,” Morse wrote.

The L-E also asked all 10 councilors, Mayor Skip Henderson, City Attorney Clifton Fay and Police Chief Stoney Mathis for a response to residents’ concerns about the curfew being racially biased. Only Morse replied to the L-E before publication.