Montgomery City Council Approves Youth Curfew for Downtown Entertainment District
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WAKA) — The Montgomery City Council on Tuesday night approved a youth curfew in the city’s downtown entertainment district, aiming to help adult tourists better enjoy the area.
District 3 Councilwoman Marche Johnson said the move comes after business owners raised concerns about parents dropping off teenagers, who often remained downtown unaccompanied late into the night. Some teens were reportedly leaving scooters in front of businesses and attempting to get alcohol from restaurants.
The curfew will apply to minors under the age of 17 and will be enforced from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. Sunday through Thursday, and from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.
“You’ll get three infractions. The initial one is a $500 fine and is at the discretion of the police officer, so you could get a warning instead of a fine,” Johnson said. “If you get a second infraction, you’ll definitely get fined $500. If you get a third infraction, the onus goes over from the youth to the parent, and each are fined $500. The parent could be jailed for up to 180 days.”
The ordinance passed on a 7-2 vote. Councilman Andrew Szymanski was one of two members who opposed the measure.
“My objection really wasn’t that the curfew was something I was opposed to,” Szymanski said. “It was really about the enforcement that we were having in the downtown area. We have our police officers out there responding to what they’re hearing from business owners, the City Council and members of the city, so I thought that when the chief gave us his opinion on it, we really didn’t need this tool.”
The curfew still requires Mayor Steven Reed’s signature and could go into effect within weeks.
In other business, the council approved the rental of a Ferris wheel as part of HBCU Weekend October 2-4. The three-day rental will cost $67,500 and will serve as a test to gauge public interest in having a permanent Ferris wheel near Montgomery’s downtown waterfront.
The money will come come from the city’s cultural affairs budget.
Disclaimer: Our story originally said the funds approved by the Montgomery City Council for a Ferris wheel rental would be partly funded by the city council – with each of them giving $2,000 from their discretionary fund. The information provided to Action 8’s Estee Morrison came from the City’s communications director. We learned earlier Wednesday that this information is incorrect. The $67,500 for the Ferris wheel will be paid strictly out of the city’s Cultural Affairs department. The City’s communications director acknowledged the error today, but the story had already aired. We apologize for the confusion.
