Latest news with #teenCurfew
Yahoo
11 hours ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Chicago alderman pledges to fight Mayor Brandon Johnson's vowed curfew veto, won't ‘twist arms'
CHICAGO — As Mayor Brandon Johnson promises to veto the teen curfew ordinance passed by aldermen, the measure's lead sponsor says he will keep fighting to make it law. Alderman Brian Hopkins, 2nd, won out over Johnson in the City Council on Wednesday when his plan to give Chicago's police superintendent power to declare teen curfews anytime, anywhere passed in a 27-22 vote. But his victory could be fleeting. Johnson quickly pledged to cast a rare mayoral veto, the city's first since 2006. The planned move means Hopkins must garner votes from 34 aldermen to overrule the mayor, a high bar that would require him to flip as many as seven council members. Still, Hopkins said Thursday morning he will move ahead in July with a City Council vote on Johnson's anticipated veto. He plans to keep making the case for his ordinance but added that he will not be heavy-handed. 'I'm going to keep pushing back on the deceptive spin, but I'm not going to call my colleagues and twist arms. Everyone is going to vote their conscience on this,' the downtown alderman said. The Wednesday vote and veto pledge marked decisive steps in Hopkins' two-year push to give police more power to curb the so-called 'teen takeover' youth gatherings that have sometimes ended in high-profile violence, including two Streeterville shootings in Hopkins' ward in recent months. Youth activists and civil rights groups have criticized the curfew measure as an unfair and unconstitutional crackdown that especially harms Black and Latino teens from poor neighborhoods that offer little safe fun. They also argue that those same teens have been left out of the debate and that aldermen should instead invest money in youth jobs, violence prevention and safe activities. 'Our children are gathering to escape the violence in their neighborhoods, the trouble at home and other conditions that they have no control over,' said Abierre Minor, a 25-year-old appointed by Johnson last year to the Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability. Minor recalled speaking after the vote with her 15-year-old sister, who argued media coverage of 'teen takeovers' has been sensationalized and that all people should have the right to gather as they see fit. The police oversight commissioner said she was 'disheartened' by the City Council majority's decision, but praised Johnson's 'swift and strong' response. 'Every year, our decision-makers propose repressive, ineffective policies to address community violence that does nothing but cause confusion and community harm,' Minor said. 'This year, something different happened. We had a leader who decided to break the cycle.' The Cook County public defender's office and progressive groups have also backed Johnson's stance. Just after the measure passed, Chicago Teachers Union President Stacy Davis Gates urged the mayor, formerly a CTU organizer, to veto it, likening the curfew ordinance to Jim Crow segregation laws. 'The people of Streeterville don't need the police to keep Black youth out of their neighborhood. The people of Chicago need policies and programs that serve and center Black youth,' Davis Gates wrote. Johnson's administration is currently drafting language and plans to officially veto the measure soon. The mayor had long shared tentative criticism of the potential curfew, but ramped up his opposition to the proposal this week. He argued after pledging a veto that the curfew ordinance would harm 'trust within communities' as the city's violent crime rates sharply drop, and compared the measure to crime laws 'that have overwhelmingly led to the criminalization and the incarceration of poor people and particularly people of color.' 'Offering up extended police power, without any check or balance, has not boded well for Black people and brown people in this country,' he said. Hopkins argued Thursday the 'snap curfew' label Johnson and others have used to describe the measure is a misnomer. The measure requires police to give 30 minutes notice onsite before a curfew is implemented. It also requires the superintendent to consult others to declare a curfew, but gives the top cop final say. Superintendent Larry Snelling said in court last week he would not use any power allowing him to declare sudden curfews, but suggested he could use the ordinance to declare preemptive curfews days in advance when police learn of planned, potentially chaotic gatherings. He has carefully distanced himself from the political debate in statements. Johnson has argued he and Snelling are aligned on the matter, but said future superintendents should not have the technical ability to quickly declare curfews with little or no oversight. A final vote ought to move forward in July, without legislative trickery from either side, Hopkins said. 'That'll put the matter to bed, and I'd rather do that briefly than have it degrade into a parliamentary mud fight,' he said. 'I think at this point I am done having persuasive conversations with my colleagues.' Much could happen before a mid-July vote that might pressure aldermen to change sides, he added. He cited, as he did during City Council floor debate Wednesday, reports of a large and chaotic teen gathering at North Avenue Beach earlier this week. Police said they arrested five teens at the beach Tuesday, including three minors, for misdemeanors and citations including battery, resisting arrest and possessing alcohol. ____
Yahoo
a day ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson to veto measure giving police power to set temporary teen curfews
CHICAGO — Mayor Brandon Johnson announced he will issue a rare mayoral veto after aldermen granted Chicago's police superintendent the power Wednesday to declare a teen curfew anytime, anywhere in the city. The highly contentious ordinance faced months of City Council debate before passing in a 27-22 vote. After the vote, Johnson, who had blasted it as 'lazy governance' and unnecessary, said he will issue the first mayoral veto in decades in a bid to kill the ordinance. Johnson called the measure 'counterproductive to the progress that we have made in reducing crime and violence' and said it will elicit costly lawsuits against the city. 'It's important now more than ever that we do not repeat the sins and the failures of the past,' Johnson said. 'I stand against this proposal because we need data-driven, effective strategies to guide our community.' The 27 votes in favor of the ordinance Wednesday were well below the 34 needed to override a mayoral veto. During floor debate, Johnson's handpicked Finance Committee Chair Ald. Pat Dowell pushed back on the mayor's description of the ordinance and his argument that aldermen should focus on investing in youth instead of passing the ordinance. 'I believe we can and should do both. I'm not down here doing lazy governance. I'm down here to actively work and do what is necessary to protect my community,' Dowell said. 'Stopping these potentially chaotic and violent gatherings will help everybody.' The last mayoral veto occurred in 2006, when Mayor Richard M. Daley vetoed an ordinance that would have required 'big box' retailers such as Walmart to pay wages of $10 an hour. Ald. Brian Hopkins, 2nd, first proposed a curfew ordinance last year after a downtown youth gathering ended in violence and began to push it forward again in March after two similar gatherings culminated in high-profile shootings. He would not say after the Wednesday vote how he would respond to a Johnson veto. 'We'll see what he does,' Hopkins said. 'I think we did the right thing.' The Streeterville alderman first planned to target only downtown with an 8 p.m. curfew, two hours earlier than the long-standing citywide teen curfew. He then sought to give both Johnson's deputy mayor for community safety and the police superintendent shared power to declare the pop-up curfews together. All the while, progressive aldermen and civil rights groups blasted the curfew push as an unconstitutional and unfair crackdown harming teens. Ald. Angela Clay, 46th, argued aldermen were ignoring teen voices and underlying disinvestment that leads to chaotic gatherings. 'What we are doing right now is not listening to the young people of this city,' she told aldermen. 'The issue that we are discussing here is a broader conversation that a lot of us are too afraid to have.' Johnson criticized the early versions, but did not always take a clear side until Hopkins pushed forth a version giving Snelling the exclusive power to declare pop-up curfews. 'It has not worked,' Johnson said of curfews Tuesday, pounding the table during a news conference. 'And now we're doing stuff that works, and then they want to come up with another idea that has not worked. What sense does that make?' Snelling, who would be required to consult others on any curfew and issue public warning 30 minutes before implementation, has loomed large over the debate as both supporters and opponents claimed to have his support. Hopkins said Tuesday Snelling had been calling aldermen to urge 'yes' votes. 'Every one of those conversations ends with the superintendent saying, 'I support this ordinance. I urge you to pass it,'' Hopkins said. But Ald. Jason Ervin, 28th, said Snelling told Black Caucus aldermen Tuesday night that he does not need the powers the ordinance grants. Ervin added that he hopes Johnson will veto the measure. Snelling offered a mixed response to the ordinance in court testimony last week. He said he would not use a 'snap curfew' power to declare curfews shortly before they go into effect, but would use a power allowing him to declare curfews days in advance when police are forewarned of such gatherings. The ordinance 'would be used as a deterrent where, if we have that information days before, we would send out notifications to CPS, to parents,' he said. 'This is going to prevent the possibility of violence.' The superintendent added he would never agree to a measure targeting only downtown and said curfew violations are not criminal, meaning they would not result in arrests. But Snelling backed away from the debate Wednesday morning. In a statement to the Tribune, he said police 'have always enforced the law at large gatherings and will continue to do so.' 'The curfew ordinance has become more a matter of politics than public safety. Given that this is a matter that sits within the City Council, I have no further comment,' he added without saying whether he will use the ordinance's powers. Johnson argued later that he and Snelling are aligned in their views on the curfew power. 'There is no space and distance between me and those that I put in charge to run my departments,' he said. A coalition of groups opposing the ordinance called for the city to instead invest in youth jobs, violence prevention programs and safe, engaging activities for young people before the vote. The curfew ordinance could lead to teens being kicked out of parks and beaches, GoodKids MadCity organizer Reynia Jackson said. 'It isn't fair and it isn't equitable,' Jackson said. 'What we need is healing. What we need is prevention.' _____ (Chicago Tribune reporter Sam Charles contributed.) ____
