Pittsburgh City Council president proposes ramping up curfew enforcement, opening youth centers

Pittsburgh City Council President Theresa Kail-Smith is expected to introduce legislation this week that would ramp up enforcement of the city’s curfew for minors.

The legislation also would open 24-hour resource centers for youth who violate curfew or need help.

The city already has a curfew in place, but Kail-Smith said it hasn’t been enforced because there is nowhere for police to take juveniles who violate it.

The city had enforced a curfew for minors under former Mayor Luke Ravenstahl, under whose administration the city opened a curfew center for youth in Pittsburgh’s Oakland neighborhood.

Kail-Smith said she hopes that enforcing the curfew and providing 24/7 resource centers will help decrease violence in the city.

“There’s multiple efforts that are needed to address violence in the city of Pittsburgh,” she said. “This is just one component. It’s to protect the youth and the community.”

Under the legislation, police would pick up children under 17 who are out past curfew and take them to a resource center staffed with social workers.

“We want to make sure there’s a place for (youth) to get help,” Kail-Smith said.

A curfew would take effect from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. Sundays through Thursdays and from 12 a.m. to 6 a.m. Fridays and Saturdays in July and August. During the rest of the year, the curfew would be in place from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. Sundays through Thursdays and 12 a.m. to 6 a.m. Fridays and Saturdays.

Exceptions are allowed for minors who are accompanied by their guardians, along with ones who are on a “reasonable errand,” working, traveling to or from a job, involved in an emergency, attending school or religious activities, or on the sidewalk outside their homes.

City code allows for fines of up to $300 for minors who violate the curfew or their guardians.

Kail-Smith said she wants the curfew enforcement and curfew centers to be “not necessarily punitive, but helpful.”

The council president said she is working with other city leaders to hammer out details around penalties, curfew center locations, staffing and other logistics.

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The legislation — expected to be introduced to City Council on Wednesday — sets a deadline of May 31 for the curfew centers to be operating. She said she wanted to ensure city officials had time to prepare to open the centers, while also working to have them operational before school lets out for summer.

“Once kids are out of school, they’re not with a social worker in the school building,” she said. “They’re out on the streets with no help. It’s just another safety net.”

Kail-Smith said she would like to see curfew centers open in the north, south, east, west and central parts of the city. Having multiple locations across the city would make it easier for police to drop off minors picked up for curfew violations and would ensure the city’s youth have resources nearby, she said.

Kail-Smith said she would like to see the centers also become spaces where any of the city’s youth can go if they need resources, help from social workers or just a safe place to go.

The city owns community centers that could be used for these purposes, she said.

Kail-Smith acknowledged that she can’t be sure whether enforcing a curfew will curb the escalating violence in the city, but said officials need to take action. The city last year saw a 26% increase in homicides.