Pittsburgh City Council president proposes curfew to curb teen violence

PITTSBURGH — There’s been an uptick in violence involving minors in the city of Pittsburgh and the city council president wants that to stop.

City council president Theresa Kail-Smith thinks enforcing a new curfew for kids will cut down on the violence.

“I think there are a lot of kids in the city of Pittsburgh who are not going home at night or who are going home to not stable situations, and I think we need to give the kids a place to be safe,” said Theresa Kail-Smith.

Kail-Smith plans to introduce legislation to enforce a curfew for kids to help stop the violence involving minors.

She said there’s already a curfew in place, but it’s not enforced.

She’s proposing a new curfew that will be enforced within city limits for kids ages 17 and younger.

Part of her idea is to open curfew centers inside publicly owned buildings, like a school or community center, that will be available as a resourceful and safe place for kids to go between the hours of 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. seven days a week.

Some people in the city had mixed feelings on the proposed curfew.

“Parents and kids need to be held accountable for their actions,” said Justin Eberhart of North Side. “Having more rules, kids are just going to continue to be disobedient.”

“Violence is always a concern so if there’s a place for them to be safe secure and warm and offer help then that’s always a good idea,” said Mindy Iverson.

Kail-Smith wants the centers to be located in each sector of the city and downtown.

She’s also proposing to staff those centers with social workers and city employees, but that’s not certain. She said they still have to work out a lot the details and look into the best solutions.

During the overnight hours, police officers can maybe offer assistance and refer kids to the centers. Kail-Smith said this idea could expand.

“It’s worth having a conversation about this county wide, about keeping our kids safe because in my neighborhood, a lot of our streets border boroughs so I want kids to know the expectation across the board,” said Kail-Smith.

It’s unclear how the curfew will be enforced exactly and what kind of involvement police will have.

The city council president is giving Mayor Ed Gainey until the spring to come up with some ideas on how they can implement the curfew.

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