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.
Ald. Brian Hopkins, 2nd, won out over Johnson in the City Council Wednesday when his plan to give Chicago’s police superintendent power to declare teen curfews anytime, anywhere passed in a 27-to-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 veto 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.