Mayor Johnson opposes 8 p.m. downtown curfew for minors (2024)

Mayor Brandon Johnson on Monday put the political kibosh on a political ally’s plan to impose an 8 p.m. curfew for unaccompanied minors in downtown Chicago.

Ald. Brian Hopkins (2nd) Johnson’s handpicked chair of the City Council’s Public Safety Committee, floated the idea in response to the violent attack by a group of teens on a couple in Streeterville on May 31.

One of the victims said she was pepper-sprayed and punched in the abdomen, causing a miscarriage.

Several attackers managed to escape on foot. A 14-year-old boy accused of striking the husband in his head, and a 17-year-old girl accused of pulling the wife’s hair out were charged with misdemeanor battery.

Hopkins said he plans to introduce an ordinance at Wednesday’s City Council meeting banning unaccompanied minors after 8 p.m. from the Central Business District — the Loop, Streeterville, River North, and the South and West Loop. The current curfew for unaccompanied minors is 10 p.m.

But if Johnson has his way, Hopkins’ trial balloon won’t get off the ground.

“The data indicates that setting … arbitrary curfews does not yield results that are favorable,” the mayor told the Chicago Sun-Times Editorial Board Monday.

“For my administration, it’s not just about youth employment. … We have to create safe spaces for [young] people. ... The more activity that you have in neighborhoods, including downtown, that actually creates safer spaces,” Johnson added.

“People have had a knee-jerk reaction, much like what happened in the ‘90s, when I was in high school. All it led to was greater criminalization. They didn’t create safer spaces. What I’m doing is actually investing in people and doing what works. And we don’t see where there is a correlation between curfews and community safety.”

Johnson didn’t sugarcoat the Streeterville attack.

“My thoughts and prayers are always with people who have been victims of violence. It’s horrific. It’s life-changing. ... But all of the data indicates that setting arbitrary curfews — they don’t lead to any positive results. I have to do what works. Helping young people find their purpose is the most important thing we can do as government,” the mayor said.

Hopkins stood his ground. Studies disputing the value of curfew rollbacks are “academic fraud” to justify a preconceived conclusion, Hopkins said. He said he still plans to take his chances with a divided Council over Johnson’s objections.

“I support his initiative for summer jobs, and I would hope that he would support mine for the kids who refuse to get jobs and come downtown to commit crimes instead,” Hopkins said.

Even if imposing the curfew two hours earlier doesn’t stop young people from assembling downtown, it empowers police to break up so-called “teen takeovers” organized through social media, Hopkins said.

“It’s a tool to help them break up these illegal and dangerous gatherings. And by denying us the ability to do that, he’s denying us the ability to have an effective tool to actually prevent violence,” Hopkins said.

Downtown Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd) quickly endorsed an earlier downtown curfew. He also called for a “fixed police post … for the entire summer” at Illinois and New streets, across from the AMC River East theater and along what he called the “primary thoroughfare to Navy Pier.”

After another violent and deadly summer weekend in Chicago, Johnson tried to accentuate the positive.

He talked about the 17% drop in homicides compared to the same period last year and about the 25% drop in murders committed in Chicago’s 35 “most violent” police beats.

He also highlighted the 100 detectives already hired, the 100 more detectives he hopes to hire by year’s end, and the 4,000 additional summer jobs he plans to create.

Pressed to describe his short-term plan to reduce violent crime, in addition to his long-term “investments in people,” the mayor said: “It’s a both/and. Those families who have jobs this summer — that is short-term.”

Johnson also pushed back hard when asked about veteran writer Carol Felsenthal’s portrayal of Michigan Avenue in a guest column in the Sun-Times.

She described a filthy, loud and somewhat foreboding Magnificent Mile — with teen skateboarders, cyclists and electric scooter riders on sidewalks filled with trash and graffiti. It “seems more like a boardwalk than a commercial corridor,” Felsenthal wrote.

The mayor had a different perspective.

“I live in Austin, one of the most violent neighborhoods in the entire city of Chicago. And guess what? Even before I was a mayor, I wasn’t afraid to go home or walk the streets or ride my bike,” Johnson said.

“Where was the concern when my neighbors in neighborhoods like mine were experiencing the type of disinvestment that caused the chaos? All I’m saying is this: There’s a reason why the city is in the condition that it’s in. ... It certainly didn’t become like this May 15th of 2023,” he added, referring to the date of his inauguration.

“This is the result of previous administrations abandoning the people of Chicago.”

Mayor stands his ground on ShotSpotter

As for the order overwhelmingly approved by the Council last month to prevent him from canceling the ShotSpotter contract, Johnson argued it’s so nebulous and legally dubious, he sees no need to veto it.

“Why am I responding to something that nobody even understands what it is? I canceled ShotSpotter. Why? Because it was proven to be ineffective. ShotSpotter came to the city of Chicago, got $10 million out of us every single year because they said they were gonna keep us safe,” the mayor said.

“Corporations playing on the pain and the grief of Chicagoans to fatten their stocks? Not under my watch,” he said.