PENSACOLA, Fla. — The Pensacola City Council has put a pause on a proposed curfew for unsupervised minors. After a debate at last Thursday’s meeting, no action was taken on the ordinance.
What the proposal would do
Under the proposal, those under the age of 18 could be out until 11 p.m. on weeknights and midnight on weekends. Exceptions would be made for religious events, emergencies, and teens leaving work.
Penalties would be civil rather than criminal and would increase for repeat offenders, with a possible $250 fine for minors and up to $500 for parents.
Council concerns
Many council members raised concerns about the measure. “I know you say that we’re not going out and looking to enforce this. We’re not going out and searching for people who are underage, but my concern is that 10 years down the road, we don’t know who our police chief will be, we don’t know who our mayor’s going to be,” said Councilmember Casey Jones. “And in that case, is it someone that’s going to go out and be doing that and we’re going to be in a much different situation because of something that we voted on today? That concerns me.”
Councilmember Teniadé Broughton pointed to a lack of options for young people. “I just think that no one is touching that gap because the kids want to go somewhere,” she said. “We just don’t have the places for them to go.”
Mayor cites communication gap
Pensacola Mayor Reeves said his disappointment lies in the lack of communication ahead of the meeting. “If there’s any council member that said, ‘Hey, look, we’re uncomfortable about 18 or 21,’ if that would have been brought up as a motion or an amendment in the meeting, that would have — you know, there was no pushback from us on that,” Reeves said. “But I think it just is a symbol of conversation that could have happened on August fourth or fifth or sixth or seventh or eighth or ninth, you know, all the way till the meeting, that we could have absolutely obliged and worked more collaboratively on.”
Reeves added that he still supports the curfew but is unsure when the item will next appear on the council’s agenda.