A downtown alderman said Wednesday he’s negotiating with Mayor Brandon Johnson’s administration on a new citywide teen curfew, averting what was expected to be a City Council showdown over how to address chaotic gatherings during the summer despite the mayor’s office saying a deal has not been reached.
Ald. Brian Hopkins, 2nd, texted some of his colleagues in the morning that he will no longer proceed with forcing a vote on an 8 p.m. curfew downtown after a series of so-called “teen takeover” trends ended in violence in his ward. Rather, he plans to introduce new legislation to grant Chicago police brass the authority to declare roving curfews for unaccompanied minors anywhere in the city on an as-needed basis.
“I’ve been working with the superintendent’s office (he prefers to stay on background, for obvious reasons) to come up with a substitute, and now we have a good one,” Hopkins said in the text. “assuming no one hijacks it to rules, I will then withdraw the rule 41 motion.”
Hopkins was referring to the parliamentary maneuver he was prepared to use on his former 8 p.m. curfew ordinance. The last-minute change of plans comes as Hopkins said he believed he had the council votes to pass the original curfew change for just downtown.
Mayoral spokesperson Cassio Mendoza, however, said Wednesday that “conversations are still ongoing” when asked about the roving citywide proposal.
“(The mayor) is working with Ald. Hopkins, the Chicago Police Department, and community based organizations to find solutions to this issue,” Mendoza said. “Mayor Johnson is supportive of the efforts to find a compromise and looks forward to continued conversations on this important issue.”
Hopkins told reporters Wednesday that he has not “formally” brought Chicago police leadership into these discussions despite his text to moderate colleagues that he was working with Supt. Larry Snelling’s office — with the caveat that “he prefers to stay on background, for obvious reasons.”
The Chicago Police Department press office didn’t immediately comment Wednesday on Hopkins’ text or the ongoing curfew talks, but Snelling’s apparent behind-the-scenes involvement suggested the top cop taking a more proactive role on the legislation. Mendoza said any discussions between Snelling and Hopkins were at the direction of the mayor.
On Tuesday, Johnson had pushed back on the downtown focus of Hopkins’ earlier proposal, which he said he had talked over with the alderman, while signaling an openness to negotiations. “Diverting the problem somewhere else, that doesn’t reflect my values,” the mayor said.
“We want our young people to be able to explore every part of our city. That is their right as Chicagoans,” Johnson said at a City Hall news conference. “But we cannot allow gatherings to turn violent and put our young people and our entire communities at risk of gun violence.”
The new ordinance would allow the police superintendent or a district commander to declare a temporary curfew based on “real world conditions” such as intel about a teen takeover, and grant minors 30 minutes to disperse, Hopkins told reporters. The curfew then lapses once the incident subsides.
“My colleagues came to me and they said, ‘alderman, you’re taking care of your neighborhood with this curfew, but it doesn’t apply to mine, and we need it too,’” Hopkins said. “So this is an attempt to accommodate things that could happen anywhere in the city.”
Hopkins said he planned to introduce the new ordinance and send it to the Public Safety Committee he chairs. The move would allow for more discussion about the measure and likely set it up for a final vote next month, before summer begins. He added that he may still force a curfew vote today if another alderman moved to stall the new measure.
