Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Montgomery County Council tabled the curfew vote Tuesday. Do you agree with that decision?
A proposed Montgomery County Youth curfew was shoved under the table Tuesday when the Montgomery County Council voted not to vote. The curfew was a hot topic around the county for months, after County Executive Isiah Leggett (D) proposed the legislation in response to July gang violence in Silver Spring. Under Leggett's proposal, children 17 and younger would be prohibited from being in any public place or establishment starting at 11 p.m. on weeknights and midnight on weekends. There were multiple exceptions to the bill that would allow minors to stay in public spaces outside of curfew times. For example, minors would be exempt from the curfew when returning home from work or school, or if accompanied by a parent or guardian. If a minor…
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
6-3 vote tables County Executive Isiah Leggett's proposal indefinitely.
Update, 5:50 p.m.: Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett (D) has released a statement chastising the Montgomery County Council for failing to decide on his proposed youth curfew. “The county council’s refusal to even take a yes or no vote on the proposed youth curfew is a failure of leadership," Leggett said. “Leadership means stepping up to the plate and deciding – yes or no – on critical issues that face our county. The youth curfew legislation has been before the county council since July. It has been discussed exhaustively. We don’t need more talk – we need action." Original story, 4:16 p.m.: The proposed Montgomery County youth curfew is dead. For now. After months of debate surrounding the controversial proposal, the Montgomery …
Thursday, December 1, 2011
Support for the Montgomery County curfew bill is in doubt as a council vote looms.
Updated, Dec 2. 9:30 a.m.: A vote on the curfew bill may be indefinitely postponed. Two councilmembers have indicated that the Montgomery County Council could vote to table the curfew bill during the next full council session, choosing not to decide on the legislation, according to a Gazette report. An alternative to the curfew bill, a loitering ban proposed by Councilmember Phil Andrews (D-Dist. 3) of Gaithersburg, may also be tabled. “They are going to table it on Tuesday,” Council President Valerie Ervin (D-Dist. 5) of Silver Spring said in the report. Councilmember Roger Berliner (D-Dist. 1) of Potomac, who is likely to take over as council president on Tuesday, said that he would not table the legislation himself, but that another …
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
At its October meeting, the Mid-County Citizens Advisory Board decides not to take a position yet on the contentious curfew proposal in the Montgomery County Council.
The Montgomery County curfew has been the subject of hot debate these last few months and weeks, and that debate reached the Mid-County Citizens Advisory Board last night at its October meeting. The board ultimately voted not to take a position on the curfew, but several MCCAB members expressed their opposition and skepticism. Montgomery County Councilmember Phil Andrews (D-Dist. 3) attended the meeting and tried to persuade the MCCAB that the proposed curfew directed at the county’s teenagers does not make sense. “The problem I see with the proposal is that it’s divided the community,” he said. He noted that most crime takes place during non-curfew hours, citing statistics from the county’s police department. Andrews said he plans to …
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Supporters want to quell unrest in downtown Silver Spring, which the County Council President says 'is on the precipice now of failing.'
Montgomery County's proposed curfew drew more bile than praise Tuesday afternoon at the controversial measure's public hearing in Rockville, including pointed criticism from members of the County Council that will ultimately decide its fate. The curfew found unwavering support from police brass and Silver Spring civic leaders, who argued that the curfew would give officers a much-needed tool for preventing juvenile crime. But 18 of the 27 people who testified to the Council rebuked curfews on several fronts, from their questionable effectiveness to the difficulty of enforcing them fairly to their long-term impacts on teens’ trust of police. "It would criminalize any teenager out at night and without any discernible benefit," said Abigail …
Fosselman says that while a county curfew wouldn't affect the town, Kensington might benefit from one of its own.
Mayor Peter Fosselman said the Town of Kensington will likely consider a curfew of its own if the County Council passes one for Montgomery County. The County Council is considering a curfew for minors, and is holding a public hearing on the issue today in its Rockville headquarters. If passed, the county's curfew would not apply to municipalities like Kensington, Fosselman said. Fosselman said the town has not considered a curfew of its own during his tenure as mayor, but that Kensington could benefit from one. He said he often sees 10- and 11-year-old children out in the streets after 11 p.m. "I'm not a parent, but when I was growing up, that was late," he said. Earlier this summer, after an uptick in minor property crimes, the mayor and …
Sunday, July 24, 2011
As Montgomery issue unfolds, high school students — and their parents — get a lesson in civic participation.
I've written before about the alarming decline in civic participation in our community, a trend that's especially pronounced among young voters, who always seem to have the lowest turnout rates. Now, we have an issue that is motivating Montgomery County teenagers like nothing else, the teen curfew proposed by County Executive Isaiah Leggett. Could it help reverse this decline? Already, new Facebook pages have sprung up and thousands of new voters and soon-to-be-voters are paying attention to the Montgomery County Council, for the first time, as they get ready to decide this issue. Clearly, there is a wide range of views on this topic, even among the high school students it affects most. Some express strong opposition to what they see as an…
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Facebook campaign targets July 26 County Council hearing; opponents will wear purple at Harry Potter premiere.
Hundreds of high school students—most of them not yet old enough to vote—are mounting a Facebook campaign against Montgomery County’s proposed youth curfew. Within hours of County Executive Isiah Leggett's proposal on Tuesday—which would ban anyone under 18 from public places after 11 p.m. on weekdays and midnight on weekends—former Richard Montgomery High School student Abigail Burman launched “Stand Up to the MoCo Youth Curfew!,” a Facebook event calling on teens to converge on a County Council hearing set for July 26. “The idea behind the curfew is a laudable one in that we all want to keep our kids safe,” said Alan Xie, a co-organizer of the Facebook rally and the Board of Education's student member. “In reality some studies have shown…
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
The Montgomery County Council is considering whether to require kids to be home at night.
At its meeting today, the Montgomery County Council will introduce a resolution that would impose a curfew for minors in the county. If the bill is passed, kids under 18 would have to be home by midnight on Fridays and Saturdays and 11 p.m. every other day. Parents and businessowners would be held responsible for minors caught violating the curfew, and those parents could be required to take parenting classes. The bill, proposed by County Executive Isiah Leggett, is meant to cut down on gang activity and crimes by minors, according to a news release. Prince George's County and D.C. already have similar regulations in place.
jnrentz1
12:11 pm on Saturday, December 10, 2011
The Council should have the courage to vote on this bill. more ›