Changing the teen curfew has been a debate among city leaders for the better part of a year now.
Alderman Brian Hopkins chairs the committee and is pushing to allow for specific "time-and-site" curfews to thwart teen takeovers.
The city's current curfew for teens under 18 is 10 p.m., except for Millennium Park, which has a 6 p.m. curfew following previous violent takeovers there.
Police dispersed a teen gathering during the Millennium Park tree lighting in November.
The chaos that followed led to 14-year-old Armani Floyd being shot and killed downtown and eight other teens hurt.
The ordnance that was approved on specific curfews would need approval from the deputy mayor for public safety and require 12 hours advance notice.
A second proposal, also being considered Wednesday, would require social media platforms to take down posts about teen takeovers - or face fines.
Mayor Brandon Johnson at his press briefing Wednesday said the city did not issue an earlier curfew on New Year's Eve and events downtown were executed safely.
"What I'm opposed to is giving unilateral control to one entity of government to make a determination in a snap notice that could be a violation to people's civil rights," Mayor Johnson said. "That position has never changed. And so again, for once and for all, let me be absolutely clear, the 10 p.m. curfew was no different on New Year's Eve than it is on any other day of the week, right? So are we all clear about that? So know where your children are, first of all, parents and adults, and if they are out past 10 p.m. they should be with an adult. But we also have to make sure that we note that, by the way, we did not need a new tool to have a safe night."
Alderman Hopkins believes he does have the votes to pass the new ordinance out of committee Wednesday, but it's unclear what the mayor might do, when full City Council meets later this month, as we know he's opposed to changing the curfew.
=