Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser sent a letter to the D.C. Council criticizing progressive mayoral candidate Janeese Lewis George and other council members who refused to back a plan to extend the city’s teen curfew this summer.
Lewis George, one of the members resisting the curfew, is a leading candidate in the district’s June 16 Democratic primary for mayor. Bowser announced in November that she would not seek a fourth term. Her letter is the latest episode in an ongoing saga playing out in the D.C. Council over the curfew.
“I am greatly disappointed that five members of Council are essentially obstructing the council from moving forward on this important public safety legislation,” Bowser wrote. “Councilmembers Janeese Lewis George, Trayon White, Robert White, Brianne Nadeau, and Zachary Parker have refused to let the emergency declaration pass despite the majority of members supporting the permanent and emergency versions of this bill.”
The council voted 8-5 in April to extend the city’s youth curfew permanently, though they tabled another measure that would have enabled immediate enforcement. The council’s inaction on the enforcement measure means the curfew will not go into effect until mid-July, pending congressional review. Emergency legislation that would allow enforcement in the meantime requires nine votes.
The curfew requires that people under 18 cannot remain in public places in the city after 11 p.m. without adult supervision, with limited exceptions. It also empowers the Metropolitan Police Department to establish “Extended Juvenile Curfew Zones” in which young people cannot gather in groups of nine or more after 8 p.m.
A 15-day emergency order extending the juvenile curfew zone authority expires on June 6. That will leave the city without what Bowser’s office calls a “limited and targeted” crime-prevention strategy for much of the summer. Bowser says she cannot extend her emergency order indefinitely.
Earlier this spring, Bowser imposed a limited juvenile curfew after a chaotic brawl in a Navy Yard Chipotle. U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro vowed that young people involved in “teen takeovers” would face fines of up to $500 and possible jail time.
These takeovers, often organized on social media, involve teenagers disrupting public spaces. Video from inside the Chipotle in Southeast D.C. last month showed young people hurling chairs while bystanders huddled behind a concrete pillar for protection. Police have issued a $5,000 reward for information about any of the people involved.
Lewis George, who identifies as a democratic socialist, addressed the curfew during a May debate at Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy. She argued that it is “dangerous” because of the presence of federal troops and ICE agents, who are not “trained in de-escalation,” in the city.
TO FIGHT TEEN TAKEOVERS, HOLD PARENTS ACCOUNTABLE
“While Councilmember Janeese Lewis George voted for the juvenile curfew in the past, she now opposes its use because Trump’s armed federal agents could enforce the curfew against our kids,” Amanda Michelle Gomez, the communications director for Lewis George’s campaign, wrote in a statement to the Washington Examiner. “Trump’s agents are not accountable to the District.”
Kenyan McDuffie, Lewis George’s main rival in the election, advocated for the permanent curfew to be reinstated at a news conference last week. The mayor’s office told the Washington Examiner that Bowser’s letter “speaks for itself.”
