Council May Repeal Daytime Curfew

An ordinance that would repeal the city’s daytime curfew for youths is likely to win preliminary approval at Tuesday’s City Council meeting, officials said. If that happens, a final vote would be set for the council’s Jan. 13 session.

Mayor Tom Carroll, Councilwoman Mary Ann Jones and Councilman Tim Keenan have announced they want to repeal the controversial curfew, approved 3-2 earlier this fall.

Two of the council members who voted for the measure did not seek reelection in November, and Keenan’s election gives a council majority to the anti-curfew bloc.

The ordinance makes it unlawful for children 6 to 17 “to be in or upon any public place . . . when the minor has no lawful excuse or exemption for the non-attendance of school.”

City police are authorized under the law to issue citations to the children and fine them as much as $25.

“I want to seek repeal of the curfew because Cypress does not have a truancy problem,” Jones said. “There is already a law, in the [state] education code, on the books that gives police power to detain suspected truants. I don’t think we need a redundant law.”

Carroll too has blasted the policy, calling it “unnecessary and unconstitutional,” while Keenan made his opposition to it an issue in his campaign for a council seat.

Councilwoman Anna Piercy, also newly elected, has said she supports a daytime curfew, as does Councilman Walter K. Bowman.

The council’s only December meeting will be at 7 p.m. Tuesday and will include recognition of the Cypress Family of the Year.