Council to Review Curfew Revision

The City Council on Monday will consider revising a curfew law that officials say mirrors a San Diego law deemed unconstitutional in June.

Ventura’s ordinance, which sought to keep youths at home from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m., has not been enforced since the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals declared the San Diego curfew too broad and too vague. The court also found the curfew stepped on parents’ rights to raise their children as they see fit.

Ventura’s revised curfew measure comes before the council Monday night at City Hall, 501 Poli St.

The revision drops words and phrases such as “loiter” and “remaining in or about a public street.” Courts have deemed such language undefinable, Deputy City Atty. Karl Berger said.

The previous ordinance also listed no exceptions for minors being out past 10 p.m.--another issue the court found unconstitutional, Berger said.

The new version exempts minors going to or from a job, an emergency or a school-sponsored, religious or recreational activity. Such events, however, would have to be supervised by an adult and sponsored by a civic or religious entity.

The measure also excludes minors exercising their 1st Amendment rights to free expression while being supervised by an adult. Since 1994, police have issued 413 citations for curfew violations. Although officials credit the 3-year-old curfew with reducing juvenile crime, police say they use the ordinance mainly to keep youths from becoming victims.

If the council does not adopt the proposed ordinance Monday, the constitutional problems would keep the city from enforcing the current curfew, City Atty. Bob Boehm said.