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Provo City Administration Asks Council to Not Act on Curfew Ordinance
The Provo City Administration has sent out a letter in response to the heavily scrutinized Provo curfew ordinance proposal. This ordinance has been noticed for consideration in today’s council meeting.
Within this letter Mayor John Curtis addresses some of the issues which led to the proposed ordinance and cites community concern as a good reason for seeking a superior solution to a truancy problem.
This ordinance received a good deal of attention over the past week with a number of news and radio stations discussing it, ABC 4 reporting on the issue, KSL, BYU, tribune, as well as the Daily Herald, and the Deseret News even mentioning a planned ‘peaceful protest’.
The letter which went out this morning states:
“Coming together to address the problem is a better approach than feeling divided by any one possible solution. And a solution that works in Provo for our community, devised by our community, will result in a vastly superior solution than one developed without the involvement of all. The current daytime curfew ordinance as drafted has clearly not met that high standard, and we ask the council to not act on it at the meeting on March 1. The Administration looks forward over the next few months to the effort of our entire community to find answers to these very challenging problems.”
I appreciate the statement above very much and commend the Mayor for the Administration’s level-headed response. Our community has clearly expressed a desire to have their voices heard and I appreciate the open discussion which so many within our city and state have created over the last few days.
Many have speculated that in response to this letter, this ordinance will likely die. As previously mentioned I am opposed to this ordinance, and as a council member will vote in favor of dismissing this ordinance.
Proposed Daytime Curfew Ordinance
During next Tuesday’s Council Meetings there will be a vote to consider implementing a ‘Daytime Curfew Ordinance’. (At 7pm in the council chambers at 351 West Center St. Provo)
I have already heard from parents of children that attend various public schools, as well as charter schools and home school. They have all expressed concern about an ordinance which will cause children to be detained any time they are outside school during the day regardless of the reason.
This proposed ordinance will require our already overworked police department to stop, search, and detain any child that appears to be under the age of 18 that is outside during normal school hours. For example, under this ordinance a home schooled child riding his bike to his grandmother’s house could be arrested, searched, and fined simply for being outside (its happened in other cities).
This ordinance has been widely criticized, the local paper has taken a stand against it, the tribune has questioned its constitutionality, and several council members and school board members have expressed concern over an ordinance that will essentially force every one in Provo that happens to look under 18 to carry an ID at all times or face possible arrest. This type of an ordinance has directly targeted and harmed homeschooling and charter school programs in other cities.
While the actual ordinance language has not yet been made public, past discussion indicates that home schoolers will be required to request a pass from the school district in order to be permitted to go outside without being arrested or fined.
I am writing this because unfortunately, there is still a strong push to pass this ordinance. Consideration of this ordinance has spanned the course of nearly a dozen meetings making it impossible for the public to adequately follow what has been happening. We need more residents to make their opinions known to the municipal council!
Please take the time to forward this via email to other concerned residents, to contact me at sterling@sterlingbeck.com with your thoughts on this ordinance, as well as contact all of the municipal council members by clicking this link.
Please also consider attending the council meeting on Tuesday March 1st at 7pm to speak against it. Additional information can be found here.
Council Meeting Preview for February 15th 2011
Next council meeting will see the council discussing whether or not it should increase the trash pickup rate by $1 per household in order to recoup the losses suffered in Provo’s composting program. The fee will not increase city revenues, as the city has actually been subsidizing the fee for the last year, the dollar goes directly to the sanitation district.
Additionally, there is a proposal being considered to dramatically increase Engineering Permit fees, which have not seen an increase for quite a few years. Most of the fees deal with large construction projects and the increases hope to adjust the cost of the fees to the actual cost incurred by the city to administer street improvements.
Next, we’ll be discussing allocating $67,000 to improve the efficiency of the city buiding with an estimated yearly savings of $88,000 as well as a heavy drop in utility usage. We’ll also look at allocating $12,000 to keeping the Eldred Senior center ballroom roof from caving in. I opposed moving the allocation forward as the building is already slated for being torn down to make way for the recreation center. I will try to visit the Eldred center to ascertain if any danger is posed by the current roof, I don’t think anyone wants to see it fall down.
The discussion on Truancy will take place on the following meeting on March 1st.