After problem-free 'New Year’s Rockin' Eve,' Mayor Johnson says he opposes revised curfew measure

Mayor Brandon Johnson said Tuesday that Chicago's New Year’s Rockin’ Eve celebration hosted by Chance the Rapper, which came off without a hitch, proves there is no need for a revised curfew crackdown.

On the eve of a showdown vote by a City Council committee, Johnson declared his opposition to Public Safety Chair Brian Hopkins’ latest attempt to give police officers additional tools to combat teen takeovers.

“New Year’s Eve was a testament that we did not need an additional tool in order to ensure that our young people were where they need to be, and that our parents and adults who are part of these young peoples’ lives — that they are also held accountable for their whereabouts,” said Johnson, who vetoed the snap curfew ordinance that Hopkins muscled through the City Council after a violent teen takeover last year.

Hopkins made the opposite argument about Chicago's festive riverfront celebration.

"The mayor used my ordinance on New Year's Eve... He declared a time-and-site curfew. He announced it and he publicized it. And he told parents, `Don't send your unaccompanied minors to this event because curfew will be enforced' and it worked," Hopkins said.

"He supports it whether he says he does or not because his actions speak louder than his words. I know he will not veto it this time and we are going to pass it" on Wednesday, along with Ald. William Hall's plan to mandate social media companies to remove notification of “unlawful teen gatherings” or provide the city with a written explanation of why they won’t remove those notices, or face $50,000 fines.

Johnson said Hall's ordinance is “definitely worth exploring."

“I’ve always said that these big social media companies and tech companies — it’s been proven that they’ve been responsible for lots of behavior that is antithetical to a safe and affordable big city. So that’s something we should continue to explore,” Johnson said.

NetChoice, a trade group representing dozens of tech giants including Meta, Reddit and X, could not be reached for comment. The group has promised a court challenge to block Johnson’s proposal to tax social media at a rate of 50 cents per user after the first 100,000 users.

Hopkins is trying again to strengthen the city's curfew ordinance to stop a repeat of the teen takeover that culminated in a deadly shooting that followed Chicago’s annual Christmas tree-lighting ceremony in Millennium Park last November. A 14-year-old was killed, and eight other teens were wounded in the shootings.

Instead of empowering Police Superintendent Larry Snelling to declare “snap curfews” with 30 minutes’ notice, Hopkins wants to lengthen the lead time to “not less than 12 hours prior to the start time” of a curfew, and require police to announce a “predetermined expiration time” of no more than four hours from the start of the curfew.

Only then would Chicago police officers be authorized to disperse mass gatherings — of 20 or more people — that Snelling deems “likely to result in substantial harm to the safety” of others, “substantial damage to property” or “substantial injuries.” Those who refuse the dispersal order could be arrested.

Before issuing the 12-hour notice for a temporary curfew at a specific location, Snelling would have to consult Deputy Mayor for Community Safety Garien Gatewood and jointly determine that there is “probable cause to believe that a mass gathering will occur.”

Johnson said Tuesday his decision to strictly enforce Chicago’s existing 10 p.m. curfew for unaccompanied minors proves that he has “never been opposed to a curfew for teenagers" even though he vetoed the snap curfew ordinance and managed to block a City Council override.

“What I’ve been opposed to is to have unilateral control offered (to) one entity of government to determine if a curfew should be implemented. That’s not just my concern. That’s ACLU, civil rights organizations. And the mere fact that we did not have an incident over New Year’s Eve without any additional tools is proof positive” that a revised curfew ordinance is not needed, he said.

Hopkins has acknowledged that he made a “strategic mistake” by pushing a snap curfew ordinance through the City Council when that level of immediacy wasn’t needed.

Word of last fall's violent teen takeover had circulated on social media days before the tree-lighting ceremony. Chicago Public Schools warned parents to tell their teens to stay away from the event if they were going to be unsupervised.

The city deployed 700 additional police officers for the ceremony, along with community violence intervention workers, “but clearly what we put in place did not do enough to prevent what we were concerned about from actually manifesting,” Johnson said at the time.