News Release - Mayor Duffy Statement on Curfew Ruling by Court of Appeals

City of Rochester

News Release

(June 9, 2009) - Mayor Robert J. Duffy today released the following statement on the New York State Court of Appeals decision striking down the City’s curfew ordinance:

“We are very disappointed with today’s ruling. We are heading into the summer months and the timing of this decision could not have been worse. The goal of the curfew is to save lives. So far this year homicides in Rochester are down 40% from the same time last year. It serves no positive purpose to have unsupervised children under 17 years of age on the streets at three o’clock in the morning. Unfortunately, this decision takes away our capacity to use the curfew as a common sense public safety tool. We will continue to take other steps to help save young lives and we will do that without apology.

It is sad that the person who brought this litigation forward was never impacted by the curfew. This finding contradicts the countless thanks we have received from parents. I pray that our young people will be safe during these hours. But if a young life is lost during curfew hours this community needs to ask itself if the loss could have been prevented.

The City will honor the Court’s wishes. We will study the ruling closely to see if there is any other recourse.”

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