Don't Move the Problem — Solve It: Why Any Curfew Should Be Citywide

In my opinion, proposing a curfew that applies only to the Uptown area is a shortsighted approach by the current City Council. It is the equivalent of putting a Band-Aid on a wound that requires much deeper treatment. If we fail to address the problem as a whole, we will simply find ourselves applying more Band-Aids later.

My position has been clear since this issue first surfaced. Given the current climate, I support a curfew. However, I do not support a curfew that targets only one section of the city.

If the city closes downtown to unsupervised youth, the problem does not disappear. It simply relocates. The same groups that have been gathering Uptown will move to other parts of Columbus, and next weekend we will likely be dealing with the exact same challenges in a different location.

We must also be honest about the racial dynamics that exist in our community. Whether people want to acknowledge it or not, there remains a racial divide in Columbus. Based on some of the police videos that have circulated, one could mistakenly conclude that only Black teenagers gather in large numbers throughout the city. We know that is not true. White teenagers also congregate in large groups in North Columbus and other areas.

The question we should be asking is this: What happens when an Uptown-only curfew pushes one group of young people into areas where other groups are already gathering? What happens when those groups collide? Are we thinking proactively, or are we setting ourselves up to react after a tragedy occurs?

Leadership is about anticipating problems before they happen, not scrambling to respond afterward.

That is why I believe the city should consider a temporary citywide curfew rather than one limited to Uptown. Such an approach would be more equitable, easier to enforce and far less likely to simply shift the problem from one neighborhood to another.

Nobody wants to spend this summer attending candlelight vigils. Nobody wants to bury a child. Nobody wants to watch another grieving family launch a GoFundMe campaign because they were financially unprepared for a tragedy that might have been prevented.

The goal should not be to move the problem. The goal should be to solve it.

If we are serious about protecting our young people and preserving public safety, then we must be willing to adopt solutions that address the entire community rather than one small section of it. Anything less risks being remembered as a temporary fix to a much larger problem.