Correction: This article has been updated to correctly reflect the time the curfew is in place.
Downtown Tulsa now has a curfew for youth, but not as strict as the one originally written up.
City councilors voted Wednesday to impose a curfew from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. Thursday through Saturday for people 17 and under in the city’s Inner Dispersal Loop. It will be punishable by a $200 fine and contains exceptions for youth with parents, working or in an emergency.
It was passed with an emergency clause, meaning it goes into effect immediately.
The curfew will sunset October 22nd so the city can monitor its progress.
Councilors voted 7-1 in support of the ordinance, with councilor Jackie Dutton voting against because she didn’t feel she had sufficient data on youth crimes and policing in downtown to justify a “yes” vote.
Councilors and the mayor initially pushed for a seven-day-a-week curfew that would sunset March 31st following four recent shootings involving people in their teens or early 20s. The most recent shooting was in Greenwood at the Juneteenth festival, which killed one.
On May 4, police shot two men, killing one of them, following a fight that escalated into gunfire at Second Street and Elgin Avenue.
Several downtown stakeholders supported the curfew, including McNellie’s Group CEO Elliot Nelson. The restaurant developer said his restaurant Yokozuna, also at Second and Elgin, has lost 70% of business after 9 p.m. since 2022.
“This is not new, this is not immediate, this is not a gut reaction to something that just happened,” Nelson said. “This has been an ongoing issue on the east side of downtown for several years now.
But others like Nate Morris said he was concerned about the message the curfew sends to youth. He also said the issue of gun violence among youth is “systemic.”
“We have to have this moment force us into conversation about ‘What are we going to do to truly invest in our kids moving forward in this city?’” he said.
Councilors Anthony Archie and Lori Decter Wright expressed concerns that the curfew was too broad. It was then amended to reflect the busiest days of the week.
Decter Wright also amended the curfew to be enacted through Oct. 22, giving it a 90-day window to track progress.
The amendments followed a spirited discussion among councilors about the curfew that morning. During the discussion, Dutton pointed out that Tulsa police in 2024 arrested Black youth at a rate more than two and a half times greater than white youth, according to city equality indicators.
Councilor Vanessa Hall-Harper reiterated this point when discussing how officers will enforce the curfew.
“I agree that something needs to happen, that we are in a critical state. But I also have this concern over here about officer discretion and about how they’re going to be implementing or enforcing that law. Because we have the numbers of what the equality indicators tell us, and that historically, in this country, for that matter, and certainly in this city, that certain groups of people are treated differently when they come into contact with law enforcement. We can’t sit around here and act like that doesn’t happen,” Hall-Harper said.
Hall-Harper expressed concerns about officer discretion at council’s regular meeting as well. But she also said something needed to be done to disperse crowds, especially youth who watch or film fights.
Sponsoring councilor Karen Gilbert said the curfew is “just the beginning.”
“This is not an end-all right here, right now, tonight. This is a continuous conversation that all of us — all of us — need to have. We cannot ignore it anymore,” Gilbert said.
