Philly mayoral candidates are split on the Fashion District’s efforts to keep teens away

The candidates running for Philadelphia mayor sounded off Tuesday night on the Fashion District shopping mall’s new 2 p.m. curfew for unchaperoned minors, with some backing the plan, others skeptical of it, and one appearing to misunderstand it.

The candidates were asked at a Tuesday night debate at Holy Family University in Northeast Philadelphia whether they support the curfew for people younger than 18 who are not accompanied by adults.

The rule, which took effect Monday, came in response to large groups of teens converging on the downtown shopping mall formerly known as the Gallery.

» READ MORE: Police give conflicting accounts over what happened at the Fashion District when hundreds of teens gathered

In some ways, it’s an odd question for the candidates because the Fashion District, as a private business, sets its own rules for who can enter. But the candidates’ answers nonetheless provided insight into their thinking on public safety issues ahead of the May 16 primary election.

All of the candidates are Democrats, except for David Oh, who is running unopposed in the GOP primary. Here’s what they said:

Grocer and first-time candidate Jeff Brown offered one of the more puzzling answers of the night and appeared to believe that the new curfew was for 2 a.m. and not 2 p.m.

“I support the Fashion District’s right to set a curfew for minors,” Brown said. “And also I have to ask a question: Why is a minor out at 2 o’clock in the morning?”

He continued: “If your parents are working, we should have a city-run facility for minors, but they shouldn’t be out on the street roaming around at 2 o’clock in the morning.”

Brown on Wednesday offered a new answer, saying he believes “businesses have a right to enforce a curfew for minors within their establishments.”

“What we’re seeing is a correlation between when the curfew starts and when students get out of school. Many businesses throughout the city are struggling with large groups of unsupervised students after school gets out,” Brown said in a statement. “We need to open rec centers and libraries and make sure there are extracurricular actives for all students from sports to arts to STEM so that instead of wandering through businesses when school gets out, they are busy and engaged.”

Former City Controller Rebecca Rhynhart was supportive of the curfew.

“As mayor, I’ll make sure that the rules are enforced on the street,” she said. “I understand the 2 p.m. curfew, and if that’s what the Gallery shopping center wants, I’ll make sure that the police support that.”

After the forum, Rhynhart clarified that she spoke in support of the curfew because “a private business has the right to set its own policies.”

“I’m not directing the police to arrest kids,” she said.

Former Councilmember Helen Gym offered the sharpest criticism of the policy, saying that “criminalizing youth and young people is what is getting us here in the first place.

“We cannot criminalize young people,” she said. “What is the problem here is that there is nothing for young people to do. We actually have to go out and create some of these things for young people to go to.”

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Allan Domb, another former Council member, said he would respect the Fashion District’s right to enforce its own rules, but did not sound supportive of the thinking behind it.

“If the owners of the property were demanding the curfew, I would honor that,” Domb said. “But I would want to sit down with them and figure out how we solve the real problem,” which he said was providing safe activities for youth such as music programs.

Former City Councilmember Cherelle Parker did not appear to be a fan of the policy and pivoted to touting her community policing plan, which calls for hiring 300 new officers on foot and bike who will be focused on getting to know the neighborhoods they patrol.

”A new curfew would not be necessary if in fact we had around-the-clock community policing,” she said.

Oh, a former Council member, was also skeptical of the mall’s move.

“I don’t know that the curfew is a way to achieve what we want,” Oh said. “I think we go to the neighborhoods where there’s violence. We have to patrol and police.”