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At a public safety press conference Thursday, Rochester Mayor Malik Evans announced new curfew rules aimed at curbing violence tied to large, late-night gatherings.
“On July 4th at 10:30 p.m., the rockets’ red glare were done bursting in the air. Those fireworks were over. We were done,” Evans said. “The eight shootings that happened didn’t happen on July 4th. They happened on July 5th at almost 1 a.m. because we had individuals who thought that they could turn our public sidewalks into their own personal party.”
He said the problem isn’t limited to the July 5th incident. Videos posted online show chaos after clubs close around 1:30 a.m. People have brawled as late as 2:30 a.m. or 3:00 a.m., he said, requiring a response from the police department. Evans said that the behavior “has to end.”
City leaders said the push for a curfew is connected to the recent downtown fight, but the measure was prompted by other incidents this year. It adds to the mayor’s gun violence state of emergency, making public gatherings of 10 or more people illegal between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m.
Rochester Police Department Chief David Smith said that such groups would be given a warning by officers. If they don’t comply, they could be arrested for “disobeying an emergency order,” a Class B misdemeanor.
Exceptions to this curfew include groups protected under First Amendment rights who are protesting or demonstrating, those with city permits for an event, or groups out for reasons connected to their employment.
According to RPD data, so far this year, 28% of crimes involving a firearm, knife, or physical force have occurred between the hours targeted by the new curfew. (This is about 30% across all available years, from 2011 to 2026.)
The rule applies to all ages, a pivot from earlier in the month, when Evans raised the possibility of a curfew for young people. Subsequent discussions and a review of disruption data expanded the curfew’s scope.
“When we took a look at who’s the victims and perpetrators in these crimes involving large groups of people overnight, we saw that it wasn’t just juveniles,” said Patrick Beath, corporation counsel. “It’s people of all ages.”
“I had young people come up to me and say, ‘Mayor, you’re singling out young people, but it’s not just us,’” added Evans. “We made (the curfew) all ages because this is not confined to one group. The issue is not with an age group, it is with a behavior of taking over public areas and creating a party-like atmosphere without a permit and way after hours.”
There was a youth-based curfew in Rochester from 2006 to 2009. However, the Court of Appeals ruled it unconstitutional in its final year. Evans said this curfew, which is not based on age, will “pass legal muster.”
A quasi-curfew model already exists in the East End entertainment district. First rolled out in 2024 under the gun violence state of emergency, it created a special zone within the area that bars people under 21 and closes roads on Saturday nights. Like the gun violence state of emergency, the zone has been continually renewed and remains in place.
Jacob Schermerhorn is a Rochester Beacon contributing writer and data journalist.
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A Spiritual-Cultural Crisis, Not Simply a Political One
For decades, I have argued that the central challenge facing the so-called Black community in this city is not primarily political or economic, although both matter. Rather, it is a spiritual-cultural crisis—not spirituality in the narrow sense of religion, but spirituality understood as the collective consciousness, identity, values, purpose, and moral orientation of a people.
In my view, this crisis is reflected in a fragmented collective consciousness and an eroded sense of cultural identity. The consequences extend beyond individual behavior; they affect how communities organize, educate their youth, exercise economic power, create institutions, and define their future. When a people lose confidence in their own cultural foundations, they become increasingly vulnerable to external definitions of who they are and what they are capable of becoming.
I contend that many outside groups often respond to this fractured condition with diminished respect or lowered expectations. Whether explicit or implicit, these perceptions can reinforce existing inequalities and make it more difficult for communities to exercise self-determination.
I also argue that too many Black elected officials and self-appointed leaders have failed to confront this spiritual-cultural crisis directly. Instead, public discourse frequently emphasizes short-term political responses while giving insufficient attention to the deeper cultural foundations that shape community life. From my perspective, some leaders have little incentive to redefine the conversation because the current system provides them with political influence, institutional status, or economic benefit.
If the diagnosis is cultural at its core, then the remedy cannot be political alone. Lasting transformation requires rebuilding collective cultural consciousness, strengthening institutions rooted in shared values, cultivating historical and cultural literacy, encouraging economic cooperation, fostering responsible leadership, and developing a renewed commitment to collective self-determination. Political reforms may contribute to progress, but without a corresponding renewal of collective consciousness, they are unlikely to produce enduring change.
The question is not simply who holds political office, but whether the community is cultivating the cultural foundations necessary to sustain its own liberation and long-term development.
WOW! No reply to this article?
I will once again point to the fact that the RCSD and the RCSB is responsible for the late night youth shenanigans. Do a survey of those participating in the lawlessness. I dare you. You will find that most of the “kids” are without an education. There are certainly no college graduates roaming the streets and causing havoc. If the politicians only had the guts to address the education issue in Rochester, NY. But they can’t or won’t or it’s just to damn hard. When you have a school district that cannot teach the way kids learn, you get kids who become part of the next generational poverty populace. That’s a fact. Thinking that a curfew will make that shenanigans disappear is a pipe dream. All you’re doing is making the trouble makers go to bed early only to emerge again the following day…..still without an education. When is Rochester going to understand that? WHEN!
I could go on and on. But it all falls on deaf ears. And the RCSB? They got theirs. But they can’t seem to find a way toward inclusion. It’s not the kids fault folks….IT’S THE SYSTEM AND IT’S LEADERSHIP. Not the teachers, although Adam Urbanski with all his education doesn’t know what education is and what it should produce. He just knows how to make himself very wealthy on the back of a failing school district. Sad aint the word. Is there a solution? Yup. Been trying to convey that to the district for years. But they know better.
This isn’t a ban, it’s a challenge to the gangs that no one in City Hall or the local media will ever mention.