Thread: Philly's Mayor Nutter codemns youth

This should be done throughout the USA.

Philadelphia teens breaking curfew are losing a lot more than their car keys.

Dozens of teenagers were arrested in the City of Brotherly Love this weekend for violating a new curfew policy aimed at keeping bands of marauding thugs off the streets.

Mayor Michael Nutter earlier this week called for kids younger than 18 to be off the streets by 9 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays in response to a recent string of violent attacks by teenage mobs.

Some 50 teens in the neighborhoods of Center City and University City were rounded up on Friday, police said. On Saturday, 12 teens were arrested.

"We're going to take this very seriously," police spokesman Lt. Ray Evers told the Philadelphia Inquirer. "We're setting a tone, and that's important."

Philly teens sought to test the new rules by staying out on the streets past the cutoff on the first night of the policy.

"They shouldn't be able to violate my rights," Ryan Stanton, 16, told the paper, as he hung out with friends on South Street shortly before 9 p.m. on Friday.

"If the cops ask me, I'm going to explain why I have the right to assemble peacefully."

Fifteen minutes later, Stanton was in a police van, headed to a station house so his parents could pick him up, the Inquirer said.

First offenders can be fined between $100 and $300, and parents can be fined up to $500 if their kids violate the rule repeatedly.

In other parts of the city, children under 13 must be off the streets by 10 p.m., and those under 18 must be home by midnight.

Swarms of teens have been using Facebook and Twitter to coordinate violent sprees across downtown Philadelphia for months.

In one rampage last month, a man ended up in the hospital with broken teeth and a shattered jaw after a group of teens jumped him. Hours later, a crowd of young people, including an 11-year-old boy, attacked four men.

In another incident, a woman was punched in the face and broke her leg.

Nutter blamed the violence on a small number of "complete knuckleheads."

"You've damaged yourself, you've damaged another person, you've damaged your peers and, quite honestly, you've damaged your own race," the 54-year-old mayor, who is black, said at his West Philadelphia church last week.

He also lectured parents in the city's African-American communities about taking responsibility for their children.

"That's part of the problem in the black community. ... We have too many men making too many babies they don't want to take care of and then we end up dealing with your children," Nutter said.

With News Wire Services



Read more: Dozens of teens arrested in Philadelphia on first nights of new 9 p.m. curfew

when I was younger we had a curfew in the small town in PA that I grew up in, and it was taken seriously. this is about 30-45min west of Philly

i blame it on rap music

Nutter is a stand up guy and hated by a lot of the black community for the way he talks(even though it's mostly the truth) about his own kind. He's educated and it's about time Philly has someone who is ready to make an impact in that city

Originally Posted by irish_2003

i blame it on rap music

I blame tall socks

Originally Posted by LAM

when I was younger we had a curfew in the small town in PA that I grew up in, and it was taken seriously. this is about 30-45min west of Philly

King of Prussia?

Two of these attacks have occured within six blocks of where i work. One or two nights a week I head out with friends and grab beers before going home. Depending on where I go I walk 4 to 8 blocks back to the train to take me home. Belive me, this shit is in my head. I mean I think I can handle myself OK, but not when I'm a little buzzed and don't see a roundhouse coming my way. shit ain't right!!!

Originally Posted by REDDOG309

Two of these attacks have occured within six blocks of where i work.

Really? That's very interesting.

*takes out notepad*

So, where were you on May 24th and August 2nd?

Probelby drunk wandering the streets of philly.