City imposes overnight curfew in parks

Announcing the measure during city council's monthly public meeting last Monday evening, City Councillor George Bowser, the commissioner responsible for Public Works and Parks, said an important step is being taken.

"Council is very concerned with the reports that it is receiving from both police and Public Security personnel regarding safety-related problems in our parks," he said, reading from a prepared statement.

"We are experiencing unprecedented levels of vandalism, graffiti, substance abuse and unruly behaviour, especially in our larger parks. Our current municipal legislation requires that an individual, or, in most cases in our parks, individuals, must be caught in the act before action can be taken.

"You can imagine the frustration this is causing in our enforcement personnel when they observe large groups of individuals in the parks, and the following morning they see the new graffiti and vandalism that has occurred, but they were powerless to prevent."

Bowser said the curfew was enacted after city council was asked by the police and Public Security to give them the tools to help do a better job in keeping the parks safe and to attack the ever-increasing problems that are being experienced on an almost nightly basis.

According to Bowser, council is imposing the curfew for an "as yet indeterminate period."

Regarding the hours when it will be in force, he said, "in all likelihood very few Westmount residents make use of our parks this late at night for legitimate reasons. For those that do, council apologizes for the inconvenience, but in the interest of public safety we feel committed to move ahead with adopting a curfew regulation at this time."

Commenting further, Bowser said, "It's not an easy step to take and I'm sure people will be surprised — and I assure it's not taken lightly." Councillor Cynthia Lulham, who was chairing the meeting during Mayor Karin Marks's absence, said the vandalism and graffiti were being committed particularly in comfort stations in the parks.

"It is not possible that Public Security could be in all the parks at the same time," she said. "This year we've seen more than we've ever seen before … We're taking this very seriously; we feel it's very important."

During question period, Bowser added that anyone found to have violated the curfew can be fined and that police and Public Security personnel will be empowered to evict offenders from the park.