NEW SMYRNA BEACH, Fla. — Earlier this year, New Smyrna Beach enacted an 11 p.m. curfew for those under the age of 18, and now the city commission will be discussing it once again, reviewing its effectiveness and debating whether to keep it in place.
While the curfew is in place for each day of the week, New Smyrna Beach police say they enforce the curfew mainly during special events like spring break and the Fourth of July.
Police say that prior to the curfew, they were dealing with an increase in violent crime and property damage.
During Tuesday’s city manager’s report, New Smyrna Beach Police Chief Eric Feldman will give commissioners a status report on the curfew. Officials say it could be a starting point to a potential extension.
Isaac Binda, a New Smyrna Beach native and manager of The Breakers Restaurant, says he’s in in favor for a continuance of the 11 p.m. curfew.
“This is where they like to kind of hide at night,” he said, pointing to a beach wall along Flagler Avenue.
He said the problem is not so much the local teens, but those who come from out of town.
“The parents just drop them off and leave them here," said Binda. "They’re rude to the locals.”
He said last spring beak there were fights and he’s fed up with those things like that happening.
“Once the sun went down and the curfew approached, it thinned out quite a bit," said Binda. "But there were still a lot (of youth) here running around when technically they’re not supposed to be.”
He said the police presence last year helped deter large groups and slow them down, but was in favor of more officers patrolling the streets.
“The garbage on the beach is just ridiculous, it’s just heartbreaking to see how much trash, it blows like tumbleweed on the beach," Binda said. "You fill up bags and bags and bags of garbage so it’s a level of disrespect for us. There’s no reason a kid that age should be out there late at night.”
The New Smyrna Beach City Council meeting will start at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, but there will be no vote on on the curfew extension.