The Fort Worth City Council gives itself more time to hear from the community before making a final decision on extending a long-standing teen curfew.
The teen curfew has been on Fort Worth's books since 1994.
Under Texas law, cities that impose curfews must renew their ordinances every three years.
Fort Worth's ordinance was set to expire Saturday without council action.
So in order to allow additional time to hear from the community, the City Council voted to extend the curfew for only 30 days instead of the customary three years.
The vote to extend the curfew for 30 days was 8-1, with Chris Nettles dissenting.
"I don't think that it's working," Nettles said during Tuesday night's meeting. "And frankly in three years, we have only had 120 filings out of over 900,000 people who live in the city of Fort Worth."
In most instances, kids under 17 are prohibited from being out without a parent present between 11:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. on weeknights and between midnight and 6:00 a.m. on weekends.
The vote to extend the curfew for 30 days came on the heels of a 5-4 vote rejecting a motion to end it altogether.
Jared Williams was among those voting to end the curfew.
"This ordinance may have been necessary in the 90s," said Williams, "but I don't think this ordinance as it is will address the challenges that our teens are currently facing today."
The vote rejecting the motion to end the curfew fell largely along ideological lines, with Carlos Flores joining the four conservatives in voting no.
"We do have anecdotal information that it could, and does in some cases, reduce the opportunity for crimes committed by minors," noted Flores; "but more importantly, also reduces the likelihood that minors could be victims of crimes."
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