If vandalism, drug dealing/using or late-night anonymous public sex is your thing, you’re going to want to listen up: Public park hours are changing. City Council just passed an amendment that will close Bailey and Starr Hill parks at 9pm, and close McIntire, Pen, Tonsler and Washington parks, along with the Downtown Pavilion, at 10pm. Jackson Park will close at 11pm.
 Late night Downtown dog walkers can cheer City Council’s decision to change enforcement—not hours—of Lee Park. |
Lee Park will continue to be open until 11pm, but the city is also using a debarment strategy at that park, the impetus for all these crackdowns. If you’re caught doing something criminal in the park—and you know who you are—you’ll be barred from all public parks. Only private parks for you.
"With Lee Park, they’ve got this new debarment strategy they’re using for people committing crimes in the park, and we’re taking a wait-and-see approach to see if that has the same effect that we were looking to get out of an earlier closing," says City Councilor Dave Norris.
City officials originally considered closing Lee Park at 9pm, but law-abiding citizens expressed concern that such an action would inhibit late-night walks and legal dog- pooping jaunts.
"So far, anecdotally, it’s helped in Lee Park," says Norris. "Now, it doesn’t solve any of the problems. It just transfers the problems. But it does return the parks to their proper use."
So late-night park abuser, you’ve been warned. It’s a misdemeanor if you’re caught in most parks after hours, or permanent debarment if you’re nabbed in Lee Park—unless you have the express written permission of the director of Parks and Recs, and then, well, it’s O.K.
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