Swiftly and with no opposition from the teen-agers who came forward a month ago to lobby for a later hour, the Newport Beach City Council voted to enact a 10 p.m. curfew, intended to clear the streets of loitering juveniles.
The 4-2 vote on Monday marked the fourth time the council met to consider a curfew, which residents and business owners on the Balboa Peninsula say is needed to stem a rising tide of juvenile rowdiness there.
On June 24, the council tentatively approved a 10 p.m. curfew but voted two weeks later to enact an immediate emergency 11 p.m. curfew and to approve a first reading of a permanent 11 p.m. curfew. On July 22, a divided council again switched gears and voted 4 to 3 to dump the permanent 11 p.m. curfew in favor of the 10 p.m. version.
Because Newport Beach's city charter requires that proposed ordinances remain unaltered for two readings, the 10 p.m. curfew needed the final vote Monday before it could become law. The 10 p.m. curfew will become effective Sept. 12 and the emergency 11 p.m. curfew will expire at that time.
