SAN ANTONIO – A major change could be coming to a downtown San Antonio park, as City Council members are set to vote on imposing a curfew at Hemisfair during a Thursday meeting.
If passed, the park would close at 11 p.m. and reopen at 5 a.m. The park is currently open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
This possible change means that councilmembers would be revising the city code, which currently exempts Hemisfair, Alamo Plaza, Market Square, La Villita and the River Walk from having a curfew.
The remaining city parks have curfews from 11 p.m. to 5 p.m. nightly, except for Woodlawn Lake Park which is closed from midnight to 5 a.m. nightly.
To recap on why this curfew is being discussed, it all began on June 28 when the item was brought up during a Public Safety Committee meeting after there had been an influx of downtown crime increasing which included an 80-year-old woman being killed by a stray bullet across from the park.
“The Hemisfair Park Area Redevelopment Corporation, Hemisfair tenants and surrounding stakeholders support the curfew provided exceptions are made to accommodate persons that may be walking through Hemisfair to get to a destination such as their apartment, hotel room, or car or if the person is walking their dog,” the agenda item states.
Anyone caught at a city park during curfew hours could receive a citation for a Class C misdemeanor.
This story will be updated after the City Council votes on the proposal.
