Pittsburgh to spend $500,000 on 24-bed curfew center in Oakland

Pittsburgh City Council today approved spending $500,000 to open a curfew center in Oakland.

In an 8-1 vote, council agreed to hire Three Rivers Youth to run the 24-bed center in a three-story house on North Dithridge Street owned by the nonprofit. Three Rivers Youth currently uses the house as a shelter for runaway girls.

The curfew center will be operated under a one-year, pilot program. No money has been set aside to pay for it after the first year in the city's five-year financial recover plan.

Former Mayor Tom Murphy closed the city's previous curfew center in July 2004 in a cost-cutting move. That center was criticized as a waste of money because of low use.

City police have not been able to enforce the city's curfew on children 17 and younger because city law requires officers to take them to a curfew center.

Mayor Luke Ravenstahl said in January he wanted to open the center by May 1, but public hearings and council debates took longer than expected.