TULSA, Okla. — Brandon Frazier owns Lounge 88 in downtown Tulsa.
"I'm just a local Tulsa dude, trying to do something cool in the bar scene," Frazier said.
WATCH: Downtown Tulsa business owners pleased with weekend curfew
Like other places inside the IDL, he's seen the safety issues from recent gun violence around town.
"They'd be in the parking lots held up in groups of 100 or 200 sometimes," Frazier said.
That is, until the first weekend of the downtown curfew for ages 17 and under after 9:00.
Local News
City Council passes (amended) downtown Tulsa youth curfew
"I was thrilled with it," Frazier said. "It was the most peaceful weekend we've had down here in years, I would say. It was really well operated."
It's something he hopes will continue.
"I think it's going to be a positive effect. I think it's a really good thing for our city," Frazier said. "I'm anxious to see moving forward, obviously getting more weekends under our belt, and kind of seeing where it leads to. It's not the end all be all solution, but we had to come together and do something now to end the gun violence as quickly as possible."
For the Tulsa Police Department, the barometer for this curfew's success could come sooner rather than later.
"We're coming up on the 4th of July, so we'll see this week," TPD captain Richard Meulenberg said. "It's really going to be the test to see how well this works, and how effective this tool is for the officers out there."
For Frazier, the next question for him is what's next?
"I have concerns that it was just a showing from the city to get business owners to be quiet, say look what we did, we fixed it," Frazier said. "Now we can go away, go back to business as usual. That's where I want to see the long-term solutions come in"
At least for now, the chaos downtown is quiet thanks to the curfew.
"It was a good start for the short-term solution," Frazier said. "We had to end violence quickly. We came together and did that. We can't stop here."
Frazier said a lot of his customers said the first weekend felt slower than normal. He says that without the large crowds, his customers actually had places to park that weekend.
Stay in touch with us anytime, anywhere --
- Download our free app for Apple, Android and Kindle devices.
- Sign up for daily newsletters emailed to you
- Like us on Facebook
- Follow us on Instagram
- Watch LIVE 24/7 on YouTube
