In a tie vote that was broken by Mayor Jean Quan, the Oakland City Council Tuesday night deferred voting on measures dealing with youth curfew, loitering and the expansion of gang injunctions. These items will now go to the Council's public safety committee for additional vetting.

It was a jammed packed City Council session last night, where a report on Building Services inspectors and appointments to the Port of Oakland also were on the agenda. But it was the public safety measures proposed by Councilmen Larry Reid and Ignacio De La Fuente on juvenile curfew, anti-loitering and expanding gang injunctions that dominated the night.

Many speakers spoke passionately against all of the public safety proposals saying the measures do not address the root cause of crime.

"The youth curfew, the so-called curfew and the gang injunction will criminalize members of my family, most of my neighbors and the members of my organization," Cinthya Muñoz, an immigrant rights organizer with Causa Justa, said. "This Council cannot be for immigrant rights, worker rights while being for the gang injunction and curfew at the same time."

But supporters of the public safety proposals said Oakland has reached a crisis with crime and it must begin applying solutions that will help deal with the problem.

"The reality now is there are kids on the street, selling drugs, doing things they shouldn't be doing and I prefer them to be in school or at home studying," said Oakland Unified School District Director Noel Gallo, who spoke before the Council. "We've tried everything else, now lets give these proposals a chance."

Under the proposal for a loitering ordinance, it will be "unlawful for any person to loiter in any public place in a manner and under circumstances exhibiting the purpose or the intent to commit a drug-related offense."

Violations of the proposed ordinance would be an infraction or a misdemeanor. Oakland previously had a loitering law in 2003, but that law expired in 2004.

The juvenile curfew would apply to youth under the age of 18, between the hours of 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. Sunday through Thursday; 11:30 p.m. to 5 a.m. Friday and Saturday; and between the hours of 8:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. on school days.

In the proposal to expand gang injunction to East and West Oakland, City Attorney Barbara Parker and City Administrator Deanna Santana would begin work on evaluating and bring options to the Council to initiate gang injunction litigation In East and West Oakland. Oakland currently has a controversial gang injunction in place in North Oakland.

Councilwomen Nancy Nadal, Desley Brooks and Rebecca Kaplan questioned whether there was enough data and information to move forward on voting on the measures.

"It is bad policy to pass something and then go back and try to make sure it fits with what was expected," Brooks said. "Good policy would dictate that some homework be done."

But other Councilmembers like Libby Schaaf and De La Fuente said the city must take decisive steps immediately to deal with the crime problem in Oakland.

"This Council continues to talk and then not take any action," said a visibly frustrated De La Fuente. "The sad part is (that) there is a 31 percent increase in homicides in this city and this Council continues to talk."

According to Brooks, the Oakland Police Department said that last year, youth committed only 12 percent of overall crime in the city and that this year, it dropped to 10 percent.