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Public comment: Bethlehem resident urges time-limited bans for patrons at public establishments
Summary
During public comment Artie Curatola urged the city to change local rules so that patrons barred from public establishments would face time-limited bans instead of permanent exclusion; he said he is permanently barred from ArtsQuest and asked the council to consider revisions to the relevant policy language.
Artie Curatola, of Bethlehem’s south side, used the public-comment period on June 3 to urge the city to revise local policy language so that patrons banned from public establishments would face time-limited exclusions rather than permanent bans.
Curatola told council members the current provision makes the city “look really bad” when patrons are barred from a public venue indefinitely. He said permanent bans deny people the ability to return and suggested finite durations — for example, weeks, months or years — rather than an indefinite prohibition.
Curatola said he is permanently barred from ArtsQuest despite not being arrested or charged in the incident he described. “I didn’t even cause a scene. I didn’t even — I didn’t assault anybody,” he said. He asked the council to “think about changing that article to making it that they have a time limit.”
The remarks were made during the meeting’s public-comment period; council did not take action on the issue during the session and no staff report or ordinance text change was presented.
