Council revises school buffer zone bill after mayoral veto
The council has revived their legislative push to create security perimeters around schools.
The revised bill was introduced Thursday as local lawmakers and Speaker Julie Menin look to overcome a previous mayoral veto and First Amendment concerns.
“This new bill really accomplishes the mission of the original bill in that it creates safe access perimeters around schools,” Menin said.
“I think what’s important about this new bill is that it addresses some of the concerns that we heard and in that spirit of dialogue and collaboration we have a new bill,” she said.
Under the amended bill, the educational institutions have been narrowed down to cover only elementary, middle and high schools, excluding colleges and other institutions.
According to original bill sponsor Councilmember Eric Dinowitz, “that’s what the legislative process is. It’s listening, bringing different voices together to come out with something that will positively impact our community.”
“We’re going to keep a lot of people safer by requiring transparency and accountability with the NYPD as it relates to harassment outside of our schools,” Dinowitz added.
A City Hall spokesman in a statement Thursday that the Mamdani administration “is reviewing the new version of the legislation.”
“New York City is already a place where the right to protest is sacrosanct and protected, and where New Yorkers can access educational facilities safely, and the Mayor is committed to keeping it that way,” the statement said.
Although the legislation started out requiring a so-called “buffer zone” around educational institutions, the current version has been diluted a significant amount.
In a separate hearing on Wednesday, a top official at the police department said the legislation doesn’t change how the NYPD responds to protests.
“It’s not giving us more power or less power, it’s not directing us to do anything differently. The bill says NYPD describe in words how you do this. That’s essentially what the bill does,” Michael Gerber, the deputy commissioner of legal matters, said.
Dinowitz is hopeful this version of his original bill will finally make it over the finish line. The legislation currently has 35 sponsors, a supermajority that could override a mayoral veto.
“I don’t know, it’s hard to know what his considerations are, I know my considerations are the safety of our students,” Dinowitz said.
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