(The Center Square) — The New York City Council is fast-tracking a proposal to create protest ‘buffer zones’ around public schools, making an end-run around Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s veto of a bill that restricted demonstrations outside colleges and universities.
Speaking to reporters ahead of Wednesday’s regular meeting, Council Speaker Jule Menin said the council will be taking up amended legislation “incoming weeks” that would require the NYPD to consider protest buffer zones around “most” kindergarten through 12th grade schools and early education facilities, but not higher education institutions.
Menin defended the maneuver around Mamdani’s veto of the previous bill, arguing that she had enough votes to override the mayor’s objections.
“We had the votes to do an override,” she told reporters at a briefing Wednesday afternoon. “But to jam through an override on an issue — where even members who were going to support the override had real concerns — I don’t think that’s a responsible path forward. My job as speaker is to build consensus. And so that’s what we did.”
The amended bill will focus on “protecting the most vulnerable students”, she said, and clarifies the exemptions for educational facilities that were included in the previous bill vetoed by the mayor.
“Institutions like libraries and teaching hospitals, that were never intended to be covered by the legislation, are going to be explicitly excluded, as will colleges and universities,” Menin told reporters.
A pair of bills, approved by the Democratic-controlled City Council in March, called for authorizing the New York City Police Department to consider creating buffer zones around synagogues, churches, and other houses of worship, as well as colleges and universities, during demonstrations.
New York was the epicenter for protests over Israel’s war against Hamas, drawing scrutiny from the Trump administration.
Mandani allowed a bill that would create buffer zones around churches, synagogues, mosques, and other houses of worship to go into law without his signature but vetoed the other bill that would have required the NYPD to establish buffer zones around colleges and universities.
“This could impact workers protesting ICE, or college students demanding their school divest from fossil fuels or demonstrating in support of Palestinian rights,” he said in a statement.
Mamdani’s veto of the school buffer zone was seen as a snub to City Council Speaker Julie Menin, who pushed both bills through the council in response to an uptick in hate crimes in New York City, much of it targeting Jewish residents.
The legislation — along with a similar, statewide plan pitched by Gov. Kathy Hochul — faced fierce opposition from civil liberties groups who criticized the proposed buffer zone as unconstitutional.
But Jewish groups including the Anti-Defamation League of New York, UJA-Federation of New York said they were “deeply disappointed” by Mamdani’s veto.
