‘Buffer zone’ bill will pass into law this week, NYC Council speaker says

The New York City Council intends to pass a bill creating a protest-free “buffer zone” around houses of worship and a measure to create a hotline for reporting antisemitic and other hate crimes this week, according to Julie Menin, the council speaker.

Both bills were debated during a recent 10-hour city council hearing, during which officials from the city, NYPD and Jewish organizations testified, as well as members of the public, including those who opposed and supported the proposed laws.

The first Jew to serve as speaker of the 51-member council, Menin announced the impending passage of the bills at an annual legislative breakfast held by the Council of Jewish Organizations of Flatbush, Brooklyn, on Sunday.

COJO gave the council member its distinguished leadership award. Menin opened her remarks by citing the upsurge of Jew-hatred in New York and nationally, most recently the attack on a Reform synagogue with a preschool in West Bloomfield, Mich., a Detroit suburb.

“With hate crimes against Jews constituting more than any other group of hate crimes in our great city combined, I want to make no apology about insisting on a proportionate response to disproportionate discrimination,” Menin said.