Buffer Zones at Places of Religious Worship & Educational Facilities

New York City has a responsibility to reduce hate within our communities and ensure the rights and well-being of our community members are protected. However, the City Council’s buffer zone proposals, Intros 001-A and 175-A, do not solve this problem, and are factually unnecessary and legally unsound. Unnecessary because state and federal laws already protect access to places of worship and offer judicial relief when that access is threatened. And unsound because they could significantly infringe upon New Yorkers’ constitutional rights. The proposals could also undermine the Payne v. de Blasio Protest Settlement whereby the New York Police Department (NYPD) agreed to minimize police presence at protests and comply with the First Amendment by using a tiered approach for all First Amendment activities in the City. Lastly, these proposals could lead to viewpoint- and content-based policing of disfavored speakers and messages, and offer a police department with a record of violating protesters’ rights yet another way to punish protest.

Potentially foreclosing public demonstrations near thousands of places of worship, schools, and universities across the City would bar a great deal of political speech: speech about police violence, speech about abortion and LGBTQ rights, criticism of the government, criticism of organized religion and its scandals, and contentious speech about lethal conflicts between nations and cultures. And it would do so during a National political moment when censoring and punishing—often violently—offensive political speech has become a popular strategy. It is a dangerous, un-American, undemocratic trend this Council should resist.