A coalition of more than 100 New York City organizations calling itself Safety Not Censorship announced a press conference and rally at Tweed Courthouse pressing the City Council to sustain Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s veto of Intro 175-B, a measure the group says would threaten free speech and the right of communities to organize. The coalition scheduled the event for 11:30 a.m. Wednesday, May 20, at 52 Chambers Street, ahead of what it described as the final City Council Stated session before the deadline to override the veto.
According to the coalition’s media advisory, Intro 175-B would require the New York Police Department to develop plans to police protests near schools and broadly defined “educational facilities.” The coalition characterized the bill as a direct threat to free speech, student safety and the right of communities to organize, and called on the Council to kill the measure. The advisory said the Council’s timeline to override the mayor’s veto ends May 30.
The coalition listed confirmed speakers including Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union; Rabbi Abby Stein of Jews for Racial & Economic Justice; Hussain Yatabarry of the Muslim Community Network; Janice Chong of the YA-YA Network; Sheree Gibson of the Alliance for Quality Education; Council Member Jen Gutierrez; and Public Advocate Jumaane Williams. The group said a picket and action would follow at the City Hall West gates, promoting the event under the hashtags #NoBufferZones and #NoTo175B.
The Office of the Public Advocate confirmed Williams’ participation, listing a press conference “in support of sustaining the veto of Intro 175-B” at 52 Chambers Street at 11:30 a.m. on his public schedule for May 20. The schedule placed the appearance between a morning Career Day talk at Frederick Douglass Academy VIII Middle School in Brooklyn and an evening appearance at the Worker’s Justice Project Gala in Manhattan.
The coalition said its membership of more than 100 organizations includes the Alliance for Quality Education, Desis Rising Up and Moving, Girls for Gender Equity, Hands Off NYC Families, Jews for Racial & Economic Justice, the Muslim Community Network and Middle Church, among others. A full roster was posted in a public document shared by the coalition. Media inquiries were directed to Zara Nasir of the People’s Plan.
The veto survived. At the May 20 Stated meeting, Speaker Menin declined to call an override vote, leaving Mamdani’s veto in place. Rather than attempt an override, the Council said it would reintroduce a narrowed version of the measure applying only to schools.
