De Blasio Holds ‘Honest Conversation’ About Hate in Boro Park
Boro Park – Mayor Bill de Blasio made a last-minute visit to Boro Park on Thursday to discuss the rising anti-Semitic violence in the city amid the worst atmosphere for Jews in a generation.
The mayor met with representatives of the community at the Hatzolah garage on 14th Ave. and 38th Street. A participant told boropark.24.com that the mayor said he was aware that Jewish communities are feeling unsafe, especially in Williamsburg, Boro Park and Crown Heights.
“We had an open dialogue trying to figure out what the issue is over here,” the person said, “and how we could get more resources and manpower to precincts covering the orthodox community.”
The representatives also brought up the issue of how Jews could be protected on Shabbos when they cannot call 911.
Following the meeting, which was closed to the press, de Blasio held a press conference outside in which he spoke about the “pain” people are feeling.
“There’s a real sense of deep, deep fear that anti-Semitism is growing, that it’s taking on a more and more violent form here and all over the country,” said the mayor, a Democrat who once represented the district in the city council. “That’s what the conversation was about. How do we stop that? And we had an honest conversation about what it’s going to take.”
“I think the community is very appreciative of the efforts of the NYPD, but they want to see more and we talked about what that will be and what needs to be. I think there’s real recognition that we’ve got to get to the root causes. We talked about the work of the Office to Prevent Hate Crimes, we talked about what we’re going to do in the schools.”
The mayor said he believed that the bail reform law that went into effect on Wednesday must be changed to ensure that there are “consequences and penalties for anyone who commits a hate crime.”
Assemblyman Simcha Eichenstein introduced legislation on Thursday to add hate crimes to the list of which judges have discretion in not releasing a suspect.
