Councilmembers Gioia and Miller have introduced a bill that would ensure that cyber cafes remain safe and secure for students and adults who seek to use Internet resources and would specifically target venues where repeated violence occurs.

Minors who cut classes often turn to cyber cafes during school hours. Recently, Gioia said, a cyber cafe in Brooklyn was the scene of a gang incident which left one boy dead and two others with stab wounds.

Councilmember John Liu (D–Flushing) has a bill pending which restricts minors’ use of Internet cafes during school hours. Liu said it "tackles truancy head-on."

Under the Miller/Gioia bill, owners of cyber cafes would be licensed, cafes where violence occurred would be subject to review and negligent cafe owners would be subject to punishment in cases where minors frequented a cafe during school hours.

Pictured above: Gioia at podium with (left to right): Councilmembers Vincent Gentile, Sara Gonzalez, Speaker Gifford Miller, and Councilmembers John Liu and Bill Perkins.