NY Daily News
Giddyup!
Horse-trading is in full swing as the City Council readies to vote on Mayor de Blasio’s controversial plan to close the notorious jail complex on Rikers Island and replace it with four new facilities.
The plan calls for jails to be built in Downtown Manhattan, the South Bronx, central Queens and Downtown Brooklyn by 2026, at an estimated cost of $8.7 billion.
That’s a bitter pill to swallow for some residents of those nabes. So the de Blasio administration is offering a proverbial spoonful of sugar to Council members rep’ing the areas.
The city is committing to building up to 233 units of affordable housing next to a new jail sited at 320 Concord Ave. in the Bronx nabe of Mott Haven, according to Councilwoman Diana Ayala.
She
hopes new housing might mollify residents in the area, where the
community board unanimously rejected the mayor’s plan in May.
“I’m sure that they’re not going to be excited about this, either,” Ayala said of the new jail’s opponents. “In an effort to try to do the best thing by both the community and shutting Rikers, this is the best place I can get to.”
In spite of pockets of opposition from pols like Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer — who’s been tormented by socialist activists as he seeks the Queens borough president’s seat — the Council is expected to pass the mayor’s plan. The Land Use Committee will conclude a review process known as ULURP on Wednesday, followed by a full Council vote Thursday.
Council members in districts where the new jails were sited were likely “yes” votes from the start of the debate.
But an insider noted the ULURP process, in which the Council tends to defer to the votes of colleagues rep’ing areas where projects are proposed, gives members in Ayala’s shoes lots of leverage.
“If you’re a member who’s going to vote yes, then why not secure benefits?” the Council insider remarked. “The ULURP provides a rare occasion to provide community benefits. Why not?”
9 comments:
Put the crooks next to their visitors
Just like placing affordable or low income housing near environmental hazards like garbage dumps, etc. Why no "luxury housing" near these. WHY DO YOU PEOPLE STILL LIVE THERE, what a HORRIBLE CITY.
Who the fuck would want to live next door to a jail tower??
What a crock. Enough of the BS, the city & developers friends aka our council members with this nonsense.I beginning to wonder if the Real Reason of closing Rikers is to benefit the movie industries purchase of the Steinway Piano site on 19th...
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Of course he's going to build actual affordable housing right next to a jail. He wouldnt DARE put a "luxury apartment" tower next to the jail. So he will just make regular people live next door to it so as soon as the criminals come right back on the street, they will walk up the block and just commit the same crime all over again. Let's see how bad of an idea this neighborhood jails thing really is.
Just another gimmick by DeBlah and the Dems to spend taxpayers $10 billion on something that's not needed and worse than what they had.
Why not put the new jail on top of the new affordable housing and save money
"Who the fuck would want to live next door to a jail tower??"
The folks who breed the crooks to begin with! Don't you get the scam?
Brooklyn, The Bornx and Manhattan get nice things for accepting a jail in their communities. And Queens gets nothing, as usual. Koslowitz gets cushy retirement, cash from developers, and us, her constituents, get the shaft.
I don't remember the name of the wannabe hack who she already endorsed for her seat, but it's the one person I'll know not to vote for in 2021.
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