By Alexander C. Kaufman
The New York City Council (click here) is preparing to consider a trio of bills that would set the stage to convert the infamously violent jail complex on Rikers Island into a solar farm and wastewater treatment facility.
The bills mark what Queens Councilman Costa Constantinides, whose district lies just south of the jail complex, described as a bid to not only ensure the 400-acre island remains out of the grasp of luxury developers but also to curtail pollution in working-class neighborhoods and to broaden the scope of the historic Green New Deal legislation he helped pass last month.
March 16, 2019
By Christian Murray
A new poll says that New Yorkers (click here) overwhelmingly support the Mayor’s borough-based jail plan, results that are in stark contrast to the two community boards that have voted on the controversial plan so far.
The poll, based on the response of 601 registered voters between April 19-25, found that 59 percent supported closing the Rikers Island jail facilities and opening borough-based jails, with 22 percent voicing strong support.
The contentious plan involves closing Rikers and replacing it with four new jails, one in each borough except Staten Island, by 2027. The plan requires all four sites to be rezoned–including the proposed Kew Gardens facility, which would be 27-stories tall and house about 1,400 inmates.
The survey results, released today by the Independent Commission on New York City Criminal Justice and Incarceration Reform, come just two days after Community Board 9 in Kew Gardens unanimously voted down the proposal. Community Board 1 in Brooklyn voted against it on May 8, according to reports.
The community boards in Manhattan and the Bronx have yet to vote on it.
The poll found that 70 percent of respondents believe that family members should be detained at “a borough-based correctional facility located near their families, lawyers and courts,” instead of at Rikers Island, viewed as being in an isolated area....
