Mayor Nixes High-Rise Chinatown Jail at 80 Centre Street
80 Centre Street, Photo: Karlin Chan
The proposal for a high-rise jail in Chinatown ended in major defeat yesterday. Mayor de Blasio threw in the towel, and is no longer considering the proposed 430-foot prison complex at 80 Centre Street.
Nixing this site is owed largely to purported problems relocating the main occupant here, the city’s marriage bureau. The Mayor’s press team pushed out the following statement yesterday afternoon:
It’s crucial that we close Rikers Island and transition to a smaller, safer borough-based jail system as quickly as possible. We found that the challenges associated with relocating various offices at 80 Centre Street would make siting a jail there far more complicated and more costly than we originally anticipated. As we met with the community, it became clear that the original site we considered better addressed their needs without the costly challenges created by using 80 Centre, and we are reverting our site selection to the Manhattan Detention Complex.
So, this administration setback means that the city is revisiting the Manhattan Detention Complex, nicknamed The Tombs. That location at 125 White Street was previously deemed too small, but officials are now contemplating demolition and building a larger facility.
As reported, Mayor de Blasio remains committed to closing Rikers Island and relocating operations to a decentralized “community-based” jail system over the next decade. His so-called “roadmap to closing Rikers” will see new jail facilities throughout the five boroughs.
From its inception, though, the glassy proposal for 80 Centre Street received vociferous backlash from the Chinatown community. Activists rallied and protested at length.
The Tombs
However, the architect of much of the opposition, local Karlin Chan, tells us that it’s premature to celebrate anything.
“The fight is not over,” Chan quipped. “Rikers does not need to be closed, as the city can achieve its prison reform goals by policy change and building new facilities on Rikers which is currently at half capacity. The mainstream media has kept CC Intro-940 out of news but it calls for forming a 10-person commission to study the feasibility of renovating Rikers island over closing it.”
Recent Stories
The ‘New Stand’ is Finally Ready to Take the Bowery
It’s been almost three years since Patricia Field retired her Bowery fashion boutique and quietly relocated to Seward Park. While a replacement was ultimately found a year thereafter, mum has largely been the narrative at 306 Bowery. Until now. The so-called New Stand, which inked a ten-year deal on the 6,700 square-foot retail space ($220 […]
‘Esther & Carol’ Goes Dark After Less than 2 Years on the Bowery
Esther & Carol had lofty goals for the southwest corner of Bowery and Broome. Barely two years after opening, the restaurant is now dark. Esther & Carol occupied a large swath of the Sohotel corner (the former Bacchanal), and was split in thirds – full service dining room, casual takeout window, and basement lounge with […]
Icon Terminates Seward Park Garage Lease 3 Years After Parking Privatization
Three years after the parking garage privatization pitted Seward Park co-op members against the board, the operator is out. Icon/Quik Park tendered its termination over the holiday weekend, and will pull out of the garage at the end of this month. Charles H. Greenthal & Co. management circulated a letter to tenants announcing the news […]
Cajun Quietly Comes to Hell Square with ‘Parish NYC’
Out of nowhere, this new Cajun spot for Hell Square. Parish debuted last month at 146 Orchard Street. The arrival of Parish (the word for “county” in Louisiana) comes on the heels of Butcher Bar, the Astoria-based barbecue bar that shuttered back in September after little more than a year. According to its mission statement […]
NYC Half Marathon Foists Thousands of Runners onto the Lower East Side Next Month
On your mark, get set … for thousands of marathoners on the proverbial doorstep. The New York City Half Marathon is less than a month out, and for the second year running, the Lower East Side is in the crosshairs. The race route shifted last year to include spanning the Manhattan Bridge, Canal Street, and […]
