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
A Tree Falls on Chrystie Street
A tree falls on Chrystie Street, and plenty of people were there to see it. During the morning deluge yesterday, a tall timber from inside Sara D. Roosevelt Park toppled into the roadway of Chrystie Street, just north of Grand. The fallen tree straddled most of the pavement, but luckily no one was hurt. Only […]
PS 110 Hosts 5th Annual ‘Lower Eats Side Food Festival’ Tomorrow
Tomorrow afternoon, you can eat your way around the globe at the fifth annual “Lower Eats Side Festival.” As in years prior, the PTA at Public School 110 (aka the Florence Nightingale School) on Delancey Street is once again hosting this international food and music festival. First held in 2015 on the 110th anniversary of […]
Skaters Take Division Street
Whenever a pedestrian plaza is created on the Lower East Side, the skateboarders are never too far behind. The longtime free space on Delancey Street near Norfolk is case in point, where groups of skaters are often seen practicing tricks. The same occurs down on Division Street at the confluence of Canal. This, too, has […]
Celebrating 19 Years of Egg Rolls and Egg Creams on Eldridge Street
Mah jongg tiles at the ready! The annual Egg Rolls and Egg Creams Festival is hitting the Lower East Side this weekend. The block party, now in its 19th year, is ready to dish out frothy beverages that are neither egg nor cream, alongside a bunch of activities and food celebrating the unique diversity of […]
The ‘New Stand’ Innovation Hub Debuts on the Bowery
Promised for two years, the newfangled “newsstand” at 306 Bowery – dubbed the New Stand – is finally operational. The “content and innovation hub” opened to the public yesterday. Technically, the 6,700 square-foot retail space (formerly occupied by Patricia Field) was christened back in February with a fashion show by Collina Strada, and was supposed […]
