Lower Manhattan Community Board Votes Against City's Jail Plans

CHINATOWN, NY — Lower Manhattan's community board voted unanimously against the city's plan to tear down the Manhattan Detention Complex and rebuild a taller jail Tuesday evening — with a list of conditions if the city wants the board's go-ahead.

Tuesday's full board meeting was standing room only with more than 100 people crowded into a community meeting room at the Borough of Manhattan Community College.

Though the board's final vote is only advisory, Community Board 1's resolution will be sent to City Planning for its recommendations to the city on the project — which is a part of the de Blasio administration's larger citywide plan to close jail facilities on Rikers Island and build four jails in Queens, Brooklyn, the Bronx, and Manhattan and reduce the city's jail population from 7,600 to 4,000 by 2026.

In Manhattan, the city plans to replace the existing Manhattan Detention Complex at 125 White St. and replace it with a taller structure. The city has touted that its new facilities would be closer to the courts systems and easier to access by transit for inmates' loved ones compared to Rikers — though the community pushback against the plan has been fierce, with months of outrage over a lack of community input and a plan that neighbors say remains in flux.

"When it fails, no one will be accountable," said Jan Lee, a member of Neighbors United Below Canal. De Blasio's commissioners will "not [be] here with our community when they start digging into the ground, when the shovels start shaking our buildings and polluting our air."

The board voted against the city's jail plan — with conditions including urging the city to start from scratch with its review process amid news the target jail population could be even lower resulting in a smaller facility, calling for a facility on Staten Island to further reduce the size of the facility, implementing a robust plan for a neighboring senior building during construction, among other asks.

Neighbors and advocates urged CB 1 to vote against the plan. One neighbor said the planned jail is "completely out of scale with the neighborhood." Another said, "withdraw this terrible plan immediately." Another Baxter Street neighbor said, "prison reform belongs on Rikers."

No New Jails NYC, a coalition urging the city to close Rikers and re-imagine a justice system without jails, called on the board to vote against the plan without any conditions whatsoever.

"We see this as an expansion plan," said Kei Williams, a No New Jails coalition organizer. "Who will be responsible for closing these jails [when de Blasio leaves office]?" Williams added this is an opportunity to be progressive and get rid of the mass incarceration system.

Some advocated for the board to vote in support of the plan instead — highlighting the importance of closing Rikers.

"Rikers Island — people just see it as an island itself that just needs to be renovated ... but the infrastructure of that is a lot deeper," said Vidal Guzman, a Just Leadership USA organizer who has been incarcerated at Rikers in the past. "There are lives in there that have not yet been convicted."

Earlier this month, CB 1's land use committee voted unanimously against the jail. A top concern is the jail's height, proposed to be 450 feet.

"A major concern is that the building is just too big," Patrick Kennel, a Financial District neighbor who chairs the CB 1 land use committee, previously told Patch.

A spokeswoman for the Mayor's Office of Criminal Justice, Alacia Lauer, said the city had originally planned to reduce its jail population to 5,000 people — but with state policy changes including bail reform has allowed the city to readjust its goal to 4,000, which would allow for smaller facilities.

How much Lower Manhattan's proposed jail could change under the new numbers remains to be seen.

Though the committee's resolution supports the goal of closing Rikers Island, Kennell added, "Everything is much in flux. We're having a hard time understanding what it is we [had] even been asked to agree to."

The board's vote is a part of the uniform land use review procedure which goes through the community boards, borough presidents and City Planning Commission, and ends with a vote in City Council — where each local councilmember in four boroughs will have a say on their respective project.

Councilwoman Margaret Chin holds a pivotal vote for the 125 White St. lock-up.

Chin supports closing Rikers, but has raised concerns regarding construction impacts at a neighboring senior building and what other community givebacks will be offered.

Another public hearing with Borough President Gale Brewer is slated for June 11, 6 to 9 p.m. at Pace University's student center, according to Brewer's representative at the board meeting.