[NYguy]

Get ready for the second round...


https://www.politico.com/states/new-...-review-804670

Rikers closure plan will soon begin public review


By JANAKI CHADHA and SALLY GOLDENBERG
01/22/2019

Mayor Bill de Blasio’s plan to close Rikers Island has been beset by neighborhood opposition to replacement jails, skepticism among criminal justice reform advocates and local political dissonance — all of which overshadowed the city’s public rollout last fall.

...The city is now preparing to begin a public review by March for the four new jails — a process that will invite more scrutiny around one of de Blasio’s largest undertakings. It would also provide him with a victory on a matter of national interest — shuttering a notoriously violent jail — if the City Council approves the new sites, though the initiative would not be complete during his mayoralty.

Under the city’s plan, a 815-bed jail on Atlantic Avenue would be replaced with a 1.4-million-square-foot site, standing at 430 feet and with room for roughly 1,510 beds.

Levin, who represents the area and is in his final Council term, said he supports the change because the current building in downtown Brooklyn is outdated. The cells are too small and the design obstructs a clear view of prisoners, leading to overstaffing, he said.

Since the public hearing in September, when he was jeered during his public remarks, Levin has met with the No New Jails coalition and said he attends monthly Friday discussions with criminal justice reform groups and residents worried about the size of the new jail.

De Blasio needs the support of Levin and three other Council members whose districts would house the replacement jails — Diana Ayala of the Bronx, Margaret Chin of Manhattan and Karen Koslowitz of Queens — in order to go forward with this plan. The Council would vote about seven months after the public land use process begins.

The proposed Bronx site, currently an NYPD tow pound, has the support of local Council Member Diana Ayala, who said it "will keep families intact. Kids can visit their mothers and fathers" without traveling to Rikers Island.

But other Bronx politicians, including Borough President Ruben Diaz and Council Member Rafael Salamanca, are opposed.

While the original Lippman report called for one jail in each of the five boroughs, de Blasio decided to spare Staten Island a location after the borough president, Jimmy Oddo, swiftly made his displeasure known.

The Legal Aid Society, which had a seat on Mark-Viverito’s commission to study closing Rikers, was troubled by the mayor’s decision to give Staten Island a pass, a spokesperson said.