Lock down a better jail site
The close-Rikers commission led by retired state Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman was clear as day about where new boroughbased jail facilities ought to locate: “cityowned land in civic centers as close as possible to courthouses and public transportation.” For good reason. The whole point of the transformation is to make it as easy as possible for the accused to get to court, and for lawyers, family and community services to get to them, in sharp contrast to the isolated island jails.
Yet Mayor de Blasio stubbornly clings to plans to erect a new facility for the Bronx on the cusp of a crime-troubled residential neighborhood more than two miles away from the borough’s Hall of Justice on 161st St., in expedient denial that the ideal site lies in plain sight. Namely, right next door to the courthouse. True, the city would have to secure a portion of that site from the state Dormitory Authority, which is currently in control. But never mind that: Councilwoman Vanessa Gibson drops a roadblock first, calling a lot next door to a criminal courthouse no place to put a jail.
Once her two terms in the Council are up, Gibson ought to consider a career in standup comedy, because that’s just hilarious.
By contrast, Councilwoman Diana Ayala accedes to the remote site in her district favored by de Blasio, currently an NYPD tow pound. After all, she owes her seat to former Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, who championed the close-Rikers crusade.
Council politics ought not dictate the location of a jail that will cost billions of dollars to construct and serve the city for decades to come, not when the jail is supposed to serve the entire borough.
It sure sounded not long ago that Council Speaker Corey Johnson agreed with that line of thinking. He vowed to do away with the tradition of enabling local Council members to kibosh projects when the greater good demands it, saying: “Of course there’s member deference involved. But there’s no veto. No one gets a veto.”
No veto means no veto. Pick the right site.