The Rikers fix-up is in
Blas to rehab jail he wants closed
Mayor de Blasio wants to close Rikers Island — but that won’t stop him from spending millions on new jailhouse jitneys and making visiting areas more comfy for inmates and their guests.
The city has put up $1 million to renovate the Benjamin Ward Visitor Center and other guest areas with new seating, fresh coats of paint and updated scanners, according to the Department of Correction and the mayor’s budget plan.
This summer, the city will also test-run express buses shuttling people directly to and from Rikers out of two public-transit hubs in Manhattan and Brooklyn. The jailhouse jitneys will cost taxpayers $846,000 this fiscal year and $1.69 million each year after that. The DOC wouldn’t yet say if the shuttles will be free to ride.
The efforts to improve the visiting process were met with scorn and confusion — even by those on their way to see inmates.
“Why are you putting money into something that you’re closing?” said Chynna Woods, a 40- year-old Rockaways resident visiting her boyfriend Thursday.
“It’s a waste of money,” said Talar Yaralian, 39, who was seeing her brother at the jail as he awaits trial. “They’re still going to treat you like you’re the criminal when you’re going through that process.”
Visitors said getting to the Q100 bus that travels from Long Island City, Queens, through Astoria and East Elmhurst and then across the Rikers Island Bridge can take more than an hour.
An East Harlem mom visiting her son said the new shuttle would “be more convenient than driving all the way, then parking, then getting on a bus to go.” But, she added, “What’s the purpose if they’re talking about closing it?”
The renovations and shuttle buses befuddled City Councilman Joe Borelli (R-SI) — who wondered if the DOC was “inflating the cost of operations to justify its closure.”
“While the MTA is facing a crisis, why are we duplicating service when a million dollars could probably add hundreds of bus trips per day in otherwise crowded corridors in every borough?” Borelli asked.