Cuomo Rikers rancor
Rep rips DeB plan
Escalating a running feud, Gov. Cuomo’s top lawyer on Thursday called out Mayor de Blasio’s 10-year timeline to shutter Rikers Island as “no real plan” and ripped the violent jail complex as “savage and inhumane.”
“Saying it will take 10 years is tantamount to saying we have no real plan to close it,” Cuomo chief counsel Alphonso David said in a written statement.
“Ten years may see three different mayors and three different City Councils,” David argued.
“This proposed closing plan will have no relevance to those administrations. Governor Cuomo, for example, is not 10 years later implementing Governor [Eliot] Spitzer’s plans.”
De Blasio has called for the closure of Rikers Island within a decade — even though term limits would prevent him from overseeing its closure if he’s reelected in November.
Critics have derided the plan as a cop-out and a way for de Blasio to elude taking full responsibility for a jail complex that has seen stabbings and slashings spike in recent months.
David’s statement, which was sent from the governor’s press office Thursday afternoon, came in response to the Bronx DA’s indictment of 29 alleged gang members for attacking inmates and jail staff.
In one dig at the mayor, David drew a distinction between Cuomo’s handling of criminal-justice reform and de Blasio’s.
“This year, New York state ensured the majority of 16- and 17-year-olds will be removed from Rikers Island,” David said. “It’s time that New York City step up to the plate with a real plan to close this jail on a rapidly accelerated timeline.”
City Hall didn’t wait long to fire back, with de Blasio spokesman Eric Phillips accusing Cuomo of engaging in “political theater.”
“As attorney general, Andrew Cuomo was silent on Rikers Island. As governor, Andrew Cuomo leads a state prison system marred by abuse, neglect and escapes,” Phillips said.
“Unless the governor is willing to reform his own embattled state prison system and court system, it’s impossible to see his outburst as anything but political theater.”
Cuomo and de Blasio have been feuding with each other for years and recently sparred over how to fix the subway system.