Don’t lock up Mott Haven when closing Rikers
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A sense of concern and outrage
is brewing in Throggs
Neck about a possible conversion
of an offi ce building into
an unwanted use.
Commercial tenants at
2800 Bruckner Boulevard received
letters to vacate the
property, and community
leaders have formed a coalition
to fi ght a possible alcohol
Westchester Square reels over vagrants
ulder during a confrontation
Continued on Page 67
Continued on Page 67
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While Bronxites prepared
to take a ‘bite out of crime’
at the annual August 1 Night
Out Against Crime, one crook
turned that around and took
a bite out of a local merchant
who tried to interrupt his
thievery.
A.M.A.F. Fashion business
owner Abdul Sol felt more
than an impact to his quality
of life on the morning of Sunday,
July 9, when a shoplifter
tried to leave his store with
a bag of clothing and Sol sufered
a severe bite on his left
rearm and a dislocated right
with the man.
At his 25 Westchester
Square store, Sol recalled how
the shoplifter had on previous
customer.
occasions
been a paying “He spent money here,
it’s not like I never saw him
before,” Sol said. “He came
around two or three months
ago and bought a pair of
shoes.”
But the Sunday of the assault,
the suspect asked for a
shopping bag, grabbed stuff,
and tried to leave, according
to Sol.
“I told him, ‘No, you can’t
take my stuff.’”
A fi ght ensued and Sol said
he “went to the ground with
him. I hurt my shoulder. He
took a big bite in my arm. I was
at the hospital until 6 o’clock. I
still have pain in my shoulder.
I still can’t lift my left arm.”
Sol said he had seen the
shoplifter associate with patients
from the Bronx Psychiatric
Center, so he fi gured he
was a client.
As Bronx Psychiatric Center,
on Waters Place, continues
to release its patients on
the street during the day, they
interact with homeless people
and drug rehab program.
Complaints have been
fi led with the city about beds
being moved into the building
or illegally converting it
into a residential building,
with some folks planning to
take legal action against the
landlord because they have
leases, according to multiple
sources.
Homeowners and renters
are also circulating petitions
to protest what appears to be
“a substance-abuse rehabilitation
program recruiting
staff” to work in the building
and lack of community notice
or engagement on what
may be sited at 2800 Bruckner
Boulevard.
“The community is defi -
nitely mobilized,” said Steven
Kaufman, an attorney who
is leading the Throggs Neck
Strong coalition looking into
the matter, adding “I believe
with mobilization, we might
be able to stop what they want
to do.”
Tenants in the building
say they got letters over the
last two weeks telling them
to vacate the building by
September, said Bobby Jaen,
Throggs Neck Merchants Association
president and coalition
member.
So far, at least 20 complaints
have been logged with
the NYC Department of Buildings,
including those concerning
“commercial space that is
being turned into residential
space” and those saying tenants
see “beds, dressers, mirrors
and chairs,” being moved
in.
As of press time, a meeting
of the Throggs Neck Strong
coalition has been planned
for the Crosstown Diner on
Thursday, August 3, with Jaen
expecting around 125 people,
following a lot of community
organizing and petitioning
that led to a forceful showing
at an earlier impromptu meeting
on Friday, July 28.
Anthony Mameli, Charles
Ruttenberg Realty’s Bronx
commercial real estate manager,
said the company was
planning a grand opening for
its new offi ce at the building
Bronx Times Reporter
Name:
Bayside, NY 11361
editorial
Mayor de Blasio has an opportunity
to leave behind a legacy of being
the most humane, criminal justice reformer
in city history.
However, that will not happen if his
administration builds a skyscraper
prison in the south Bronx.
While the road to closing Rikers Island
is paved with good intentions, it
will spell out yet another setback to
the neighborhood of Mott Haven with
the construction of a 24 to 25 story, borough
based jail facility at 320 Concord
Avenue.
Twice now, Community Board 1 and
a commitee have unanimously voted
“:no” to the plan.
Besides the fact that it will be the
largest building in the south Bronx, it
will inadvertently, to all outside the borough,
be the fi rst thing they see and associate
with the Bronx.
The Mott Haven community has had
a years-long plan for that Concord Avenue
parcel of land.
Diego Beekman Mutual Housing,
which has complexes that surround
what is currently an NYPD tow pound
at the proposed jail site, had a plan to acquire
the property in efforts to expand
its much-neede affordable housing services.
Diaz reads the Lippman Report to protestors at City Hall. Schneps Media/ Alex Mitchell
That proposed plan would bring a
grocery store into a community that
was found to be a food desert while also
providing necessary public amenities
that Mott Haven doesn’t have current
access to.
Adding insult to injury for Beekman
and its CEO Arline Parks, a recently released
draft of the jail’s details include a
city run, affordable housing complex.
So, rather than Bronxites in need of
affordable housing being in close proximity
to a supermarket, they will be
neighboring a jail; the third of its kind
within a two-mile radius of the south
Bronx.
That’s only part of why a jail would
be inappropriate for Mott Haven,
though.
There is a more preferred location
next to the Bronx Hall of Justice on East
161st Street, a site that Borough President
Ruben Diaz, Jr. along with many of
his colleagues in government also support.
Justifi cation for that Hall of Justice
site comes from specifi c context within
the Lippman Report on criminal justice.
Those fi ndings indicate that jail facilities
are best suited to be constructed
close to civic centers, such as courthouses.
Originally, the Mott Haven jail was
slated to include an arraignment court
so that inmates wouldn’t have to be
moved to and from the Hall of Justice.
That plan is now scrapped.
There are no connecting subway
lines from the #6 IRT East 143rd Street
station to East 161st Street without
transferring in Manhattan, plus two
miles on the Major Deegan Expressway
during peak hours usually entails
a good 30 minute trip. Not to mention
the expense of parking near the Grand
Concourse.
So, the ‘close two mile proximity to
the courthouse’ isn’t exactly all that accessible.
Closing Rikers and incorporating
humane and ethical reform in the criminal
justice system could be done in way
that will be humane and ethical for the
Bronx and its residents, especially those
in low-income areas.
Mr. Mayor, ignoring a community
driven, affordable housing plan to build
a jail will be your legacy if you don’t listen
to our voices uptown.
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