BY JASON COHEN 
 A group of residents are  
 fi ghting  to keep a boroughbased  
 jail  from  coming  to  
 Mott Haven in 2026. 
 On  Tuesday,  February  
 11, residents of Diego Beekman  
 Mutual  Housing  Association  
 and  Walter  Nash  
 fi led  a  petition  against  the  
 city to prevent a jail in Mott  
 Haven from being built.  
 The  petition  seeks  to  
 block construction of the  
 19-story prison on 320 Concord  
 Avenue and East 141st  
 Street. 
 The  fi ling  argues  that  
 grouping  the  four-borough  
 jails into one Uniform Land  
 Use  Review  Procedure  
 (ULURP)  process was done  
 to  circumvent  local  land  
 use laws and contends that  
 the  process  was  illegal  because  
 the  city,  in  its  haste  
 for  approval,  failed  to  provide  
 a  clear  and  suffi cient  
 Environmental  Impact  
 Statement. 
 In  2019  the  city  announced  
 it  would  close  
 the  Rikers  Island  jails  and  
 create  four  borough-based  
 prisons  in  Manhattan,  
 Brooklyn,  Queens  and  the  
 Bronx.  
 The  four  facilities  are  
 being  reviewed  under  the  
 ULURP.  The  Mott  Haven  
 siting  is  the  only  location  
 where  a  jail  isn’t  already  
 operating.  
 The  Bronx  site  is  currently  
 a  tow  pound  for  the  
 New  York  Police  Department. 
 The  proposed  Mott  Haven  
 jail  will  be  the  only  
 borough-based jail that will  
 not be located adjacent to a  
 criminal courthouse. 
 “Diego  Beekman  and  
 other  local  residents,  including  
 Petitioner  Walter  
 Nash,  were  thus  stunned  
 upon  learning  in February  
 2018  that  Mayor  de  Blasio  
 and  Speaker  Johnson  had,  
 without any prior notice or  
 consultation with  the  community, 
  unilaterally selected  
 the very same NYPD  
 tow pound  site  for  the  construction  
 of  a  massive  new  
 jail  directly  across  from  
 apartments  in  a  residential  
 community that has for  
 decades  struggled  with  an  
 oversaturation of homeless  
 shelters,  drugs,  gangs  and  
 drug violence,  but has nevertheless  
 made  signifi cant  
 strides in recent years,” the  
 petition states.  
 According  to  the  petition, 
   the  city  selected Mott  
 Haven without input or support  
 from the community.  
 In fact, Mott Haven residents  
 supported a mixed-income  
 affordable housing development  
 on the jail site.  
 Numerous elected offi  
 cials,  including  Borough  
 President  Ruben  Diaz,  Jr.,  
 backed  that  plan,  as  well  
 as  an  alternative  site  for  
 the  jail  next  to  the  Bronx  
 Courthouse,  which  the  petition  
 says was also not appropriately  
 considered. 
 “The mayor and council  
 speaker  broke  the  law  and  
 rigged the process to saddle  
 a low-income community of  
 color with  a  jail,  plain and  
 simple,”  said Arline Parks,  
 CEO of Diego Beekman Mutual  
 Housing Association.  
 Diego Beekman is a nonprofi  
 t  affordable  housing  
 complex  in  Mott  Haven,  
 comprised of 38 apartment  
 buildings.  
 In  2016,  it  proposed  a  
 plan to redevelop the NYPD  
 tow pound  site  as a mixeduse  
 complex  that  would  be  
 an economic anchor for the  
 entire  east end of Mott Haven. 
   
 Two  years  later,  Beekman  
 secured  a  $25.5  million  
 loan  under  the  NYS  
 Department  of  Housing  
 Preservation  and  Development’s  
 Green Housing Preservation  
 Program  to  support  
 capital  upgrades  that  
 remain  ongoing,  including  
 substantial  upgrades  
 to  property  lighting,  roofs,  
 façade and parapet repairs,  
 code-compliant  elevators  
 and solar-energy panels. 
 “If the NYPD tow pound  
 is redeveloped as a jail, the  
 tragic  result  will  resonate  
 for  decades  to  come,”  the  
 petition  states.  “Future  
 generations  in  the  historically  
 troubled  Mott  Haven  
 neighborhood  will  be  
 forced  to  live  with  the  outcome  
 of  a  pre-packaged  decision 
 making  process,  in  
 which  their  interests  were  
 effectively  steamrolled  for  
 political expedience.” 
 Councilwoman  Diana  
 Ayala,  who  voted  to  close  
 Rikers  and  support  the  
 mayor’s  plan  said,  “With  
 reduced  heights  and  a  projected  
 jail  population  of  
 3,300  by  2026,  the  boroughbased  
 jail  plan will  shrink  
 our criminal justice system  
 and  put  us  on  the  path  to  
 decarcerat ion.”  
 Though  Salamanca  
 voted in favor of closing  
 Rikers Island he also voted  
 against  the  new  Bronx  facility  
 and  urged  Mayor  de  
 Blasio  to  close  the  Vernon  
 C.  Bain  Center,  a  fl oating  
 barge  jail  off  Hunts  Point,  
 as well. 
 In May 2019, Community  
 Board 1 voted unanimously  
 against the mayor’s plan to  
 build a jail in Mott Haven. 
 “The  city’s  surprise  announcement  
 to abandon its  
 prior commitment to Diego  
 Beekman  (and  also  residents  
 of  the  nearby  Nehemiah  
 Plan  homes)  and  to  
 instead  use  the  NYPD  tow  
 pound  site  to  erect  a  jail  
 came as a total shock to the  
 community,  who  believe  
 the proposed jail site is simply  
 “more  of  the  same”  for  
 a  neighborhood  that  is  already  
 overburdened  with  
 six  homeless  shelters,  supportive  
 housing for the special  
 needs  population,  numerous  
 methadone  clinics,  
 and a sewage plant,” the petition  
 states.  
 At  Borough  President  
 Diaz’s  hearing  on  June  
 25,  2019,  the  city  conceded  
 that  the  ULURP  does  not  
 address  the  relocation  of  
 the  NYPD  tow  pound  and  
 further  admitted  that  an  
 additional  environmental  
 review  will  need  to  occur  
 in order to relocate the tow  
 pound.  It  remains  unclear  
 where the hundreds of cars  
 will  go  and  how  that  will  
 impact the environment. 
   NYC  Law  Deartment.  
 spokesman  Nick  Paolucci  
 provided  a  statement  addressing  
 the petition. 
  “The city is still reviewing  
 the claims in the litigation  
 but  stands  by  the  process  
 by  which  we  worked  
 with  neighborhoods,  community  
 and  the  council  to  
 develop  the  plan  to  build  
 a  smaller,  borough-based  
 jail system and achieve the  
 moral imperative of closing  
 the  jails on Rikers  Island,”  
 Paolucci said.  
 3      BRONX WEEKLY February 23, 2020 www.BXTimes.com 
 Mott Haven sues to halt ‘illegal and political’ Bronx jail  
 The future site of the jail in Mott Haven.  Photo Courtesy Diego Beekman Petition 
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