BRONX W www.BXTimes.com EEKLY December 29, 2019 6
CB 6 residents weary over bail changes
BY RACHEL SHERMAN
FREELANCE REPORTER
Residents of the Belmont,
Bathgate, East Tremont and West
Farms neighborhoods are receiving
mixed messages on the
changes in the application of bail
in New York State, slated to take
effect in January.
At a heated Community Board
6 meeting last month, two police
offi cers explained that the elimination
of cash bail for non-violent
misdemeanors would mean law offenders
could be released the same
day of arrest. The offi cers painted
a bleak picture of what that might
mean: someone robs a community
resident’s home, is taken into custody
and then is seen out on the
street hours later.
On Wednesday night, residents
were presented with a different picture.
At the last community board
meeting of the year, held at Fordham
University, Sonya Tennell,
assistant district attorney, represented
Bronx DA Darcel Clark to
clarify concerns around the new
law. “This is not a situation where
people are just going to be let out of
jail,” she said. “No one is coming
into your home.”
Residents and members of Community Board 6 attend meeting regarding bail changes. Photo by Rachel Sherman
Noorjahan Wells, a CB6 board
member, worried that the presentation
by the two police offi cers
caused irreparable damage. “You
can’t unhear what you’ve already
heard from law enforcement.
So, the fear has already been instilled.”
“The fear mongering has to
stop,” she said.
Tennell said that alternatives
to incarceration, such as diversion
They count on you,
borough liaison for Comptroller
Scott Stringer, later called attention
to the expense of incarceration.
It costs more than $300,000 a
year to detain someone in a New
York City jail.
Tennell pointed out that currently
a high number of low-level
offenders from the Bronx await release
at Rikers Island because they
can’t make bail.
Franz and fellow CB6 board
member Lillie Steed asked the representatives
of elected offi cials to
provide information on laws before
they are passed.
“The problem is that every
month we get offi cials who talk
about turkey giveaways and that’s
great. But I’ve been on the board
for 20 years and every day they
pass laws and I’ve never once had
someone come in and say ‘This is a
law that’s going to be passed and I
voted “yes” or I voted “no” and this
is how it’s going to impact the community,’”
Franz said.
They asked offi cials for more
information on legislation, and
faster, objecting to only hearing
about the bail reform in November,
less than two months before
the bill is to go into effect.
“When we’re out in the community,
how are we going to go
out and explain what’s happening
when we’re blindsided?” Steed
said. “Because last month was a
shamble. Those detectives came in
and it was a shamble.”
Tennell said the district attorney
plans to speak directly to the
community at a future board meeting.
A date has not yet been set.
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programs, can be a more appropriate
sentence. “If someone
has bail set and it’s $100, $200,
$500 and they are unable to make
that bail… we’re not going to have
someone sit in jail and await their
trial,” she said. She said the consequences
will be different for repeat
offenders but she did not expand
on what the procedure would
be.
Victor Martinez, the Bronx
So count on us to
keep you going.
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