3 Queens reacts to study of local jail plan
City releases environmental review for borough-based jails with changes to Kew Gardens proposal
QUEENS WEEKLY, MARCH 31, 2019
BY MARK HALLUM
A draft environmental
impact study for the de Blasio
administration’s borough
based jail plan was
released on Friday with
one 3,200 leaf document
depicting dozens of pages
worth of comment from local
politicians, community
leaders and residents that
show a city-wide perception
that mayor’s office was not
open with the affected communities
on the proposal.
Representatives from
all four boroughs slated
for jail alternatives to
Rikers Island labeled
the effort as lacking in
transparency with civic
leaders from Queens and
Chinatown, Manhattan
having the most vocal opposition
to what they see as
“fait accompli.”
With the ULURP process
set to begin March 25,
the Mayor’s Office of Criminal
Justice held a briefing
on the draft environmental
review which changes
some details of the original
envelope of the plan such
as reducing the squarefootage
of the facility slated
for 126-02 82nd Ave. in Kew
Gardens from 1.9 million
to 1.2 million and reducing
the projected capacity from
1,500 detainees to 1,437.
“Obviously we have
been engaged in a very intensive
process of neighborhood
and community engagement,
and, you know,
we’ve obviously heard
what concerns were and
we’re doing what we can
to respond to them,” Deputy
Director of the Office
of Criminal Justice Dana
Kaplan said.
The plan to reduce the
number of jails in the city
to a total of 11 city-wide,
with nine being on Rikers
Island, is an effort to reduce
capacity to 5,750 and
relocate detention centers
nearer to county courthouses
in order to cut-back
on the time and resources
used to transport detainees
to court appearances.
It would also offer attorneys
better access to
clients without having to
travel to Rikers Island as
well as house them nearer
to family connections.
According to Kaplan,
the Queens Detention
Center will have a ward
to accommodate pregnant
women and also have a
nursery. Juveniles will not
be consolidated into the
four facilities as they have
already been moved off
Rikers and into one jail in
the Bronx and another in
Brooklyn.
Although the plans
detailed in today’s press
conference at City Hall, the
Office of Criminal Justice
admitted that there is not
a specific cost assessment
to the whole borough-based
jail plan, but they are confident
the city budget can
accommodate it.
Many residents in two
prior meetings in Kew
Gardens regarding the
jail proposal called on the
administration to hold off
on the plan to close Rikers
in exchange for smaller facilities
to give legislators
Albany the opportunity enact
justice reform such as
ending cash bail.
“We have been extremely
successful so far in enacting
bail reform without the
legislation in this city by
encouraging judges to use
safe diversion programs
and abide by an array of
other efforts that have had
an accelerated decline our
population,” Director of
the Office of Criminal Justice
Elizabeth Glazer said.
“Right now we’re focused
on what we’re able to do in
our own capacity.”
Sylvia Hack from Community
Board 9 said claims
from the administration
that they had engaged residents
in their plan were
not what she would define
as adequate.
“At the presentation that
you and Liz Glazer made to
the commissioners of CPC,
you make the statement,
‘We have been engaged in a
significant amount of community
meetings.’ Well,
this isn’t true. I don’t know
what you mean by ‘community,’
because you’ve
not been in the communities
that this proposal
will affect.”
In lower Manhattan,
the detention facility to
be placed on Centre Street
was viewed by some as not
only lacking in transparency,
but an act of racism
eerily similar to 19th century
policy that led the
community to build Chinatown
into a sanctuary for
their culture.
“Chinatown was formed
as a neighborhood because
Chinese immigrants and
Chinese-Americans were
historically excluded,
ignored, abused and maligned
by racist laws like
the Chinese Exclusion
Act,” one comment read.
“And in the present day,
to propose a major correctional
facility in our neighborhood
without properly
consulting or involving
us, is yet again another
affront.”
Commissioner of the
city’s Community Affairs
Unit, Marco Carrion, answered
for the fact members
of the press have been
stifled from covering meetings
regarding the proposal
and reach the wider public
in an attempt to be sensitive
to people who have
been through the criminal
justice system.
“I think we have some
folks on both sides of the
issue – it’s very emotional
for those in support and
opposition – people who
have very personal stories
of their interactions with
the criminal justice system
who may not be open to
sharing that with the press
will share that with their
neighbors,” Carrion said.
But the NAC in Queens
lashed out against this policy
at a March 19 meeting
in Kew Gardens when for
the second time in a row
the city banned reporters
who were invited by the
members of the committee.
Leaked audio of the
meeting depicted anger
from members of the committee
who felt the policy
of keeping reporters from
covering was nothing
more than the de Blasio
administration protecting
itself from bad press
and prevented information
from reaching the
broader community.
Mara Einstein, who attended
the meeting, said
there were people who attending
who had only just
heard of the jail proposal.
A Feb. 28 meeting saw
reporters Maya Kaufman
from Patch and David Russell
from Queens Chronicle
turned away at the door
while the TimesLedger was
not confronted by anyone.
This was not the case
at the March 19 meeting
in which Patrick Gallahue,
press director for
the Office of Criminal
Justice, could not justify
why the move was not a
violation of the state’s open
meetings law.
According to Section
103, Paragraph A of the New
York State Open Meetings
Law, “Every meeting of a
public body shall be open to
the general public, except
that an executive session
of such body may be called
and business transacted
thereat in accordance with
section one hundred five of
this article.”
Director of the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice Elizabeth Glazer outlined the draft environmental review for the boroughbased
jail plan. Screenshot via YouTube