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QUEENS WEEKLY, APRIL 7, 2019
De Blasio defends Kew Gardens jail at closed-door meeting
BY MARK HALLUM
Mayor Bill de Blasio was
in Kew Gardens last week
for an invitation-only meeting
on the jail proposal recently
certified by the City
Planning Commission just
days prior and to address
community concerns.
De Blasio may have
closed the March 27 event to
the press, but TimesLedger
obtained a recording of the
meeting from an attendee.
On the audio file, Councilwoman
Karen Koslowitz
voiced support the plan to
install a borough-based jail
and criticized community
leaders for heated accusations
against the de Blasio
administration of taking
an underhanded approach
without notification or input
at previous meetings.
“I want to remind everybody
that there had been a
jail here for 40 years without
incident and I’m supporting
this because I feel
that I can work with the
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It is often said that the
best investment one can
make is to own real estate,
so when you’re ready to invest,
it makes sense to do
business with a leader in
the fi eld — Scope Realty.
The company’s President,
Paul Reisner, says,
“We are currently the 15th
largest real estate fi rm in
New York, according to the
Real Deal Magazine.”
The fi rm has 261 agents
who have sold homes this
past year, including sales
in booming neighborhoods
such as Williams Bridge,
Wakefi eld, and Soundview
in the Bronx; and in the
neighborhoods of Rochdale,
Jamaica, and Laurelton
in Queens.
Scope can be depended
upon for commercial real
estate, private houses,
or rentals. The company
invests in its agents, assuring
their success, by
providing training and
administration and make
this facility viable to all of
us,” Koslowitz said, referring
to the now-shuttered
Queens Detention Complex
that would be razed to
make way for the
community-based jail.
“As far as safety is concerned,
the criminals are
inside; they are not outside.
And you will have more security
here because corrections
officers around the
area,” she added.
Koslowitz believes the
jail could bring an economic
revival to Queens Boulevard
which has seen about
eight prominent businesses
shuttered recently. Traffic
could also be improved,
she said, with the 800-car
garage being built for visitors
at the proposed facility
with could house less
than 1,400 detainees in a
27-story complex.
The facility at 126-02
82nd Ave. would detain the
majority of incarcerated
women in the city and include
support. With a team this
strong, you know you can
rely upon them, too.
A reputation such as
theirs also comes with a responsibility
to give back to
the community, and Scope
has taken steps to assure
that is part of their plan.
“We know that our
long-term success is directly
linked to the success
of our clients and the
communities we serve,”
Reisner says. As a result,
Scope has developed relationships
with nonprofi ts.
The objective is to help
strengthen the communities
in which they operate,
and also to grow local
economies around the
world, says Reisner.
Mayor Bill de Blasio Photo: NYC Mayor’s Ofiice/Flickr
a maternity ward.
Initial plans for the facility
to have an infirmary serving
all four borough-based
jails has been scrapped.
“At the front end of the
process, we’ve been reducing
the prison population
very, very substantially
while keeping the city
safe,” de Blasio said on
the recording provided to
TimesLedger. “It’s because
Among the charities in
which the company is involved
includes St. Jude’s
Research Hospital, the
noted organization that
helps children and their
families who are dealing
with cancer and other lifethreatening
diseases. St.
Jude’s never gives parents
a bill for their services as it
believes parents’ only concern
should be the health
of their child.
Another charity is Covenant
House, with 21 locations
in the United States,
Canada, and South America,
that serve more than
56,000 homeless people
each year. It is the nation’s
largest, privately-funded
agency, helping homeless,
we’ve seen changes in policing
and criminal justice
that we’re able to finally
get to the day where we can
be off Rikers Island … Our
goal here of course, when
someone enters the criminal
justice system and
comes out, we don’t want
them to ever be in the criminal
justice system again
and cause a problem for
their community. We cannot
runaways, and at-risk
youth. It started locally,
more than 40 years ago,
when six young runaways
in Manhattan were given
shelter from a snowstorm.
Today, the doors of this
organization are open 24
hours a day for any young
person in need.
Animal welfare is a
topic that Scope Realty is
passionate about, too, and
do that effectively with
the facilities on Rikers.”
Meeting over the course
of the last several months
have been explosive with
residents having angry
engagements with city officials
and representatives
of elected officials for supposed
lack of transparency.
Further distrust was sewn
between the city and residents
as members of the
press, invited by members
of the Neighborhood Advisory
Committee, were
barred from meetings by
the Mayor’s Office of
Criminal Justice.
De Blasio defended
himself against the claim
that he was “dictatorial”
by stating that as mayor
he was given certain authorities,
but the fact that
he was in the community
at the time of the meeting
was proof of the opposite.
There have been a total
of five meetings with the
administration.
“There are people at
why it has a close relationship
with The American
Society for the Prevention
of Cruelty to Animals.
Based in New York City
since its inception in 1866,
the ASPCA’s mission is to
provide effective means
for the prevention of cruelty
to animals throughout
the United States.
“We are happy to help
fi nancially strengthen the
this meeting who are
trying to work with everybody,
but mostly the
meetings are screaming,”
Koslowitz said. “And when
you scream, nothing gets
done because nobody hears
what you’re really saying
and that’s all they want to
do is get out of the room. So
when you say there’s been
no input, there has been
input from the administration.
I don’t defend the administration
all the time,
but the administration has
been here in this room trying
to lay out the plan.”
The question of the ability
of Rikers Island to rehabilitate
detainees was at
the forefront of recommendations
compiled but the
Lippman Commission, convened
by the city to streamline
criminal justice.
The primary issue seen
with Rikers is the isolation.
Reach reporter Mark
Hallum by e-mail at mhallum@
schnepsmedia.com.
amazing work that these
charities do on a daily basis,”
says Reisner.
Scope Realty offers
monetary support and
more.
“Our team members
help us make an even bigger
impact through their
passion, time, and expertise,”
says Reisner.
Scope Realty has grown
tremendously and continues
its expansion, with
new offi ces opening in
Soho, Brooklyn, Queens,
and the Bronx in the near
future.
Reisner believes the
company’s success stems
from, “our diversity, and
our ability to serve every
community across the
city by speaking their language
and living in these
neighborhoods.”
Scope Realty 68 W. 39
St. in Manhattan, (212)
408–1620, www.ScopeRealty.
nyc. Open seven days,
from 9 am–9 pm.
BUS INES S , B ROOKLYN S T Y LE
Scope Realty is the Fastest Growing Real Estate Company in NYC
/www.ScopeRe-alty.nyc
link
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