16 MARCH 7, 2019 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
Qns. residents push for reform over local jail plan
BY MARK HALLUM
MHALLUM@SCHNEPSMEDIA.COM
@RIDGEWOODTIMES
Last week’s Queens Advisory
Council (QAC) meeting on the
proposal to install a jail in Kew
Gardens, part of a 10-year plan to
make incarceration on Rikers Island
history, was not for the faint-hearted
— as aggravated residents made
their demands clear to exasperated
city representatives.
Not only did QAC warn the representatives
on Feb. 28 that a tower jail
is unsafe, among other concerns, but
the advisory council was adamant
that criminal justice reforms should
be made before any new jails are
built in order to accurately gauge
the demand for new facilities in the
years to come.
“We have heard it oft en said that
we are not listening. Tonight we’re
spending this fi rst part meeting
to say, ‘We listened, did we hear
correctly,'” Arnold Bloch, a senior
project manager with the planning
fi rm Fitzgerald and Halliday, said.
The representatives went through
pages of bullet guidelines and
principles making revisions for
all decision-makers, such as City
Council members voting on the
ULURP application to be informed
of the council’s demands before
making a decision.
A representative from the Deputy
Mayor of Operations’ offi ce attempted
to pacify residents in the room by
reminding them they would put
the recommendations on the desks
of “people who can kill this project
aft er reading your words.”
The council was opposed to building
a jail facility in any other part of
Queens, but some suggested Jamaica
or Long Island City, particularly Anable
Basin, as better suit because of
the proximity to courthouses. College
Point was also off ered up as a
suggestion.
But criminal justice reform is
still not far from the minds of the
council, many of whom expressed
the need to legislate away from mass
incarceration.
“We’ve brought this up at every
single one of these meetings; criminal
justice reform has to be worked out.
We don’t know what the legislature
is going to devise … If they do pass
reforms, maybe you don’t need
some of these jails,” one member of
the council said. “Why in the world
are we even talking about a jail without
having fi rst gotten the criminal
justice reform in place and see how
it works?”
Representatives of the de Blasio
Administration reminded the advisory
council that the plan to close
Rikers is still eight years out and
just because the city obtains a ULURP
does not mean they will build in Kew
Gardens.
The was also opposition to the jail
rising up to 29 fl oors, claiming that
a modern jail facility would be lowrise
which protects staff who may be
required to move prisoners through
elevators and which they believed
would only lead to trouble if there
was an emergency in which the jail
needed to be evacuated.
The current proposal, which is in
the early stages calls for 1.9-millionsquare
feet, which would mean the
building would rise 310 feet, but
the city claimed it is working to
reduce height.
The land city is looking to redevelop
the existing Queens Detention
Complex at 126-02 82nd Ave., next to
the Queens Criminal Courthouse, as
well as a parking lot to house 1,500 inmates
in 29-story building that would
be one of four across the city.
A Queens Advisory Committee meeting regarding the proposed Kew
Gardens jail was a heated exchange between residents who feel unheard
and representatives of the city, with Arnold Bloch, an advisor to the administration.
Photo: Mark Hallum/RIDGEWOOD TIMES
Enjoying the snow day at Midville’s Juniper Valley Park
Kids in Middle Village took advantage of the snow day that Mayor Bill de Blasio declared on Monday, March 4, by sledding and
building snowmen at Juniper Valley Park.
Of course, there were a couple of problems: only a few inches of snow fell on the area, and it was rapidly melting due to warmer
temperatures during the day.
Nonetheless, the youngsters made the most of it, sliding down the hill near the Juniper North Playground. Others took the opportunity
to build snowpeople; the more industrious creators used whatever they could fi nd around the park to make their snowmen
stand out.
Photos by Dean Moses
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