FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM APRIL 18, 2019 • THE QUEENS COURIER 11
Kew Gardens to de Blasio: Keep jail plan out of here!
BY MARK HALLUM
mhallum@schnepsmedia.com
2@QNS
Kew Gardens residents doubled down
at an April 13 rally on their opposition
toward Mayor Bill de Blasio’s plan to
develop a new jail in the community as
part of a criminal justice reform plan to
close Rikers Island in the next decade.
Hundreds gathered on the steps of
Queens Borough Hall to express their
objection to the proposal which through
the ULURP process will build a 26-story
jail facility behind the Queens Supreme
Court building in Kew Gardens, on the
site of the Queens Detention Complex.
Dominick Pistone from the Community
Preservation Coalition and a member of
the Neighborhood Advisory Committee
was just one of the speakers who lashed
out against the administration for restricting
meeting attendance and barring journalists.
“For those of you who thought there
was supposed to be some community
input on this, you’re wrong,” Pistone said.
“From the beginning, Mayor de Blasio’s
plan was to site the jails in places that had
a courthouse and an existing jail. It was
never his intention to seek input from the
community about the sites. In fact, the
mayor went so far as to say that since it’s a
representative democracy, the representative
can site the jail. Who’s that representative?
Th e mayor.”
Pistone was referring to a March 27
meeting which was closed to the public
but for several community leaders in
which de Blasio defended himself against
claims that he was being “dictatorial” in
his approach to including communities.
At Saturday’s rally, Pistone pointed out
that the mayor had wanted the jail to be
seen as a community asset rather than a
burden, which the civic leader believed to
be a quizzical notion.
Andrea Crawford, an outspoken member
of the NAC, rejected the idea that
criminal justice reform should include
borough-based jails and insisted that the
bail system should be abolished while
more judges should be hired so more
defendants receive speedier trials.
Candidate for Queens district attorney
Gregory Lasak was just one of the speakers
who opposed closing Rikers and cited
an incident where convicted murderers
were able to escape from the Queens
Detention Center during its time in use.
“I dealt with the worst of the worst for
the last 39 years, I mostly dealt with murderers.
Back in the ’80s there were two
murderers that escaped from the facility
behind me. I was in charge of investigating
how they escaped,” Lasak said.
Lasak is a retired supreme court judge
who served in the Queens district attorney’s
offi ce under outgoing DA Richard
Brown, who is stepping down in June due
to health complications.
Th e facility at 126-02 82nd Ave. would
detain the majority of incarcerated
women in the city and include a maternity
ward. It will be about 1.3 million square
feet according to the draft environmental
review.
A little-known organization called
Neighbors Against White Supremacy
made an appearance at the rally handing
out letters calling opposition to the
jail plan racist.
Th e NAC dismissed the group’s accusation
of bias.
Community Board 9 will host a public
hearing on the Kew Gardens Jail plan
at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, April 24, at
the Helen Marshall Cultural Center in
Queens Borough Hall, 120-55 Queens
Blvd., Kew Gardens.
Photo: Mark Hallum/THE COURIER
Dominick Pistone addresses the press during a rally in Kew Gardens on April 13.
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