The glitzy glossy renderings of the mega jail are part of the city’s plan to shut down Rikers Island, which caught community leaders off guard Wednesday night.
Thursday, January 23, 2025 5:04AM
CeFaan Kim spoke with community leaders, some who called the city’s actions “disresepctful.”
CHINATOWN, Manhattan (WABC) — Community leaders are firing back after they say they were caught off guard and kept out of the loop over discussions and decisions regarding a mega jail set to be built in the heart of Chinatown.
In the middle of the Manhattan neighborhood, if you peek over into the construction site next to the detention center, there is a massive crater the size of a city block waiting to be filled.
Images obtained by Eyewitness News gives a sneak peek of the controversial mega jail planned for the site.
The glitzy glossy renderings are part of the city’s plan to shut down Rikers Island, which caught community leaders off guard Wednesday night.
“This was totally blind siding us,” said community advocate Jan Lee, who is a member of Neighbors United Below Canal. “We thought we were part of the conversation about the design elements. This is really misleading the rest of New York.”
City Councilmember Christopher Marte called it “disrespectful.”
“It’s disrespectful to every single elected official. Not just me as a city councilmember, but our state reps and our federal reps for DDC too, and this administration just to give us a few days notice with designs already fully made and produced for the public.”
A spokesperson for the mayor’s office notes this is not an official or final image of the proposed jail, saying the design can still change, and says the community will have ample opportunity to engage with designers and the city.
But advocates say, to add insult to injury, they were given short notice for a public hearing on Thursday.
“We learned about a public hearing for a contractor a couple of hours ago,” Lee said. “So, no there’s no enough time for the community to really ask the right questions.”
“One thing is clear. Eric Adams is going to construct a skyscraper jail in Chinatown,” Marte said. “We don’t actually know how this money is going to be used. When they started this project five years ago, they were telling the community and the City Council that it was going to cost $1.7 billion. We all knew that was a lie. Tomorrow they’re going to guarantee that was a lie and now it’s more than double the amount they initially proposed.”
The contract amount is now pegged at $3.7 billion.
In a statement, the spokesperson added, “While the Adams administration will always follow the law, it has become painfully clear that the plan approved under the last administration leaves open serious questions about the city’s ability to keep New Yorkers safe.”
Rikers is supposed to close in two years, but this project has a completion date of 2032. Meanwhile, it has no start date.
Community advocates expect it may take a while to get shovels in the ground.
The mayor, for his part, has blamed the pandemic for having a major impact on both the project’s cost and timeline.
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The glitzy glossy renderings of the mega jail are part of the city’s plan to shut down Rikers Island, which caught community leaders off guard Wednesday night.
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