[NYguy]

http://www.brooklyneagle.com/articles/20...ck-community-input-jail-planning-process

Brooklynites fume over lack of community input in jail planning process

By Liliana Bernal

Brooklynites called on the city to halt the planning process of a 430-foot jail in Boerum Hill at a public hearing Thursday, citing lack of community input opportunities to the plan.

One of the main concerns expressed at the meeting was that the proposed jail is intended to be nine times larger than the current 60,000-square-foot site.

The oversized jail in Brooklyn would house inmates with criminal cases in Staten Island, the only borough that is not expected to house a new jail. The Brooklyn jail’s capacity would increase from 810 beds to 1,510.

“This is completely unacceptable,” said state Sen. Velmanette Montgomery. “[It] contradicts the city’s borough-based jail system plan for smaller, safer, fairer jails.”

Local residents like Marci Rosa say the increased size of the jail in their neighborhood wasn’t something they expected when moving to the area.

“I clearly am okay with living across the street from the jail, I bought my house 19 years ago and I raised my three children there,” said Rosa, resident of the State Street Houses in Boerum Hill. “I did not sign up for something that is eight times the size of what it is now, especially with all of the development that is happening on every single corner in Downtown Brooklyn.”

“Some of the community concerns that we’ve already heard and that we are committed to focusing on is parking,” said Dana Kaplan from the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice at the hearing. “Parking will be provided on site and underground for facility staff and services providers at the new facilities.”

The plan to close Rikers Island seeks to reduce the jail’s daily population to 7,000 people over the next five years with an ultimate goal of reducing the total number of inmates in the city to 5,000 by building jails across the boroughs.

“No alternatives have been considered and according to this process we must accept this density or Rikers stays open,” said Justin Pollok, a Downtown Brooklyn resident. “The cake is in the oven and the city is here to only ask you what color you would like the frosting, that’s the level of public engagement they are offering us. This cannot be the only solution.”

Public meetings on the drafts will also be held in Queens, Manhattan and the Bronx in September and October.

A rendering of the proposed jail. Rendering courtesy of the Cobble Hill Association