Officials at Brooklyn Jail Protest: 'People Live Here Now'
Earlier this afternoon, a diverse cast of politicians gathered in front of the Brooklyn House of Detention on Atlantic Avenue to protest the Bloomberg administration's plan to reopen and expand the downtown jail. (It was the Bloomberg administration that closed it back in 2003, due to high costs).
Councilman and city comptroller candidate David Yassky, comptroller and likely mayoral candidate Bill Thompson, State Senators Marty Connor and Velmanette Montgomery, Assemblywoman Joan Millman, and Randy Mastro, a deputy mayor under Rudy Giuliani, were among the rally participants. They all gave the current administration an earful for creating what they portray as a serious impediment to the goal of creating a financial hub in Brooklyn.
“This is a classic case of bureaucracy doing what makes sense for the bureaucrats but what does not make sense for the city of New York,” said Yassky, who is often allied with the mayor.
“We’re not going to let you just move forward, ignore the wishes of the community and act as if you can unilaterally reopen and expand this prison. It’s not going to happen. Department of Corrections: back off. It’s a very bad idea,” added Thompson, who has become more vocally critical of Bloomberg.
Calling the jail a “dinosaur,” Connor talked about the flourishing downtown Brooklyn neighborhood. “People live here now. It has the fabric of a real community. A jail doesn’t fit – it makes no sense.”
Mastro’s law firm, Gibson Dunn & Crutcher, has agreed to do pro bono work for Stop BHOD, a community group trying to stop the project. Mastro pledged to take the city to court if there isn't more effort to solicit community input or conduct an environmental impact review of the planned expansion.
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The city jail in Manhattan is arguably in a neighborhood where
"people live"; what's the difference?
people have always lived there. there were just a different complexion.
I cant believe that i would be defending the existance of a jail, but the fact of the matter is that the jail was there looong before the new transplants moved into the neighborhood. As a nearby resident, I never had issue with the jail's existance. Indeed, I found the only public "disturbance" to be occasional instances of prisoner's girlfriends outside, across the street, yelling up to their boyfriends and flashing their breasts at them.
I went to visit the site of stopthebhod.org and while they make a few presumptions in their "TRUTHS" about the jail, most notably that "This area has developed exponentially since 2003, no doubt due in part to closing the BHOD." Well, as a nearby resident, I can remember the neighborhood beginning to gentrify around 1996/97. And in my opinion, it was much more diverse, charming, and attractive before the midwest invasion.
I guess one presumption deserves another: I'll venture to guess the people behind stopthebhod.org are largely composed of relatively newly arrived sheltered transplants who bought property in the neighborhood and are now freaking out at the prospect that they actually have to share their environment with the poor/colored people. Even though the jail proceeded them. I wouldnt be surprised if they were looking to get rid of the projects too. Get over it folks. It's New York City for cryin' out loud.