Comptroller and Mayoral hopeful Bill Thompson, who’s opposed the House of Detention expansion plan from the beginning, found cause to stop it in its tracks yesterday when he rejected an architectural contract that had ballooned from $16 million to $31 million. “It is extremely troubling…that an agency…could so severely underestimate the cost of construction of such a high-profile project,” he wrote in a letter to city Department of Design and Construction Commissioner David Burney. Council Member Yassky, who along with Thompson, Senator Eric Adams, and Council Member Letitia James filed a lawsuit in November to stop the project, praised the move and said it was the writing on the wall for the unpopular project: “I don’t think when push comes to shove that the city will spend $440 million on a jail expansion when we’re cutting back on school construction and parks and roads and bridges,” he said. Meanwhile, champagne corks could be heard popping in the townhouses on nearby State Street.
Controller Puts Cuffs on Brooklyn House of Detention [NYDN]
Previous House of Detention Coverage [Brownstoner]
Photo by RubyMae