City Fishing for Jail Block Developers
Trying to soften the blow of sticking the newly revitalized community with another 700 to 800 inmates, the city is testing the waters with developers to gauge interest in erecting two 10-15 story residential buildings with ground floor retail on the back side of the jail along Boerum Place and State Street. (Boerum Place runs…
Trying to soften the blow of sticking the newly revitalized community with another 700 to 800 inmates, the city is testing the waters with developers to gauge interest in erecting two 10-15 story residential buildings with ground floor retail on the back side of the jail along Boerum Place and State Street. (Boerum Place runs along the foreground of this photo; State Street recedes back into the photo.) If the developers don’t bite, the city will just build something else. There’s no preference for residential, but we certainly wanted to test the market to see what the developers thought, said Jennifer K. Friedman, a vice president in the city’s Economic Development Corporation, which is soliciting the responses. “It’s absurd to take an obsolete building and sink more taxpayer money into it, said Sandy Balboza, president of the Atlantic Avenue Betterment Association. At this rate, Sandy may have to worry about a rival neighborhood group springing up: How does the Atlantic Avenue Detriment Association sound? Does anyone remember how much taxpayer money is going to be spent on this effort at making criminals’ lives more convenient? On the other hand, the neighborhood really could use some more places to get bail bonds. People are getting really tired of restaurants and clothing boutiques. They are so 2006.
City Tests Idea of Building Apartments by Brooklyn Jail [NY Times]
City Eyes Unlocking Brooklyn Jail [Metro]
Change in ‘Store’ at B’klyn Jail [NY Post]
So the “residents who have been there a long time” WANT a jail?
Who are these “residents”, Matilda?
I grew up in area, not too far from the BHoD. I think that qualifies me as a “long time” resident, and I want the jail shuttered for good. To suggest that people actively WANT a jail in their back yard is beyond ridiculous.
LP, yes vehicular transportation is still required but if folks were housed at the Bkly House of Detention they would be 4 blocks away from the new criminal court. Much easier to deal with in cases where trials are postponed, court days end early, or if there is some other holdup in the process.
I think that the Navy Yard is a great idea, but note that the jail that had been located on Navy Street (previously used as the brig when the Navy Yard was booming) was sold to developers to become more luxury housing. Inside the yard, space is being used by industrial and light manufacturing companies that 20-30 years ago would have been located in Red Hook, on Atlantic Avenue, or along the waterfront in Sunset Park. All of that space has given way in “the best interest of the community”.
I agree with the poster who said that the best deterrent is to buy in a landmarked nabe. Or at least buy in a nabe with a strong and active community board. They might be incorrectly tagged as being ‘nimby’ and ‘anti-development’ but if your community board is active and your neighborhood is also landmarked, you know you’ll have a better chance of controlling what pops up next door, which we all know can affect your quality of life.
The jail was there first, before anyone wanted to live in the vicinity. I also grew up around there and the jail was not a blight. So why shouldn’t they reclaim the facility that was theirs to begin with? I’m so sick of people moving into a neighborhood just for a couple of years and then acting as if they have more rights or more say than residents who have been there for a long time.
To everyone that cries racism, I don’t think (most) people really want to take away the rights of the people in jail and of their families, but to say that their rights should so easily trump the best interests of the community is some sort of reverse racism or classism. And it is also very hard for people to take, no matter how hard they try to believe in the ‘innocent until proven guilty’ fundamental of our criminal justice system.
This is an economic issue, not one of family convenience. Access to a jail where family members are awaiting trial is not a regular need for families. If it is, then that family has much more grave issues to address.
If the current location saves serious costs with respect to transporting those waiting for trial to court, and makes it easier for defendants’ lawyers to get access to them, then it should stay there. However, if vehicular transportation of defendants to court is still required, why not locate the jail in a non-residential area that is still easily accessible for defendants’ lawyers (and to a lesser extent, family), such as the Navy Yard near Sands Street. That location is still close to downtown Bklyn, the court buildings, accessible by bus or walking from downtown, but not on prime real estate from a commercial and residential perspective.
sorry: I meant to slur Vassar instead.
sounds like a good idea. and a new concept: jailominiums.
Putnam-denizen makes good points (except his incorrect slur of Wesleyan). The Brooklyn House of Detention is just that, NOT a jail for convicted criminals. Accused people awaiting trial now have to wait at Rikers, and family members have a huge trek to see them. It’s not the rich owners of brownstones on Columbia Heights who are stuck there — they have the money to post bond. But if you don’t have alot of cash and get accused of a crime, isn’t it fair not to be shipped where neither your family nor your public defendant can easily see you?