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New renderings for White Street jail emerge
Just catching up to the renderings somehow NOT released to the public of the White Street jail. NY1 had them before anyone in Chinatown, and needless to say everyone was pissed. I will go into that below.
But I am almost weepy. I cannot believe this city is putting BILLIONS into a jail in the heart of Downtown, wedged between two parks and two bustling, vibrant communities that the people who live there will never see. And all along we had an island in the river that worked just fine for this purpose. (In fact, with all the noise about closing Rikers by 2027, and how inconvenient it is to have prisoners there, the 800+ detainees that were in the two former jails there are now on…Rikers. And keep reading: they will be there till 2032.)
View from Collect Pond Park
Add that to the fact that they tore down two jails that also worked for this same purpose, and are boasting about this marvel of a design with the slick flyover. I bet the folks at Murry Bergtraum would have liked a rehab! or PS1 or Emma Lazarus…
On top of that, NY1 reported that the new budget has swelled from $2.13 billion (what I reported in 2023) to $3.7 billion, and the DDC confirmed that those numbers are correct. And more bad news: the completion date was set for 2027. Now it is 2032. How??
View from Columbus Park
“The Chinatown community is shocked and deeply disappointed by the New York City Department of Design and Construction’s (DDC) recent decision to unveil design plans for the proposed Manhattan Borough Based Jail to local media without first consulting the community that will be most impacted,” said the press release from Neighbors United Below Canal and Welcome to Chinatown. “We have tirelessly called for a seat at the decision-making table on this project, which, in its current form, threatens to have long-lasting and damaging effects on our community.”
But besides being bypassed by the release of the video, community leaders were also shocked by its details:
“The proposed renders are intentionally misleading to the public:
- Light-colored façade: Renderings make 75% of the building look pale and sky-colored to reduce its appearance as a monolithic wall. The glass will look black during the day, and the stone/metal façade will appear heavier and more solid.
- False arcade impression: The renderings attempt to mimic European shopping arcades with large skylights, but in reality, a 300+ foot building will be overhead, meaning the arcade will be dark and cavernous.
- Artificial lighting misrepresentation: The video depicts artificial lights as natural skylights, creating a misleading impression.
- Unrealistic greenery: The trees in the renderings are unlikely to achieve the lush growth depicted in the video.
- Tunnel misrepresentation: The tunnel is rendered to appear surprisingly short, when in reality, it stretches 250 feet long.
These renderings deliberately manipulate perspectives, materials, and lighting to give the public a false impression of the building’s design, scale, and atmosphere.”
They also asked the DDC to stop any further designs before the community can weigh in.
View of White & Centre from bird’s eye
View looking east from White & Centre
Looking north on Baxter
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Hmmm…what crime should i commit to reserve a spot at this high-end detention center?
What they show of that building seems nicer than 95% of the luxury apartment nearby. The Lobby looks like it should for Goldman Sachs. Why on earth is the city spending this much money on a jail?
This is a shameful disgrace in every way, and a ridiculous waste of money. Surely the cost will continue to increase as well, and the completion date will keep getting pushed back.
Is it too late to fight this? Maybe our new president with all his executive orders can sign one to end this, and more cost-effectively and sensibly upgrade and reform Rikers.
Beautiful Jail, if that’s not an oxymoron nothing is. This city is so poorly run, misguided progressive ideologies that are destroying QOL, economy, communities all in the name of “progress” spending several billion $ on this and harboring violent illegal asylum seekers through sanctuary city status are two of the worst policies progressives have forced on us and that’s saying a lot
We need NYC DOGE??? Or new major to stop this..
YES PLEASE!!!! exactly what we need…. our taxes are being spent like no one cares… oh right, they dont care… !
I’m not going to get into the fray here, which will amount to hopeless, thankless, and endless argumentation, guaranteed. But my head is spinning from the amount of misinformation I’m seeing, particularly in the comments.
First of all, a new prison was needed. We all want safer streets. How does that happen? You’ve got to get criminals off them, right? There has been a prison on these plots of land since 1838. Approaching two hundred years! There’s no news here! The facilities get upgraded and expanded every few generations, that’s all
Second, the claim that progressives are behind this plan strikes me as the most ridiculous. I won’t go into the case, but please do your research. It was _never_ progressives/liberals/what have you that devised and developed this plan. This was not their idea, ever. Rikers was a festering mess, and on that we all agreed. But it wasn’t liberal politicians that forged this development, ever.
Third, just for a moment, please apply your science brain. Have you not seen an unprecedented rise in the number of high-end design shops, fine art galleries, and hotels in the past few years, particularly in the areas surrounding this new facility? That is the result of the very, very wealthy speculating on rising real estate values. If they thought this new prison facility was going to bring about the end of the world, why would they ever put their capital on the line?
Please — I’m not going to attempt to convince anyone. Please, please do your research instead of spitting meme politics.
Thank you. I appreciate the clarifying info you provided.
Thank you as well from me, for this reasoned take.
To those who think it’s too fancy: you would have complained it was a barren, soulless mess that ruined the streetscape.
To those who extol Trump and his minions’ dismantling of our government, and wish he’d apply that here: be careful what you wish for, and please don’t ask for unconstitutional actions just because this time it’s something you might like.
And to those who think Rikers doesn’t need to be shut down, please imagine someone you love having to spend even a minute in that hellhole.
Out of sight/out of mind isn’t really how a functioning society operates. Or it shouldn’t be, in my opinion.
My own admittedly cynical belief is that the Rikers Island jail (not prison) closing is actually motivated by the largest real estate play in decades. (Rikers as gated community? As LaGuardia runway extensions? As casinos?) That said, the NYC FAQs do lather on the progressive language rather thickly:
Q: Why is Rikers Island closing?
A: Justice advocates, community activists, and City officials understand the City’s jail system can be much smaller and closer to communities and families; safer with modern, well-designed facilities that promote the dignity of those who visit, work and are incarcerated; and fairer, changing the culture inside the jails, fostering community connections, and providing greater access to services.
Q: You are spending over $8B in capital funding for a population of only 3,300 people? Shouldn’t those billions be spent elsewhere?
A: This money is part of the City’s plan to end mass incarceration and ultimately keep us the safest large city in the U.S. with the lowest incarceration rate. This is transformative criminal justice reform and is an investment in New Yorkers—returning people to their communities while creating a justice system to be proud of.
Capital funds are also different than expense funds and not interchangeable. This larger investment comes alongside hundreds of millions of dollars in investments in neighborhood and communities.
Q: Why not rebuild the jails on Riker’s Island instead of building new facilities in the boroughs?
A: A primary goal of closing Rikers and building borough-based jails is to allow family members, service providers, and attorneys greater access to the people in detention, as well as closer access to the Courts. Rebuilding the jails on Rikers Island would undermine these goals. The sites on Rikers Island are built under a philosophy of another era and achieving the design and programmatic goals of the program to close Rikers sites on Rikers.
Source: https://rikers.cityofnewyork.us/faq/
These all sound like laudable goals to me. The third one, in particular, is important but oft ignored.
The only valid point I see here is that about access. The question is whether the gain in access is enough to offset the financial and community costs of this project.
I have yet to see any convincing proof or evidence that closing Rikers and moving all inmates and operations to the new facilities will help with the other points listed, in any way better than reform and renovation at Rikers itself.
There are two separate issues which seem to be conflated in those justification points:
– reforming the system and “culture”, including improving facilities
– moving the system to a new geographic location
Other than in regards to the access question, those are two completely separate issues. Reform and improved facilities can be achieved just as well at Rikers (presumably at far lower cost, and without the disruption of this move) as anywhere else. As is, the plan seems like it will just pointlessly move problems around. If there is corruption and abuse etc. a Rikers, then these problems will just be re-located and spread out to these smaller facilities.
Sure, they are separate issues, but the boro-based plan is the only one that accomplishes both simultaneously.
As mulciber said, there was already a jail here. You can quibble about the cost, but it would also cost billions to completely rebuild Rikers in a humane way, too. Something absolutely had to be done; we cannot tolerate more Kalief Browder or similar situations.
Also: we don’t have to agree, but I appreciate the civil discourse!
And I must add, nowhere have they explained how the incarcerated will be closer to their families. People will not be necessarily jailed in their home borough. The city could make it easier for families to visit right now, rather than leave it to private bus services, especially with ferry access. In fact, the city could make it free. Also, some court services could be brought to Rikers, rather than bus inmates to the courts. And Rikers’ facilities could be redesigned and rebuilt with no disturbance to neighborhoods — not just here but also in the South Bronx, where neighbors also did not want another jail — since half the island is fallow. Finally, they have shown no evidence how they will structure a change in culture with all this rebuilding, and that must be the #1 goal.
So spending BILLIONS in a state of the art to keep criminals? Why should we make it nicer for them? this city has REALLY lost its marbles.. cant wait to vote GOP down the ballot and end this madness
I don’t see how this is better than building new facilities on Rikers.
Presumably building on Rikers would be far less expensive because you can spread horizontally as well as vertically. And the logistics of staging construction equipment and supplies is far easier on Rikers than in crowded downtown streets.
Another huge drawback is the lack of outdoor space. I’ve flown over Rikers and there are recreation areas and gardens. Will downtown prisoners spend weeks/months/years without ever being outdoors?
This always struck me as colossally wasteful and unnecessary. I’ve long wondered why there was so much momentum for this inferior and expensive plan. Somebody with a lot of power is moving a lot of dollars.
Makes me want to commit a crime to stay in this fancy jail. Jails are NOT suppose to reward criminals. Let’s talk about the lines of families who may be just as worse when they visit. It’s not like the entrance to a hospital. It’s bus loads of folks shipped in, they stand in line to be screened while destroying the neighborhood. This city’s priorities are so backwards.
“White Street Jail?” It will always be The Tombs or perhaps The Tombs 2.0.
Although each borough was supposed to get a new jail “to provide better access”, Staten Island gets none.