You said it, in far less words than I! — Marcus on The City Wants to Build a 40-Story Jail on Worth Street

Thank you for the information. Some facts there, but also what sound like many opinions, unjustified assertions, and irrelevant issues. "Rikers’ facilities and design are woefully antiquated and unsafe." If so, improve the facilities, or build a new facility if necessary, but not in an already densely utilized area. "The conditions for incarcerated individuals are deplorable and negatively impact both detainees and staff. The poor layout encourages bad behavior and exacerbates problems, such as poor physical and mental health." Without evidence given, these assertions are difficult to ascertain. How to prove or disprove such claims without more information? More to the point, again, this does not justify moving to downtown NYC or any other populated area. 'Moreover, the very location of Rikers… impedes the fair and efficient administration of justice. The location has a negative impact on the individuals most directly affected and the justice system as a whole, including: payment of bail; meetings with lawyers; the ability to connect with family members and loved ones; and traveling to and from court on time. The difficulty in getting to Rikers deters family members from visiting.' As others mentioned, access can be addressed via online communications or telephone. The convenience of physical access has to be weighed against the other costs of closing the facility, building and opening a new one, and the community and ongoing costs of operating such a facility in a densely utilized and populated area like downtown NYC. Is the implication that unjust court decisions are handed down due to the location of Rikers? That's quite a strong causal claim. Whether this access problem indeed so affects the "administration of justice" would require serious evidence and proof. "Finally, the current fiscal cost of incarcerating an individual in a city jail is now approximately $270,876 a year, or $742 a day..." How will closing Rikers, building a new facility in expensive NYC, reduce this cost? First there is the cost of the closure, design, construction; then the ongoing costs of running the new facility. Where is the evidence that this individual cost will be reduced? I would bet a shiny nickel that the cost will increase. "We recognize that any plan will require the building of alternative facilities." Not obvious at all. Even if so, again, such a facility can be built on Rikers, or in an area similarly removed from the general population. "However, building new facilities presents an opportunity to re-think design so as to provide for increased safety, a healthier environment for detainees and staff, and more on-site programming, such as mental health, job training and reentry services." All that sounds expensive. Are we still to believe that this project will save money/ 'It is clear that any investment now will result in significant financial savings as the number of incarcerated individuals declines [because of other initiatives]…" Irrelevant, as even admitted by the "other initiatives". Reduction of the prison population can occur with or without the Rikers move and re-design. Reduction of the "number of incarcerated individuals" itself sounds suspicious, unless the reduction is actually due to improved behavior of the population. One might suspect it's largely a numbers game to make the crime statistics seem lower, by deciding to no longer enforce certain laws, downgrading offenses, failing to or choosing not to arrest, etc. But again, that debate is neither here not there as regards the issue under consideration here, the closure and moving of Rikers. Of course the issues regarding "administration of justice" and functioning of the facility must be researched and considered. However, that's just one side of the equation. Any such decision must also include serious, unbiased, studies and plans regarding affects on the city and immediate communities and neighborhoods, including costs, traffic, and especially safety. This requires full public disclosure of all details, and public debate and influence on the final decision. (Again this is not a NIMBY, but a NIABY issue. Unless proven that this relocation can be done without undue cost to the neighborhood and city, especially in terms of safety to the community, and that the benefits outweigh any costs, it sounds like an island is just about the best place for such a facility.) — Marcus on The City Wants to Build a 40-Story Jail on Worth Street

The bicycle memorial on Walker was installed in early June. — Elisa on Seen & Heard: Shake Shack Unveiled

How about NIABY? (Not in Anyone's Back Yard)? Could you stand by that? Keep the facility on Rikers, or move it to another location just as remote from any residential area. — Marcuss on The City Wants to Build a 40-Story Jail on Worth Street

Agreed. This is very cheap, after all, for monopolizing a piece of NYC real estate. There is no universal right to cheap, or actually any, on-street parking. If it does anything to help reduce traffic congestion, noise, pollution, and the safety hazards incurred by so many incompetent and/or irresponsible drivers, then it sounds like a good thing to me. — Marcus on The City Is Jacking Up Parking-Meter Rates Around Here

The memorialized cyclist was probably 48-year-old Yan Jindee, who was run over by the driver of a box truck that turned onto Broadway from Walker St around 5:45 pm Thurs, Sept 14, 2017. More here: https://nyc.streetsblog.org/2017/09/15/nypd-no-criminality-suspected-after-turning-box-truck-driver-kills-cyclist-in-tribeca/ — Charles Komanoff on Seen & Heard: Shake Shack Unveiled

Julie Menin is the Commissioner of the Mayor's Office of Film and TV. She is a Tribecan, as you may know. I have called and written the office before. If you can demonstrate that your block is overused for productions, or that the film crew overstepped, tell her. Ideally, take photos of the placard and the crew's error. Once or twice, before her tenure, they suspended use of my very overused block for a year or two. — Heide Fasnacht on Seen & Heard: Some of Spring Street Park Is Open

From the Green Book: MEDIA ENTERTAINMENT, MAYOR'S OFFICE OF(MOME) 1 Centre St., New York, NY, 10007 (212) 602-7400 http://NYC.gov/mome OFFICE OF FILM THEATRE BROADCASTING 1697 Broadway, 6th Fl., New York, NY 10019 (212) 489-6710 Fax (212) 307-6237 http://NYC.gov/mome — James on Seen & Heard: Shake Shack Unveiled

Is this still happening? — Tribeca Mama on Reade Street Prep Is Opening a Second Preschool Campus

Great - another expense bicyclists don't have to pay and drivers get screwed again. They pay for insurance, inspection, registration and tolls. Now they're getting robbed by paying more for a meter? Where does the money from the mini meters go? Not to fixing streets and roads. Bicyclists don't pay for anything. Give the streets back to vehicles and walkers. This is NYC not upstate NY. — Sarah Ross on The City Is Jacking Up Parking-Meter Rates Around Here

NY Times: 'Phone Calls From New York City Jails Will Soon Be Free' https://nyti.ms/2KAlE9o "The city will still likely pay a private company [$2.5 million annually.]" — James on The City Wants to Build a 40-Story Jail on Worth Street

"meetings with lawyers; the ability to connect with family members and loved ones; and traveling to and from court on time” These problems could all be addressed by using Skype / video chat / video conferencing with attorneys, families, and for court appearances, and it would curtail any possible passing of contraband. — James on The City Wants to Build a 40-Story Jail on Worth Street

Not to mention that many of those residents illegally register their cars outside Manhattan anyhow and thus would not qualify for any kind of resident parking permit if NYC were to institute such a program like other cities have. — James on The City Is Jacking Up Parking-Meter Rates Around Here

I appreciate your citing facts, but most of what you wrote are conclusions that are not actually supported by those facts. You note how a large proportion of the population on Rikers is made up of people "simply waiting for their cases to be tried...". Rikers is a jail, not a prison. By definition, the population of any jail is made up primarily of people waiting for their cases to be tried. Convicted criminals are held in prisons, not jails. Moving the jail someplace else does not change that basic fact. You note that the facilities on Rikers are woefully antiquated and unsafe. That is true, but we can just as easily solve that problem by building new facilities on Rikers, as by building new facilities throughout the boroughs. Your conclusion regarding the negative impact on detainees at Rikers is not supported by the facts. I worked on Rikers for a number of years in the areas processing visitors. The reason visitors had to spend most of a day in order to see a family member or a client had very little to do with Rikers' location. There is adequate public transportation to Rikers. The problem is that once they are on the island, it can take hours to process them and find a visitation slot for them in the limited number of visitation rooms. Increasing staff and increasing the size of visitation facilities would address that issue. Moving the facilities to other boroughs will only minimally impact the total amount of time a person spends making a visit to a jail. I agree with your premise that building new facilities will provide opportunities for addressing the numerous issues at Rikers. However, there is plenty of room on Rikers Island for building new facilities that would be just as effective, if not more so, than trying to shoehorn a 40 story tower into a densely populated area of the City. — R on The City Wants to Build a 40-Story Jail on Worth Street

The tone seems to convey you think this is a bad thing? Subsidized street parking in a borough where only 23% of residents own cars (and probably even less south of 59th) is a pox on our society. — DB on The City Is Jacking Up Parking-Meter Rates Around Here

I had emailed the Hudson Sq B.I.D. last week about the opening date for the Spring Street Park, and this is the response I got: "The southern section of the park (from Dominick St. to Broome St.) is actually already open to the public! The remainder of the Park will open before the estimated completion date in September - as of now that section is closed off to ensure the environment is safe for people and our new plants." — Brooks on Seen & Heard: Some of Spring Street Park Is Open

Affordable housing above is a great idea, since in America we only incarcerate poor people (ok, and Paul Manafort). That way, when they are released from jail, they can just take the elevator to their new apartment. And prisoner's families could live there and take the elevator down to see Dad on visiting days. Great concept! — Randy Hartnett on The City Wants to Build a 40-Story Jail on Worth Street

C’mon! Stop dancing around the real issue here - NIMBY!!! And I stand by that mantra. — Ken Chin on The City Wants to Build a 40-Story Jail on Worth Street

The tower should not be built. The glorious woman that sits on top of the gold dome is all that should stand as a representation of our civic center Anything higher will ruin the integrity of what was built The architecture of downtown Manhattan is finally coming of age Let’s not ruin it with another jail or unsightly architecture! — Joanne piluso on The City Wants to Build a 40-Story Jail on Worth Street

Dear A, moving hardcore criminals to NYC does not reduce fiscal cost. Furthermore, it shows us that you have no plans to reduce the cost of operating prisons. There needs to be a study done on how it will affect the traffic in the area, the load on the subway system with all the family members visiting inmates and the effect of loss of business. Instead of moving prisons to nice neighborhoods, I recommend building 40 story prisons at Riker Island. Moving the prison to downtown NYC benefits lawyers and the inmates' family members. — L on The City Wants to Build a 40-Story Jail on Worth Street

I like John Derian as much as anyone, and certainly Ben’s owes no small debt to him. (And Derian's work is definitely more sophisticated.) But there’s a lot more in the store beyond decoupage (which Derian hardly invented). And I don’t believe Derian does custom decoupage. — Erik Torkells on Seen & Heard: Another New Barbershop

like the construction site drawing. like all the comments. — robert janz on Seen & Heard: More on the Kids Soliciting Donations

Bens Garden is a direct knockoff of John Derain on 2nd street. John pioneered these decoupage home items and has a small business run he personally runs- Bens Garden is a shameless copycat Long Island version. I don’t patronize knockoffs whenever possible but when it threatens to put a creative small business owner at risk I go out of my way the thwart the copycat. This new shop is exactly what Tribeca should not be about. — Allison on Seen & Heard: Another New Barbershop

Thank you so much Erik and Jane for these. They are amazing. — Lisa Stefanelli on Tribeca Then and Now: Lower Greenwich Street

The nursery was called "Farm & Garden Nursery" — Andy on When Tribeca Was Small (Part One)