3
November 7 - November 19, 2013
Opposition grows against plan for John St. criminal court By T E RE SE Lo E b k R E U Z E R Cas Holloway, the city’s deputy mayor for operations, came to Community Board 1’s full board meeting on Oct. 22 to defend the city’s plans to move the Summons Arraignment part of the Criminal Court now housed at 346 Broadway to 71 Thomas St. However, in explaining the rationale for that move, Holloway inadvertently opened an even bigger “can of worms,” as board member Joel Kopel put it. Almost casually, Holloway mentioned that another proposed move from 346 Broadway would place the Criminal Court’s Probation Division at 66 John St. After he let that drop, an uproar ensued. “That’s in the Financial District,” Catherine McVay Hughes, chairperson of C.B. 1, cried out. “We didn’t know about that.” By that time, Holloway had repeatedly said in defense of the 71 Thomas St. plan that, “All that you’re going to be left with in this neighborhood is the minor infractions court function between the hours of 9 and 5, Monday through Friday.” It turned out that Holloway’s definition of “this neighborhood” was confined to Tribeca, as opposed to all of Community Board 1. The Probation Division services people who have criminal records and who have previously been incarcerated. Fearing that people with criminal records were about to flood their neighborhood, more
than 1,100 people had signed a petition against the 71 Thomas St. move. Prior to Holloway’s arrival at the C.B. 1 meeting, around 100 people had stood up to speak against it. Before Holloway arrived, most of these people had left, not knowing that he was coming. The 346 Broadway building, scheduled to be sold, now houses divisions that deal with summons arraignments, probation case management and an alternative court for dispute resolution — all part of the Criminal Court. “This is not just about taking one function out of 346 Broadway and moving it to 71 Thomas St.,” Holloway said. “The overall context of this is a massive real estate reorganization. It’s part of a reduction in the size of the city’s footprint in the Lower Manhattan area by 1.2 million square feet.” He said the reduction requires “a series of more than 140 transactions — leases and sales. It’s mind-boggingly complicated.” Holloway said the sale of 346 Broadway and 49-51 Chambers St. would generate significant revenues for the city. In addition, he said repeatedly that as part of this transaction, there would be a new $20 million community facility at 346 Broadway. “I think overall this proposal is a significant improvement in the community based on what’s here now,” he said. “I really can’t think of a good reason why you wouldn’t want to help us move this along as quickly as possible.”
Downtown Express photo by Terese Loeb Kreuzer
Deputy Mayor Cas Holloway at the C.B. 1 full board meeting on Oct. 22.
This remark elicited jeering laughter. Attempting to quell fears that the Summons Arraignment Court would bring people with a criminal record into what is a fast-growing residential neighborhood, Holloway repeatedly stated that people who appear for Summons Arraignment are there for “minor infractions” such as open container violations, biking on the sidewalk and obstructing traffic. He mentioned “significant queuing of people outside of 346 Broadway” and said that would no longer be the case at 71 Thomas,
where 250 people would be able to line up inside the building. Moreover, he said, “There’s already a Civil Court that has been operating at 71 Thomas St. for 20 years.” He went on to say that, “If you look at the whole picture here — the overall impact of court activities including the activities involved with people who have committed or who have been charged with committing crimes, is reducing dramatically. All of those functions are moving out of the neighborhood.” Continued on page 27
ion t i b ps xhi
E
sto e! l i a 5 r d Trad t s Ju Worl from
New
Help Bob and the Can Do Crew make everything better in Sunflower Valley.
©2013 HIT Entertainment Limited and Keith Chapman.
l
Liberty State Park, Jersey City, NJ
l
LSC.org