City moves jail site slightly north, to The Tombs PRISON continued from p. 1
site its new Manhattan borough-based jail there. “It’s crucial that we close Rikers Island and transition to a smaller, safer borough-based jail system as quickly as possible,” mayoral spokesperson Natalie Grybauskas said in a statement. “We found that the challenges associated with relocating various offices at 80 Centre St. would make siting a jail there far more complicated and more costly than we originally anticipated. As we met with the community, it became clear that the original site we considered better addressed their needs without costly challenges created by using 80 Centre, and we are reverting our site selection to the Manhattan Detention Complex.” The other four boroughs’ locations for their new jails will remain the same, according to a city official. The Manhattan jail is a part of a larger project to close Rikers Island and open four borough-based jails in all boroughs — except Staten Island — to reduce the city’s jail population to 5,000. This year, the jail population has averaged around 8,200 — the lowest in three decades and 12 percent less than last year. The city emphasized the goal to close Rikers by 2027 still stands, but the public review process, known as the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure, or ULURP, will be pushed back by about three months. When the location was originally changed from White St. to Centre St. in August, the city argued that The Tombs was inadequate to meet the new jail’s needs of 1,500 beds since the location currently only has 1,000 beds. Furthermore, the city said in scoping documents that The Tombs’ facilities were outdated, falling short of modern detention facilities in terms of inmates’ space, sunlight and social spaces.
PHOTO BY COLIN MIXSON
The city has backed away from its plan to build a new 40-stor y jail at 80 Centre St., above, which currently houses the Manhattan D. A .’s Office and the Marriage Bureau, plus cour t-related ser vices. Instead, the city is now saying it will build the new high-rise jail three blocks nor th, at the current site of “The Tombs.”
To solve that problem, the city proposed tearing down 80 Centre St. and building a 430-foot building in its place. The new plan will involve demolishing the Manhattan Detention Complex, and the borough-based jail will still hold 1,500 beds, according to a mayoral spokesperson. The maximum height of the new facility could be slightly higher than 500 feet, but the city is working
toward decreasing that height in the coming months. For more than a year, the Downtown community had thought the borough’s “community jail” would be located at The Tombs. But then in August the city told local stakeholders at an insiders’ meeting that the city planned to tear down 80 Centre St. and build a 430foot jail there instead. Chinatown activists have since blasted the city for changing the location and Downtown politicians have criticized the city’s process. In a statement, City Councilmember Margaret Chin said sees the latest location change as “a sign that the community’s concerns and input about the future of this facility matter.” “By focusing the conversation on this existing detention site,” she said, “we can ensure that this facility remains near the courts, and Columbus Park will no longer be placed under the shadow of a proposed 40-story jail at 80 Centre St. “Let’s be absolutely clear,” Chin stressed, “this moment would not be possible without elected officials, advocates and residents fighting to increase opportunities to engage in this process. There remains a great deal of work to be done to make sure that true community engagement is achieved.” Borough President Gale Brewer said in a statement, “The administration needed to change course on the location for the new facility, but the core problem here was that City Hall wanted to announce its plan before engaging with the community on how to craft it. I hope that in the coming weeks and months, City Hall will engage in a more bottom-up process that builds support in Chinatown and Lower Manhattan, makes people feel like they were actually heard, and improves the plan — instead of repeating the mistakes that got us here.”
‘Fearless Girl’ set to take on Stock Exchange BY COLIN MIXSON
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he Financial District’s beloved “Fearless Girl” statue was uprooted from her post at Bowling Green Tuesday night in preparation for her eventual move to outside the New York Stock Exchange later this year. The pint-sized bronze icon, which was installed during the 2017 Women’s March, staring down the park’s other famous statue, “Charging Bull,” was replaced by a plaque featuring two shoeprints. The plaque also bears an inscription reading, “Fearless Girl is on the move to the New York Stock Exchange. Until she’s there, stand for her.” Her sudden disappearance follows Mayor Bill de Blasio’s promise earlier this year to move “Fearless Girl” — and “Charging Bull” — in response to safety concerns that lower Broadway’s heavy traffic posed to the statue’s hoards of selfie-seeking fans, who clustered precariously on the narrow cobblestone plaza where she was formerly located. In addition to gaining notoriety as a feminist icon, “Fearless Girl” can also be seen as a wildly successful marketing stunt by advertising firm McCann New York on behalf of multibillion-dollar investment firm State Street Global
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Advisors. State Street commissioned the statue from sculptor Kristen Visbal to advertise its SHE index fund, which features a slew of gender-diverse companies. Within the first 12 hours of its installation, “Fearless Girl” generated more than 1 billion Twitter impressions, and earned more than $7 million worth of free marketing for State Street within the first 51 days, according to an analysis by Apex marketing Group. But the girl statue had one notable detractor in the form of “Charging Bull” sculptor Arturo Di Modica. The artist filed suit against State Street in April last year claiming “Fearless Girl” was derivative of his work, and demanded damages for violating his legal rights. “The statue of the young girl becomes the ‘Fearless Girl’ only because of the ‘Charging Bull,’” read a letter Di Modica’s legal team sent to State Street. “The work is incomplete without Mr. Di Modica’s ‘Charging Bull,’ and as such it constitutes a derivative work of the ‘Charging Bull.’” The mayor’s press office did not immediately reply to messages left asking if “Charging Bull” would be moved, and when. TVG
PHOTO BY COLIN MIXSON
Left in “Fearless Girl” ’s former place on Bowling Green is a plaque with two small footprints telling people they can “stand for her” and what she represents. November 29, 2018
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