Residents against construction of nearly 300-foot jail in Chinatown

Rally against Chinatown jail

FOX 5 NY's Morgan McKay is at a rally in Chinatown, where residents are frustrated by the city's decision to build a new jail in the area.

CHINATOWN - Neighbors United Below Canal (NUBC) held a rally to publicly unveil their proposal for the city to relocate a nearly 300-foot-tall jail being built in Chinatown.

Borough-based jail system replacing Rikers Island

What we know:

In 2017, former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced the city would work to create a borough-based jail system – this jail system would take the place of Rikers Island, which was voted to shut down by the New York City Council in 2019.

Major construction of the borough-based jails began in June 2021.

The four jail sites in the network are located in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx. The Manhattan Borough-Based Jail Facility will be located at 124 to 125 White Street, on the site of the former Manhattan Detention Complex; the complex was demolished over a 12-month period.

The project to build the Manhattan facility is currently slated for completion in 2032, five years after Rikers Island is scheduled to be closed. A video released by construction company Tutor Perini revealed the facility will be nearly 300 feet tall and will cost nearly $3.8 billion to construct.

Residents' frustration

The other side:

Many residents in Chinatown, the neighborhood where the Manhattan jail will be built, are against the construction of the facility.

NUBC filed a lawsuit in the New York State Supreme Court in 2020, saying that the city "underestimates the impacts of the Manhattan jail" on residential traffic, noise pollution, socioeconomic impacts and open space resources, among other areas.

The group won their suit, but the city filed an appeal, which it won in 2021.

Another group, Welcome to Chinatown, joined NUBC's fight against the construction of the jail that same year.

'Alternative Plan’

Together, both groups have created an "Alternative Plan," which primarily proposes relocating the Manhattan jail to the currently empty Metropolitan Correction Center, which closed in 2021. The plan also includes building new affordable housing and green space at 125 White Street in place of the facility.

This proposal was revealed at a rally held in Chinatown earlier today, June 2 – Assemblymember Grace Lee and Councilmember Christopher Marte were both in attendance.

This plan would require approval from both the city and federal government, but NUBC told FOX 5 NY's Morgan McKay that it has reached out to New York Senator Chuck Schumer's office regarding the issue.

City's reaction

New York Mayor Eric Adams's office emphasized that the decision to build the Manhattan jail in Chinatown was a decision made under the de Blasio administration, and that any decision to move the location of the jail would have to go through the city council.

"We continue to engage with community members on the project and implement other public safety improvements within our control," a spokesperson for Adams said.

A City Council spokesperson said that "the contract to build the Manhattan-based borough jail at this site has already been signed and the work has already begun."