Downtown Brooklyn Jail Plans To Be Aired At Hearing

DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN, NY — Downtown Brooklyn residents will have a chance to sound off Thursday on city officials' plans to build a new jail in their neighborhood. The lockup proposed for 275 Atlantic Ave. is one of four meant to replace the notorious Rikers Island complex, which the city plans to close by 2027.

The Department of Correction plans to tear down the existing Brooklyn Detention Complex and replace it with a new 1,500-bed jail, officials said last month. The new facility would be up to 430 feet tall with retail and community space on the ground floor along Atlantic Avenue.

Brooklyn locals can hear a presentation on the plan and give testimony Thursday at the first of four so-called scoping meetings, which are part of the city's environmental review process. Similar sessions will be held in the next two weeks on the jails proposed for Lower Manhattan, Kew Gardens and Mott Haven.

"We deeply value the community’s responses and look forward to a thorough engagement process," said Patrick Gallahue, a spokesman for the Mayor's Office of Criminal Justice.

The new facilities will likely face community opposition despite Mayor Bill de Blasio's assertion that the violence-prone Rikers complex has to go.

Chinatown residents objected that they weren't included enough in decisions about the proposed Centre Street lockup at a town hall meeting on the plan last week. They also raised concerns about traffic congestion and air quality from construction.

Downtown Brooklyn civic leaders complained to the New York Post that while they support closing Rikers, the new jail would be too large and is being rushed through the process.

"What’s driving the process here is a political imperative that’s not shaping the best possible jail system," Sandy Balboza, the president of the Atlantic Avenue Betterment Association, told the paper.

Thursday's scoping meeting starts at 6 p.m. at the P.S. 133 William A. Butler School, located at 610 Baltic St. in Park Slope.

It won't be the only time Brooklynites can weigh in. The process will also include community board hearings, other public forums and a comment period for the project's forthcoming environmental impact statement, Gallahue said.

(Lead image: City officials want to replace the Brooklyn Detention Complex in Downtown Brooklyn with a new jail. Image from Google Maps)