Chinatown leaders are voicing concerns to Mayor Zohran Mamdani about the new jail slated for the neighborhood.
In 2017, under former Mayor Bill de Blasio, the city committed to closing Rikers Island and creating a borough-based jail system with separate facilities in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx, according to the NYC government website. In Manhattan, the jail will be in Chinatown, where the Manhattan Detention Complex at 124–125 White St. once stood.
On Monday, August 24, the New York Post reported that 18 local leaders sent a letter to Mamdani, 34, Deputy Mayor Julia Kerson, and NYC Council SpeakerJulie Menin on Friday, August 21, explaining the construction could cause the ground to sink.
“The jail site sits on the soft, waterlogged ground of the old Collect Pond. The construction plan calls for the deepest excavation ever attempted on its site, digging well below the water table,” the letter read. “The city’s report warns that pumping out that water during construction can cause the surrounding ground to sink, and once it sinks, it does not come back.”…