BROOKLYN — As readers of this newspaper know, the city’s Correction Department wants to reopen the Brooklyn Detention Complex on Atlantic Avenue and to double its current capacity to house 1,400 inmates.
This observer and many others have questioned this proposal as being the wrong project in the wrong place at the wrong time. There is a simple predicate: the property on which the building rests would not now reasonably ever be considered for a jail, regardless as to how close it may be to Downtown Brooklyn’s courthouse scene.
That is an issue that must be factored into any responsible discussion. It is, of course, not the only factor, but until that matter gets discussed in the real world, all other talk is flummery.
One factor is, of course, that there is a jail there now, although it has been closed since 2003, and if the city simply reopened the jail, the move would not nearly be met with such disbelief and shock as the idea to double it.
An official document released by the Correction Department and the Economic Development Corporation this month shows what the building would look like if the entire space were occupied by new construction.
If you eliminate the bulk of everything new east and west of the current building in that rendering, one can see that the proposed jail expansion north of the current jail would, in essence, double the current building.
This would make the jail structures, taken together, one of the largest and dominant buildings in Downtown Brooklyn.
In response to earlier comments I made on this subject, Commissioner Martin Horn wrote a letter, responding to those thoughts, which we published.
In that letter, Commissioner Horn noted the “very goals of the project. Jails should be close to the courthouses that hear the cases of the people in those jails.”
One thought: It is my understanding that a new Bronx House of Detention, much larger than proposed for Brooklyn, is being built that would be considerably distant from the Bronx courthouses. If this is so, then the goal of situating jails near courthouses is clearly not absolute.
A second thought about goals widen the objective beyond that of the Correction Department.
A goal for siting public facilities must be whether the use of the proposed space is the most economically satisfactory use of that space. Frequently, that kind of question is not relevant when pondering public installations. It very relevant in this case.
A cost analysis should be made as to whether selling or leasing the jail space to the private sector makes good money sense. Examples of profitable buildings are nearby — the CourtHouse apartment complex, constructed on the site of a former parking garage, the conversion of the former Board of Ed headquarters at 110 Livingston St. into residences. The House of Detention site may be the most valuable square block in Downtown Brooklyn these days.
Of course, there has to be a counterpoint. How much would it cost to build a new jail complex somewhere else in Brooklyn? Until that kind of thinking is applied to the question, all the talk on the subject is mostly emotional.
And there is a site that can be used as a comparison. The “Public Space” is a huge parcel of vacant, city-owned land on the west side of Gowanus facing Smith Street. Much has been studied and analyzed about the possibility of developing this site.
It could be used, for purposes of analysis, to produce much needed data about a new jail site so that questions can be answered, rather than talking past each other.
And there simply have to be other sites as well, such as the eastern part of the Navy Yard.
Brooklyn’s elected officials should request that a professional benefits/cost analysis should be applied to this project.
© Brooklyn Daily Eagle 2007
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