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NEW YORK (FOX 5 NY) - The plan to close Rikers Island and replace it by building four new jails in the Bronx, Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens continued its rough start Wednesday, as members of the city planning commission walked out of a crucial hearing on the matter when disruptions made it impossible to continue.
The city's plan would build large structures in residential neighborhoods to take over Rikers' capacity, however the community board of all four proposed sites have rejected the plans in non-binding votes. Mayor De Blasio's office on criminal justice says that it is working with communities and elected officials to come up with the best plan, an assertion that communities say is not true, calling the process rigged.
"There has been no communication with the communities," said Sylvia Hack, a member of Community Board 9 in Queens. "These neighborhood advisory committee meetings, they are a true joke."
The CPC now has three choices about what to do next: They can approve the plans outright, modify them or reject them outright. An answer should come within the next two months and if it passes, will go to a make-or-break vote before the city council.