The Broadsheet - Lower Manhattan’s Local Newspaper

Ten Lower Manhattan community leaders, including two candidates for public office, were arrested Wednesday morning as they protested the start of demolition at the Manhattan Detention Complex (MDC), in a preliminary move by the administration of Mayor Eric Adams to replace that facility with the world’s tallest jail.

More than 100 demonstrators turned out for the continuation of a multi-day protest that began on Monday, with the aim of preventing the installation of construction fencing around the MDC site (centered on White Street, between Baxter and Centre Streets). On Monday and Tuesday, the contractor designated by the City to install the fence did not appear as scheduled, and the small number police monitoring the protest withdrew.

But on Wednesday morning, the police turned out in force, as the contractor’s vehicles approached the site. At that point, shortly after 8:00 am, a delegation of ten protest leaders stepped into the middle of Baxter Street to block access to MDC. They were identifiable by blue armbands, in a prearranged signal to the police that this group planned to commit non-violent acts of civil disobedience by obstructing the installation of the fence, but also planned to submit to arrest without offering any resistance.

This continent was led by Jan Lee, a widely respected community leader in Chinatown, who recounted, “this morning, beginning at 6:00 am, we stood vigilant at the jail site, awaiting the arrival of the trucks carrying the materials that would become the construction fences surrounding the Chinatown jails.”

Mr. Lee, who is a co-founder of Neighbors United Below Canal (NUBC), a community organization that opposes the plan to demolish and rebuild MDC, continued, “for three years now, NUBC has used numerous tools to fight the building of this mega-jail in Chinatown, including community outreach, education sessions, a lawsuit in which we prevailed, and numerous protests and rallies.”

He added, “our March 20th rally was attended by 2,000 people. Today, we sat in the middle of the roadbed of Baxter Street to stop the truck from off-loading materials to build the construction fences around the jail. For this act of civil disobedience, ten of us, including myself, were arrested and brought to the Seventh Precinct. It is disgraceful that we had to get arrested to be heard by a Mayor who said, in April, 2021, that he ‘stood side by side with us.’”

This was a reference to a statement made by Eric Adams, before he was elected Mayor, when he joined a rally on the same site last fall. At that event, the then-candidate said, “I did not just discover you when I decided to run. I know how much this community has endured. We have stood together, side by side. Let’s stop the institutionalization of hate that we are seeing in government.”

“We can do a better job,” Mr. Adams continued. “The problems we are facing can’t be solved with incarceration and the destruction of communities. So I am here with you, standing side by side. No new jail! No building up a jail at this location!” Since then, Mr. Adams has made no public statement explaining his change of heart after taking office, nor he has acknowledged the contradiction between his promise as a candidate and his policy as Mayor.

A spokesman for the Mayor’s office responded, “this administration will always follow the law, and the law says the jails on Rikers Island must close on time. To follow the law and protect the safety of the community and all involved in this project, this work is proceeding. We have engaged deeply with the community every step of the way, and we are committed to continuing to work with them to limit the disruption of this project.”

Mr. Lee insisted that, “until the Mayor meets with us, and listens to our plan for a fiscally responsible, safer, faster and less impactful gut renovation of the existing jail, we remain distrustful and feel betrayed by him. We will continue to call out the people, companies, and foundations that are profiting from incarceration and the business of poverty. Our community will not be sacrificed by a jail experiment that is not only destined to repeat the atrocity of the current jails, but will be totally obsolete the day it opens, a decade from now.”

Also arrested was Vittoria Fariello, a Battery Park City resident and elected Democratic Party District Leader, who is a candidate for the State Senate. She said, “Our neighborhoods don’t need a bigger jail—we need more schools and more housing, and I'll do what is necessary to win this goal.”

Ms. Fariello added, “I want to thank everyone who has stood up against this dangerous plan, and the NYPD officers of the Seventh Precinct for their professionalism. I call on Mayor Adams to keep his promise and stop the jail immediately.”

Additionally taken into custody was Grace Lee, a Lower Manhattan activist and community leader who is a candidate for the State Assembly. In a reference to the plan to close the City’s primary jail at Rikers Island (which purportedly necessitates the MDC expansion), she said, “Rikers is a place of systemic injustice and needs to be closed. But a $2-billion mega-jail that has even fewer beds than the existing structure is not the solution. The demolition of MDC and the construction of the new mega-jail will have an enormous environmental impact. Hundreds of toxins and chemicals will be released and contaminate the air that our seniors and our children breathe. There is asbestos in that building, and volatile organic compounds, polychlorinated biphenyls, and heavy metals have been detected in the soil below.”

“Given the severity of this threat,” Ms. Lee continued, “the City should have given more time and consideration to alternative plans that would be more environmentally conscious and respectful to the health of the community. Yet this administration has shown a complete disregard for the people of Chinatown.”

Recalling the local history that accompanied the building of the existing MDC, she observed that, “what happened this morning is eerily evocative of a massive protest against the construction of the current structure back in the 1980s. Mayor Koch dismissed the protest by saying of the Chinatown community, ‘you don’t vote, you don’t count.’ He thought this community would not fight back. And that is the legacy of systemic racism. Because now, 40 years later, Chinatown is fighting not just a jail, but the tallest jail in the world.”

Ms. Lee concluded that, “Mayor Adams may think that Chinatown is not going to fight back, or that we’ve forgotten his campaign promise to oppose this jail. But thanks to the strength and bravery of our community leaders, we’re here to demand that he hear us. We are not passive. We will not stay quiet. We call for investment in people—in our schools, our businesses and our community instead of the world’s tallest jail.”

Another member of the group arrested on Wednesday morning was Victoria Lee, an elected District Leader, who said, “I can’t believe that the words ‘mega’ and ‘billion’ are associated not with schools, community centers, parks, and the other investments that our communities need, but instead with a jail. Why does the City tout Chinatown as a cultural hub when it’s convenient, but then marginalize and neglect this community?”

Edward Cuccia, an attorney who both lives and practices in Chinatown, was on hand to act as a legal advisor to the demonstrators. He was also there to offer pro-bono legal representation to everybody who was arrested, and to monitor any possible violations of their rights. Mr. Cuccia said, “today, ten heroes were arrested while protesting against the demolition of the Chinatown jail. These ten men and women were willing to take a stand against political stupidity and corporate greed. They were arrested while calling on Mayor Adams to keep his promise not to destroy Chinatown and Little Italy, and to keep his promise not to waste $2.3 billion with the idiotic demolition of the Chinatown jail. They will be charged with disorderly conduct and summonsed to Criminal Court.”

An Adams administration official responded that, “we have reviewed multiple proposals to renovate the existing Manhattan Detention Complex building. With the extent of renovations required to bring the building to code and meet the requirements of 2019 laws passed by the City Council, this degree of work would be infeasible. The building is not structurally sound enough to withstand the extent of the renovation required. Moving forward with renovation would introduce the risk of catastrophic collapse, putting construction workers and community members at risk. In addition to the physical safety issues, renovation would also increase the cost to taxpayers and extend the construction period, only prolonging the disruption for the community. The environmental impacts of renovation would be equal or greater to that from new construction. We have engaged deeply with the community, pausing construction for over a month at the community’s request to review alternative proposals. Even with the month-long delay, we will close Rikers on time, as required by laws passed by the City Council.”

The iconic “Fearless Girl” statue—artist Kristen Visbal’s bronze likeness of a young female striking a jaunty, audacious pose—can remain at its current location, near the intersection of Broad and Wall Streets, for 11 months, the City’s Public Design Commission ruled on Monday.

To the editor,

May I add my voice to the others as reported on Monday? Please leave W. Thames alone. And definitely have a meeting that is open to those who live here before an RFP goes out and with the designer who eventually gets the assignment. I agree that we need to know how resiliency might affect these streets before proposals are made—or is that known already?

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To the editor,

Great coverage! Thanks for keeping the pressure and story of no new jails alive.

At the March 7 meeting of the Battery Park City Committee of Community Board 1 (CB1), the Battery Park City Authority (BPCA) announced that it is taking preliminary steps to move ahead with a controversial plan to reconfigure South End Avenue and West Thames Street. This project envisions safety improvements that narrow both South End Avenue and West Thames Street, widen nearby sidewalks, and relocate several bus stops.

On April 8, 1730, the seventh day of that year’s Passover, the fledgling Jewish community of New York City consecrated the Mill Street Synagogue, located on what is now South William Street. They called their new temple “Shearith Israel,” which translates literally as, “remnant of Israel.” It was the first Jewish house of worship in North America.

Community Board 1 (CB1) is reiterating its opposition to a plan that will allow a real estate developer to privatize more than 4,000 square feet of public space, in exchange for a promise to enliven an adjacent plaza. At issue are the arcades—columned porticos that adorn the ground-floor facade of 200 Water Street—which the building owner hopes to enclose, thus creating additional retail space, which can be monetized. The same owner plans to create three new market-rate rental apartments at the second floor level, and to use several hundred square feet of outdoor space on the plaza in front of 200 Water Street, for a cafe.

Lower Manhattan residents could soon have a new option for accessing LaGuardia Airport, if planners at the Port Authority approve an option to launch ferry service between the Wall Street pier and the aerodrome in northern Queens.

The Port Authority has been compelled to take a fresh look at ways to access LaGuardia after Governor Kathy Hochul killed plans formulated by her predecessor, former Governor Andrew Cuomo, to build a new AirTrain. That proposal would have connected the airport to both the Long Island Rail Road and the subway’s 7 train—in both cases by moving passengers eastward for those transfers, when the vast majority of users would likely be headed to destinations west of the LaGuardia (such as Manhattan). This scheme was slated to cost several billion dollars.

Live Remote Meeting - https://live.mcb1.nyc

1) 90 West Street, application for the replacement of 5 railings on the 4th floor with fiberglass posts - Resolution

2) Recommendation on new LPC Commissioners - Resolution

53A Chambers Street Dance performance $15-$20

On Saturdays and Sundays, visit the exhibitions and the ships of the South Street Seaport Museum for free. At 12 Fulton Street, see “South Street and the Rise of New York" and “Millions: Migrants and Millionaires aboard the Great Liners, 1900-1914," and at Pier 16, explore the tall ship Wavertree and lightship Ambrose. Free.

In a sharp reversal of previous trends, four Lower Manhattan neighborhoods are ranking among the top five anywhere in the City for rates of infection with the new BA.2 subvariant of the Omicron mutation of COVID-19.

To place a listing, contact [email protected]

Greenwich Street & Chambers Street

Food Scrap Collection: Saturdays, 8am-1pm

Open Saturdays and Wednesdays year round

Green Greenmarket at Bowling Green

Broadway & Whitehall St

Market Hours: 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.

Compost Program: 8 a.m. - 11 a.m.

The Bowling Green Greenmarket brings fresh offerings from local farms to Lower Manhattan's historic Bowling Green plaza. Twice a week year-round stop by to load up on the season's freshest fruit, crisp vegetables, beautiful plants, and freshly baked loaves of bread, quiches, and pot pies.

212-349-1380 [email protected]

Fulton Street cobblestones between South and Front Sts. across from McNally Jackson Bookstore.

Locally grown produce from Rogowski Farm, Breezy Hill Orchard, and other farmers and small-batch specialty food products, sold directly by their producers. Producers vary from week to week.

43 BC - Battle of Forum Gallorum: Mark Antony, besieging Julius Caesar's assassin Decimus Junius Brutus in Mutina, defeats the forces of the consul Pansa, who is killed.

1191 - 85-year old Giacinto Bobo becomes Pope Coelestinus III

1434 - The foundation stone of Cathedral St. Peter and St. Paul in Nantes, France is laid.

1777 - New York adopts new constitution as an independent state

1841 - Edgar Allen Poe's Murders in the Rue Morgue published

1860 - First Pony Express rider arrives in San Francisco from St. Joseph, Mo

1861 - Formal Union surrender of Fort Sumter

1865 - U.S. Secretary of State William H. Seward and his family are attacked in his home by Lewis Powell.

1865 - President Abraham Lincoln is shot by John Wilkes Booth at Ford's Theater

1894 - First public showing of Thomas Edison's kinetoscope (moving pictures)

1912 - RMS Titanic hits an iceberg at 11.40pm off Newfoundland

1927 - The first Volvo car premieres in Gothenburg, Sweden.

1939 - John Steinbeck's novel The Grapes of Wrath is published

1948 - A flash of light is observed in the crater Plato on the Moon

1948 - NYC subway fare jumps from 5 cents to 10 cents

1973 - Acting FBI director L. Patrick Gray resigns after admitting he destroyed evidence in the Watergate scandal

1978 - Korean Air Lines Boeing Flight 007, fired on by Soviets, crashes in Russia

1981 - First Space Shuttle, Columbia 1, returns to Earth

2003 - The Human Genome Project is completed with 99% of the human genome sequenced to an accuracy of 99.99%.

1629 - Christian Huygens, Holland, astronomer (discovered Saturn's rings)

1889 - Arnold Toynbee, English historian

1912 - Robert Doisneau, photographer

1099 - Conrad, bishop of Utrecht, stabbed to death

1759 - George Frideric Handel, Baroque composer and organist (Water Music), dies at 74

1964 - Rachel Carson, American biologist/author of Silent Spring, dies at 56

1986 - Simone de Beauvoir, philosopher and author (The Second Sex), dies of pneumonia at 78

2013 - Colin Davis, English conductor, dies at 85

2021 - Bernie Madoff, disgraced financier (b. 1938)