Mayor de Blasio on Tuesday tossed cold water on a proposal by City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, backed by Gov. Cuomo, to shutter Rikers Island.
The mayor said the idea of hitting restart with the violence-plagued jails system was worth discussion but highlighted a host of reasons why a shutdown isn’t feasible.
“My job is to level with the people of New York City: This will cost billions and billions of dollars, be logistically very difficult, and we don’t have the alternative space right now,” de Blasio said at an unrelated press conference.
“In the end, you still are going to need facilities. Where are you going to put them? How are you going to pay for them?” he added. “So [it’s] a noble concept, but one that will cost many billions of dollars, and we do not have a viable pathway to that at this point.”
Earlier this month, Mark-Viverito announced the formation of a commission to examine policies that would shrink the inmate population at Rikers.
“This is going to receive some pushback. It’s not going to happen overnight,” she said on WNYC.