I don't think this is, um, all that unreasonable.
Chefs and restaurant owners have joined local Chinatown residents to demand that the city abandon plans to build the world's tallest jail in the heart of the neighborhood — saying it threatens to become a "death knell" for local businesses, Side Dish has learned.
"The city needs to completely rethink the size and scale of the jail. We don't want a repeat of Rikers Island. We want it small and controllable," said Jan Lee, a third-generation local and co-founder of Neighbors United Below Canal.
I mean look, probably all these businesses and residents would prefer no jail to be built in the neighborhood. Wouldn't everyone? Generally, if given the choice between a jail and no jail, neighbors will opt for the latter.
The city says on its website that its "new, state of the art facility" in Chinatown "will contain 886 beds for [male prisoners]." It will also include 20,000 square feet of "community and commercial space on the ground floor."
Yeah I'm not so sure "commercial space on the ground floor of a humongous men's prison" is going to be quite a lure. Call me nuts.
The project is expected to cost more than $8 billion and be completed by 2027.
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