City Asks To 'De-Map' Kew Gardens Street For Its Proposed Jail

KEW GARDENS, QUEENS — The city wants to take a Kew Gardens street off the official city map to enable it to build a new jail in the area.

Queens Community Board 8 on Monday will consider the city's proposal to "de-map" 82nd Avenue between 126th and 132nd Streets in Kew Gardens.

The mayor's office and the city's corrections department want the street to be part of its proposed Queens jail, which would replace the existing Queens Detention Complex.

The city has proposed combining the parcels of land on either side of 82nd Avenue, which house a municipal parking lot and the existing detention center.

Monday's land-use review, or ULURP, hearing is one of many steps in the city's process of getting approval for the Kew Gardens jail complex.

The ULURP hearing is May 6 at 7:30 p.m. at Hillcrest Jewish Center on Union Turnpike. For questions and/or to request speaking time, please call 718-264-7895.

Queens Borough President Melinda Katz, the City Planning Commission and the City Council will all review the Kew Gardens jail proposal as part of the process.

In August 2018, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced plans to build four new jails throughout the city to replace the notoriously inhumane detention facilities on Rikers Island and reduce the city's jail population from 9,400 to 5,000 by the year 2027.

Katz and Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. have urged the mayor's office to restart the process for the four new jails. They said the mayor's office has failed to collaborate with the local communities that would house them.

A spokesman for the mayor's office responded: "We won't delay our mission to close Rikers."