Good morning. It's Wednesday. Today we'll look at a plan for Rikers Island, assuming the jails there are shut down in five years on the timetable set by the City Council. We'll also look at Representative Lee Zeldin, the Republican candidate for governor, who tapped into discontent about inflation and crime in his campaign against Gov. Kathy Hochul. |
 | | An rendering of Rikers Island as a green energy hub.via Andrea Johnson for Regional Plan Association |
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What would Rikers Island look like if it became a green infrastructure hub? |
The question — with an answer from a prominent urban policy organization and an alliance of groups representing people who have been incarcerated there — comes against the backdrop of more violence in the notorious jail complex. |
A city correction officer was stabbed in the head by a detainee on Monday, the same day that another detainee died in the same unit of Rikers, of what was thought to be a drug overdose. |
The incidents followed a report from a federal monitor appointed to oversee reforms at Rikers that said the jails remain "dangerously unsafe," though the monitor's report applauded recent changes at Rikers. Officials are trying to head off a possible federal court takeover of the complex. |
The idea of turning Rikers into a green energy hub has been circulating since the City Council mandated the shutdown of the jails in 2027. That will leave Rikers empty, a large parcel of land in the East River close to La Guardia Airport. |
"If the era of jailing on Rikers is ending," said Moses Gates, a vice president of the Regional Plan Association, which commissioned a report on Rikers as a green infrastructure center, "we have to think about a vision." That idea was echoed in the report, which said it would "likely take generations to repair the harm Rikers has done to Black, Brown and poor New Yorkers, but we need to start somewhere." |
Gates credited the idea of Rikers as a green hub to the Renewable Rikers Coalition, an alliance of groups representing people who had been incarcerated there that was part of a steering panel that guided the report. "We're going to need a great deal of green infrastructure if we're going to come close to meeting our climate goals," Gates said. |
The report said there would be room on Rikers Island for equipment to generate 275 megawatts of solar power, enough to power roughly 45,000 homes, and to store another 1,500 megawatts. That would clear the way to phase out several nearby gas-fired power plants known as "peakers" that are not the main providers of energy but are needed a few days each year when energy demand is at its peak. |
Also envisioned in the report was an institute to provide training in technical skills needed for jobs in green industries. |
The report laid out plans for more than power. It envisioned consolidating four wastewater treatment plans onshore, freeing 182 acres of land "for communities to redevelop according to their own needs and priorities — and eliminate severe health risks." |
The report also marked off a place for a composting and recycling hub that could process roughly one-third of the city's organic waste stream. It could replace waste transfer stations in the South Bronx, Gates said. Wastewater treatment facilities on Rikers could replace older installations currently operating in the Bronx and Queens and on Randalls Island, he said. |
"The chance to have 400-plus acres of land in New York City that we can use to put us at the forefront of fighting climate change is really a transformative opportunity," said Zachary Katznelson, the executive director of a commission that is part of the Renewable Rikers Coalition, the alliance of groups representing people who have been incarcerated there. |
The report noted that much of Rikers was landfill, so the island is higher than the nearby low-lying neighborhoods onshore. Only the perimeter of Rikers falls within the 100-year floodplain, but even so, the report said that future development must recognize projected increases in sea levels and storm surges. |
Katznelson said the city was "studying the nuts and bolts" of each element in the report. And Gates said that having essentially a "blank slate" for infrastructure was "hugely advantageous." |
"It's got to be incredibly difficult to site a power plant in New York City," Gates said. "Rikers would let you put all these things that are vital to the city and its future where there's the least effect on the surrounding neighborhood, while it lets you decommission a lot of the aging infrastructure." |
Enjoy a sunny day near the high 60s and a mostly clear evening with temps around the low 50s. |
In effect until Nov. 8 (Election Day). |
 | | Bryan Anselm for The New York Times |
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A closer look at Zeldin and his campaign |
 | | Hilary Swift for The New York Times |
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Representative Lee Zeldin has shown a knack for reinventing himself that has helped fuel his rise. Now his late surge in the polls has surprised political strategists and sent Democrats scrambling to prop up their candidate, Gov. Kathy Hochul. |
Few expected Zeldin to come even close to Hochul, who went into the campaign with a big lead in fund-raising. |
My colleague Nicholas Fandos writes that Zeldin managed to tap into two powerful currents of discontent that Democrats appear to have misjudged — inflation and fears of rising crime. That misreading could scramble the political order in a state where registered Democrats outnumber Republicans. |
"He's grabbed the right issues and hasn't let go," said Rob Astorino, who lost to Zeldin in this year's Republican primary. |
Zeldin's instincts for what cynics call political shape-shifting have been apparent as he played down hard-line positions that served him well while climbing the Republican ranks as a State Senator in Albany and a congressman from Long Island. But they are now politically inconvenient for him in the race for governor. Among these suddenly undesirable positions are fights to limit abortion rights and gun control, and votes against legalizing same-sex marriage and in favor of eliminating the Affordable Care Act — all in conflict with most New Yorkers' views. |
Zeldin avoids mentioning former President Donald Trump, though he was until recently one of Trump's most vocal defenders, a fact that Democrats have driven home in millions of dollars of ads. And, in a state where power is often built around political clubhouses and oversize personalities, Zeldin has operated as an outsider. |
"He comes across as your mildly opinionated next-door neighbor," said Tim Bishop, a former Democratic congressman who defeated Zeldin in 2008, only to lose to him six years later. "But debate him — be on the receiving end of some poison-pen-type emails and postings — and that's not who he is." |
As I walked through the city on an early November day, I knew it was obvious to anyone who looked at me that I was no native. My smile was wide and naïve. My eyes were eager and unreserved. |
I knew, and I couldn't have cared less. |
I entered Bryant Park, where the Winter Village was up and running. Nostalgia crept in as I thought of past years when my family would visit New York at Christmastime. |
I walked around lazily for a bit before buying an overpriced croissant, sitting down on a tiny metal chair and watching sparrows flutter as they picked up my crumbs. |
I had a decision to make: I was in my senior year of college and had two very good job offers. One would bring me to New York; the other, to Arlington, Va. |
It was the first big life decision that was completely up to me. Neither option was bad, and I was having trouble picking. |
As I weighed my choices, I thought about something the man who had interviewed me for the Arlington job said when I explained my dream of one day moving to New York. |
"Everything happens in New York," he said. "I've always wanted to live there too." |
He assured me that one day I would move to the city, although, he added, "I still haven't made it there yet." |
"Somehow," he added, "it never worked out." |
It turned out that had been all I needed to hear. |
Glad we could get together here. See you tomorrow. — J.B. |
| Melissa Guerrero and Ed Shanahan contributed to New York Today. You can reach the team at nytoday@nytimes.com. |
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