Photo: Queens Borough President Melinda Katz this week said the placement of this proposed juvenile detention center on 127th Street ‘is just too close to home.’ Forum Photo by Michael V. Cusenza.
Queens Borough President Melinda Katz this week weighed in on the controversial proposed juvenile detention center slated to open in the middle of a residential South Ozone Park, saying such communities “need schools, not prisons.”
The limited secure placement facility, which would be housed in a newly constructed building on 127th Street, is part of the Administration for Children’s Services Close to Home initiative, which allows youth found to have committed a delinquent act to be placed by the city Family Court in or close to their communities in the five boroughs.
“The placement of this type of facility is just too close to home, where families are already burdened with similar facilities in the area,” Katz said in a statement released Monday. “While I support the mission of the ‘Close to Home’ initiative, I also believe the goals can be achieved by placing the facilities in areas nearby that are more appropriately zoned. To this end, I offer the resources of my office to the administration to find alternative, more fitting locations for all facilities that need to be sited, including schools.”
Katz also pointed out that there is already a Close to Home non-secure facility around the corner on 128th Street, in addition to the Skyway Men’s Shelter a few blocks away on South Conduit Avenue. ACS has also awarded a contract with “Children’s Village” for a limited secure placement facility at 207-01 – 207-11 Jamaica Ave. in Queens Village.
By Michael V. Cusenza michael@theforumnewsgroup.com
