Borough Based Jails Set to Take First Steps in 2020

The City wastes little time in efforts to shutter Rikers Island and get construction across the boroughs started. Since the latter half of November, the City announced three major developments in the Borough-Based Jails plan. Each announcement is discussed in further detail below. To read more about Borough-Based Jails, read Cityland’s prior coverage here.


City Council Approves Borough Based Jails

After modifications and a lengthy Stated Meeting, Borough Based Jails passed despite significant opposition. On October 17, 2019, the City Council voted to approve the City’s Borough Based Jails System application with modifications. The approved plan includes four jail facilities located at 124-125 White Street in Manhattan, 745 East 141st Street in the Bronx, 126-02 82nd Avenue in Queens and at 275 Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn and closure of the Rikers Island detention facility.


DDC Announces Yvi McEvilly as Head of Agency’s Design-Build Unit

On December 7, 2023, the Department of Design and Construction announced the appointment of Yvi McEvilly as the new Assistant Commissioner for the agency’s Design-Build Unit. Her role will help expand the design-build program, which allows for a single entity to be responsible for both the design and construction of projects, avoiding the additional procurement process of approving separate vendors. With designers and builders on the same team from a project’s start, there is more <Read More>


Jamie Torres-Springer Appointed New Commissioner of Design and Construction

Torres-Springer, the former First Deputy Commissioner of the department, will be succeeding Senior Advisor for Recovery and outgoing Commissioner Lorraine Grillo. On March 23, 2021, Mayor Bill de Blasio appointed Jamie Torres-Springer as Commissioner of the New York City Department of Design and Construction. Torres-Springer will be succeeding Lorraine Grillo. Former Commissioner Grillo left the position earlier in March to serve as the City’s Senior Advisor for Recovery.



CityLaw Profile: Allen P. Cappelli: City Planning Commission Member

On October 17, 2019, the City Council approved a plan to replace Rikers Island.  A month earlier, Allen P. Cappelli, a member of the City Planning Commission, had voted with the 9-3 majority in favor of the application. Cappelli called Rikers Island an “absolute abomination” and in need of “shuttering.” Cappelli’s vote reflected four decades of public service.