Andrew Cuomo grabbed the spotlight in the New York City mayor’s race on Wednesday by calling for the scrapping of the city’s plan to close Rikers Island.
The former governor suggested building a modern jail on the island, and constructing affordable housing on the community sites slated to replace the troubled jail complex.
His opponents in the race were having none of the idea.
Cuomo likens current plan to close Rikers to Boston’s Big Dig
Cuomo went before the movers and shakers of the city’s business community at a forum hosted by Crain’s Communications with a proposal that he says is just plain common sense. He said the plan to close Rikers by 2027 is both way over budget and could be delayed by as much as a decade.
“Let’s make a major start by stopping a major debacle, which is the new jail construction to replace Rikers Island. The writing is on the wall. It promises to be New York City’s Big Dig. It is already years late, billions over budget and obsolete,” Cuomo said.
The former governor certainly got the attention of the political world by comparing the city’s plan to close Rikers to Boston’s Big Dig, the most expensive highway project in the country that took 15 years and cost five times more than expected.
He explained his idea, which he outlined at a mayoral forum attended by city’s business leaders.
“We should rebuild new state-of-the-art jails on Rikers Island, provide free bus service, and use those existing sites for housing and commercial development,” Cuomo said.
Mamdani and Sliwa sound off on Cuomo’s proposal
Cuomo’s mayoral race opponents Queens Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani and Republican Curtis Sliwa preceded him at the forum, but wasted little time attacking him once they heard his proposal.
“Andrew Cuomo’s proposal to take that which is broken, that which is morally bankrupt, that which is a stain on our city, and to keep it open, it’s a betrayal not only of the law as it stands today, but also of what New Yorkers actually want,” Mamdani said.
Sliwa actually favors keeping Rikers open, but he slammed Cuomo for flip-flopping on the issue, saying he was reinvesting himself to win the mayor’s race.
“In 2019, he has a press conference. ‘We must close Rikers out.’ Him two weeks ago, he once again reiterated [Rikers] should have been closed a long time ago. Where would he have put the inmates back then? You can’t trust Cuomo. He’s the flip-flop guy,” Sliwa said.
Lander questions if Cuomo has ever been to Rikers
Comptroller Brad Lander, who was with Mamdani at a press conference on Wednesday highlighting the Queens assemblyman’s “free and faster bus plan,” joined in on the attack.
“I did just ask ChatGBT, ‘Has Andrew Cuomo ever been to Rikers Island?’ And the answer is, ‘There is no clear, credible evidence that Andrew Cuomo has ever physically visited Rikers Island,'” Lander said. “But if it’s true that he’s never visited, in some ways, that is all you need to know. Someone who’s looking for what he thinks is a cheap political hit, but wouldn’t go see it with his own eyes.”
After speaking at the forum, Mamdani rode the M57 bus, one of the slowest buses in New York City. He claimed if he is able to make all city buses free, bus travel would be much faster because the bus operators wouldn’t have to wait for passengers to pay their fares.
He’s also vowing to have more bus lanes.
More from CBS News