华埠长者起诉市府：要求叫停曼哈顿“巨型监狱”每天23小时施工
据「欢迎来华埠」（Welcome to Chinatown）10月23日通过 PR Newswire 发布的社区通稿及《纽约邮报》报道，纽约华埠的长者与社区领袖已向曼哈顿高等法院提起 Article 78 诉讼，要求叫停市府为曼哈顿区级新监狱——即替代 Rikers 岛监狱计划中的“巨型监狱”——实施的近乎全天候赶工计划。
根据市府10月6日向社区出示的新施工计划，10月13日起，位于中央街（Centre Street）、曼哈顿刑事法院旁的这座16层监狱工地，每天从早上6点施工至午夜，其中周一至周五晚上6点至10点进行打桩钻孔，大型设备与物料的运送持续至凌晨5点半；周六从上午9点施工到下午5点，为多年延误赶工。通稿称，连同夜间运送在内，工地每天活动时间合计约23小时，将持续6年。
工地紧邻一栋耆老住宅，街对面是小商家、公寓楼、日托机构、医疗办公室和一家社区影院。诉讼称，项目在公共审批时所做的环境评估只列明了正常施工时间——工作日早上7点至下午3点半、偶尔至下午6点，市府的新计划违反环境评估程序，应重新进行环评；新工时下的施工强度是原评估所研究强度的两倍多，工期也是两倍多。
牵头诉讼的社区非营利组织「欢迎来华埠」创办人兼首席执行官 Victoria Lee 说：“我们的文化讲究敬老。让长者在人生最后的岁月里日夜承受钻孔和施工，是不人道、残忍的。”她同时表示：“我们支持关闭 Rikers，但关闭它不该让更多弱势社区受苦。”市议员马泰（Chris Marte）则批评市府“抛弃”了华埠。原告中还包括纪录片导演 Jon Alpert 等周边居民，他们称新工时实施以来，夜间灯光、挖掘噪音、车辆怠速和积尘已令生活难以忍受。
这座监狱是160亿美元以区级监狱替代 Rikers 岛监狱计划的一部分。市府官员表示，延长工时可将工期缩短约两年，预计2032年完工——比市议会2019年设定的2027年关闭 Rikers 期限晚了5年。市长发言人 Sam Raskin 回应称，市府“将在法庭上回应这些指控”，本届政府致力于履行关闭 Rikers 监狱的道义与法律义务。市府称，挖掘、钻孔、浇筑等高噪音作业时间为工作日早上7点至晚上10点，其余时段为准备工作，工地已设有振动、粉尘与噪音独立监测，并采取了消声器与隔音毯等措施。
资深建筑师 William Bialosky 警告，工地地处原 Collect Pond（集水池塘）旧址之上，多年降水施工可能动摇周边历史建筑的地基。在「欢迎来华埠」与「运河下邻里团结会」（Neighbors United Below Canal）主持的社区大会上，纽约大学研究人员出示数据，显示工地周边空气污染升高。「欢迎来华埠」已发起 GoFundMe，为这场阻止夜间施工的诉讼筹款。
来源：GSM·美国
Chinatown Seniors Sue City to Stop 23-Hour Workdays on Manhattan “Megajail”
Chinatown seniors and community leaders in New York have filed an Article 78 lawsuit in Manhattan Supreme Court seeking to stop the city's plan for near-round-the-clock construction of the long-delayed Manhattan borough-based jail — the so-called “megajail” that is part of the plan to close Rikers Island — according to a community release issued via PR Newswire on October 23 and reporting by the New York Post.
Under the city's updated construction plan, presented to the community on October 6 and in effect since October 13, work at the 16-story jail site on Centre Street, next to Manhattan Criminal Court, runs from 6 a.m. to midnight daily, including pile drilling from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Friday, with deliveries of large equipment and materials continuing until 5:30 a.m.; Saturday crews work 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The release says the combined activity totals about 23 hours a day and will last six years.
The site stands immediately next to a senior residence, across the street from small businesses, tenement apartments, a daycare facility, medical offices and a community cinema. The suit argues that the environmental review conducted when the project was publicly approved outlined only normal construction hours — 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on weekdays, occasionally until 6 p.m. — and that the new plan violates environmental review laws and should trigger a new review. The plaintiffs say the new schedule more than doubles the construction intensity that was studied, over more than twice the construction period.
“Our culture believes in honoring our elders. Subjecting them to around-the-clock drilling and construction through their final years is inhumane and cruel,” said Victoria Lee, founder and CEO of Welcome to Chinatown, the community nonprofit behind the suit. “We believe in closing Rikers, but its closure should not cause more marginalized communities to suffer.” City Councilmember Chris Marte said City Hall has “abandoned” Chinatown.
The jail is part of the $16 billion plan to replace Rikers Island with borough-based jails. City officials said the extended hours will shave about two years off the construction timeline, with completion expected by 2032 — five years after the 2027 deadline the City Council set in 2019 for closing Rikers. Mayoral spokesperson Sam Raskin said the city “will respond to these claims in court” and that the administration is committed to meeting its moral and legal obligations to close the Rikers jails. According to the city, loud work such as excavation, drilling and concrete placement runs from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. on weekdays, with the remaining hours reserved for preparation work, and independent monitoring for vibration, dust and noise, along with mufflers and sound blankets, is in place at the site.
Veteran architect William Bialosky has warned that the years of dewatering needed to build on the site, which sits atop the former Collect Pond, risk destabilizing the foundations of surrounding historic buildings. At a town hall hosted by Welcome to Chinatown and Neighbors United Below Canal, NYU researchers presented data showing elevated air pollution around the site. Welcome to Chinatown has launched a GoFundMe campaign to fund the legal fight.
Source: GSM · America
来源：GSM·美国（原文链接）
图片来源：图：纽约曼哈顿华埠街景（资料图）。照片：Derek Jensen，公有领域，取自 Wikimedia Commons。Photo: A street in Manhattan's Chinatown (file photo). Photo: Derek Jensen, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
