The city may find itself having to fend off the legal challenges that are often mounted when neighborhoods oppose major developments. “This vote only enriches developers in the short term,” said Mr. Menchaca, who voted against the proposal. Today the city’s jails hold about 7,000 people every day — about a third of the population when it reached its peak during the crack cocaine epidemic in the early 1990s. The new jails, however, would not have room even for the number of people being held today. The jails will be about the same size — each with 886 beds — and will require reducing the jail population by more than half by 2026.

Source: New York Times October 17, 2019 18:10 UTC