Ordering a review of the potential for renewable energy creation and storage on Rikers Island, the New York City Council moved toward planning what will happen after the massive jail shuts down.
This June 20, 2014 file photo shows the Rikers Island jail complex in New York with the Manhattan skyline in the background. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
NEW YORK (CN) The island that houses the world’s largest correctional facilities may one day be the site of a renewable energy plant. Plans for the transition gained momentum Thursday when New York City Council members voted to conduct a study of the potential for green infrastructure on Rikers Island.
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As the city s most impoverished borough, the Bronx has seen its deep-rooted problems exacerbated by the pandemic. It currently ranks as the state s unhealthiest county, with heart disease and obesity afflicting many in the borough. While the Bronx s unemployment rate stood at 4% in December 2019, it has soared as high as 24% during the pandemic, leaving scores of Bronx residents jobless.
But it doesn t mean all of the Bronx s successes have been obliterated. Construction of new residences remains strong across the borough, though other large-scale projects including the construction of four Metro-North stations along an existing Amtrak line and the Kingsbridge National Ice Center remain in limbo for at least five years.