Welcome to Curbed Cuts, a tri-weekly digest connecting the dots between shelter, structure, parks, transportation, and more.
Turnstile jumping gets decriminalized
City officials announced on Friday that the Manhattan District Attorney’s office will move to decriminalize minor non-violent misdemeanors like turnstile jumping and possession of small amounts of some drugs in a bid to decrease criminal cases by about 20,000 per year, DNAinfo reports.
Starting in September, most people arrested for turnstile jumping in the borough will be issued civil summonses or a desk appearance ticket. If the turnstile-jumpers participate in counseling sessions orp a different diversion program prior to the arraignment, prosecutors won’t move to indict turnstile jumpers.
The end of prosecution doesn’t mean that turnstile jumpers won’t face fines: They can still be fined $100 when issued civil summonses, the MTA says.
The effort is a part of Mayor de Blasio’s 10-year plan to close Rikers and will help to reduce the city’s jail population and free up its Criminal Courts system.
LGBTQ senior housing projects make progress
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Two new affordable housing developments targeted towards New York City’s senior LGBTQ population are ready to start construction very soon, the New York Times reports. The Ingersoll Senior Residences will be a 16-story building in Fort Greene with 145 studios and one-bedrooms. Twenty-five percent of the apartments here will be set aside for the city’s homeless, and construction on this $78 million project is supposed to get underway next month.
In the Bronx, the Crotona Senior Residences will bring 84 affordable apartments to Crotona Park. Thirty percent of these apartments will be affordable. Construction is scheduled to get underway this fall, and the project will cost $40 million to build. Both buildings will be open to both non-LGBTQ and LGBTQ seniors, and will feature senior centers run by Services and Advocacy for GLBT Elders (SAGE), offering a variety of programs and services for residents.