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Chinatown residents filed suit to try to stop the city from building a new “megajail” in their neighborhood — arguing that subjecting them to nearly round-the-clock construction noises for the next six years was “inhumane and cruel.”
Construction has been ongoing for 18 hours-a-day on weekdays — and 8 hours-a-day on weekends — since October 12 as part of a new building schedule for the 16-story “jailscraper” next door to Manhattan Criminal Court on Centre Street, according to the lawsuit filed Wednesday.
“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 Vic Lee, founder and CEO of Welcome to Chinatown, a community group behind the suit.
“We believe in closing Rikers, but its closure should not cause more marginalized communities to suffer,” Lee said.
The new schedule is part of the $16 billion plan to close Rikers Island and replace it with five borough-based jails.
City officials said the extended hours will shave two years off the timeline for erecting the Chinatown jail and that it could wrap by 2032, according to the Manhattan Supreme Court suit.
But community members argued in the suit the burden for nearby residents — including a senior center — was too big to bear, and should trigger a new environmental review process by the city.
“This new schedule represents more than a doubling of construction intensity as opposed to what was studied — and over twice as long a construction period,” the suit claims.
Many of the plaintiffs are seniors who said they’re now suffering from the new overnight lighting at the construction site, heavy excavation noise, continuous motor idling and build-up of dust.
Several residents claimed the noise is already unbearable since the new all-night plan — with weekday work running from 6 a.m. to midnight — went into effect 10 days ago, according to the suit.
One of the plaintiffs in the suit, filmmaker Jon Alpert, says the new schedule was wreaking havoc on his health while he recovers from 9/11-related prostate cancer treatment.
“Alpert is no longer able to have a normal night’s sleep,” the suit claims, citing “pounding” that begins before sunrise and that inches of construction dust has piled throughout his Lafayette Street home.
Alpert, 77, says he has repeatedly complained to city officials and electeds, but “to no avail.”
Local City Councilmember Chris Marte said City Hall has “abandoned” Chinatown.
“This unilateral move to work overnight and on weekends serves as the latest example of the City’s prioritization of a megajail over the health and safety of New Yorkers,” Marte said.
According to the city, loud work — including excavation, drilling and concrete placement — lasts from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. on weekdays, with the other hours reserved for prep work.
City Hall said there was already extensive, independent environmental monitoring in place, including vibration, dust and noise monitors, plus mufflers and sound blankets to combat noise from the site.
“We will respond to these claims in court,” said mayor spokesperson Sam Raskin. “The Mamdani administration is committed to meeting our moral and legal obligations to closing the jails on Rikers Island and transitioning to a safer, more humane borough-based correctional system.”
Despite a deadline of 2027 set by the City Council in 2019 to close Rikers, Mayor Zohran Mamdani conceded this summer that the deadline can’t be met — as The Post reported that the scheme was already $8 billion over budget.
“We know that Mayor Mandani didn’t come up with this plan, but we hope he’ll fix it,” said Lee. “The City can close Rikers the right way.”