Welcome back to the Ten Blocks podcast. This is Brian Anderson, the editor of City Journal.

Joining me on the show today is a colleague and frequent guest on the show, Nicole

Jelinez. Nicole is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, a contributing editor of City

Journal, and a columnist at the New York Post. She's one of the most regular contributors

on our website and in the magazine,

but she's here today to talk about a couple of lengthy essays she's written about recently

on New York City and its future. One is on Rikers Island, and the other is on the public transit

system. So we'll get her thoughts on the mayoral race, Governor Cuomo's problems,

and more in addition to those two other topics. As I've mentioned in a previous episode, a few

weeks ago, the City Journal team has put the finishing touches on a new special issue of

the magazine called New York City Reborn. It has a lovely cover design, so I encourage you to

check out the article lineup on the website, take a look at the cover art, and we'll post it on

social media sometime soon. Nicole, thanks very much for joining us. Good afternoon, Brian. It's nice to talk

with you. Yes. So to start for our winter issue, you wrote about the plan to replace Rikers Island

as the main correctional complex in New York City. More than a year ago, New York approved a bill

to build four smaller high-rise facilities

dispersed across the different boroughs of the city. The plan was slated to cost something like,

I don't know, $9 billion, and it's already years behind schedule. Now, you note it's undeniable. The conditions at Rikers are abysmal,

in your words, but you believe that improvements can be made in that prison complex. And the city's

plan is impractical. Could you elaborate a little bit for listeners on your views on this issue?

Yeah, there's no question that we need to build new modern jails on Rikers Islands.

You know, just like much of the city's infrastructure, the existing jail buildings are

...