Pace University and Century 21 department stores are siding with residents living around the Financial District’s “Stroller Alley” in a bid to keep a parade of convicted criminals out of the increasingly family-friendly neighborhood.
A suit filed Thursday by residents, the school and the retailer says city plans to relocate a Probation Department office to 66 John St. will bring rapists, gang members and other “highest-risk offenders” to the area.
The Manhattan Supreme Court filing calls the office’s February opening a “stealth attack on the community of the Financial District.”
The city Law Department said it was reviewing the suit, while a city spokeswoman insisted the office’s relocation would have “minimal community impact.”