By Russell Sykes, New York Post

Soon after he was elected governor 16 months ago, Andrew Cuomo made a point of publicly touring a state juvenile-detention center in the Mohawk Valley, west of Albany. The Tryon boy’s detention center no longer had any juvenile residents but was staffed at a taxpayer cost of $15 million a year.

Cuomo’s visit to the empty center sent an important and valuable message — New York can’t afford to operate so wastefully. His latest state budget followed up with a solution that is better for taxpayers, for low-risk juvenile offenders and their families and for society as a whole. It would reduce reliance on upstate facilities and house more offenders closer to home, mostly in facilities run by city government.

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