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June 25, 2007
West Harlem (Atlantic Yards redux)
An account of last week's press conference held by the Coalition to Preserve Community gave us a serious case of déjà vu.
Apparently, Columbia University and its lobbyist Bill Lynch have learned from Atlantic Yards that packing hearings with supporters to keep community members out and saddling the community with a massive Environmental Impact Statement in the middle of the summer, when Communtiy Boards are not in session, is definitely the best way to go:
The Coalition to Preserve Community held a spirited press conference and protest outside of the City Planning Commission offices this past Monday calling for a rescheduling of the certification ULURP process until the end of summer.
Once inside, it was a different story. Columbia stacked the hearing room with its employees so few community members could attend the hearing. There were probably as many people from Bill Lynch's lobby organization than community residents. Some protest attendees were discouraged and left, but many waited outside, filling up a holding room and listening to the hearing on loudspeaker.
They were of course unable to view the presentation. This was typical of the "railroad approach" being used by Columbia and city planning as articulated by a contingent of clergy including Rev. Earl Kooperkamp, of St. Mary's Church, and Rev. Dean Parks Morton, formally of St. John the Divine, who spoke at the press conference.
Despite the Coalition's outreach attempt to reach out by letter to the Mayor and all elected officials inviting them to join, not one attended the press conference to call for a rescheduling. State Senator Bill Perkins was the only one to write a letter requesting a Fall ULURP process. Community Board 9 and the West Harlem Local Development Corporation also sent letters to City Planning and Columbia asking for there not to be a disenfranchising summer review process.
The Columbia strategists have determined that the trade off between the terrible publicity they will get by this railroad job (they have been asked NOT to have a summer ULURP process for 3 years), was something they could live with since the momentum in the community against them is growing by leaps and bounds as the eviction policy which is at the groundwork of their plan becomes more and more evident.
If the the elected officials had joined the community and made a strong demand, we would not have had to deal with answering a 2700 page Environmental Impact Statement in July and August. Bill Lynch is doing his job, but we shall not be moved.
Coverage:
The Indypendent, West Harlem Takes on Corporate U.
NY1, Columbia University's Proposed Expansion Comes Under Fire From Activists
Posted by lumi at June 25, 2007 7:53 AM