No Land Grab

Hovering over the night's proceedings was Columbia's eviction proposal with its heavy concentration on biotech (7 science buildings according to CU's presentation which took place at the City Planning Commission earlier in the day during a noontime meeting at 22 Reade Street). Those who testified at the West Harlem meeting pointed to specific aspects of the 197A plan which were important to them, some suggesting how the plan was consistent with certain aspects of Mayor Bloomberg's PLANYC goals. Others were compelled to mention the contradictions between Columbia's alleged needs for their undergraduates and the Columbia proposal which seemed to focus only on a need for more and more land for undetermined uses - a lot of which seemed to be based on profit generating research though that has never been clarified by Columbia.

Calls against the use of eminent domain and for the preservation of the affordable housing that already exists in the proposed expansion zone (developed by the city at taxpayers expense) were echoed by countless speakers and were met with huge ovations from the audience. State Senator Bill Perkins's remarks were much appreciated by the audience as he suggested that Columbia's use of eminent domain was like putting a gun to the community's head.

As mentioned in the Spectator article, Councilman Robert Jackson declined to speak when asked. The student reporter barely scratched the surface of the implications of his decision not to testify at the hearing. After the last community meeting of the West Harlem Local Development Corporation (WHLDC) in March, Jackson's chief of staff, Susan Russell, was quoted in the press claiming that the sentiments expressed at that meeting - essentially the same ones expressed at the ULURP hearing on Monday and the same ones expressed at the 11/15/05 scoping meeting where 80 people testified - were not reflective of the CB 9 community as a whole. Since Russell is Jackson's representative on the WHLDC which is negotiating with Columbia, that statement raised a lot of skeptical eyebrows all over West Harlem. That this remark has not been forgotten was evident when Jackson was asked to speak. There was a thunderous and sustained applause by the audience imploring him to step up and speak. The community seemed to be crying out for another political advocate like the state senator they had heard moments earlier. As the Spectator reported, he "declined".

Below are three articles about yesterdays hearings. The first is from today's Columbia Spectator (which is online only, no print versions available.)

Next is from the New York Sun, an article published yesterday, prior to the City Planning meeting, and prior to the 197A hearing.

Third is a transcript of a radio news piece on WNYC about Columbia's presentation to City Planning.

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Committee Approves 197-a Plan by Anna Phillips July 10, 2007 Columbia Spectator

Monday night, members of Community Board 9's Uniform Land Use Review Procedure committee voted unanimously to endorse the board's 197-a plan-a plan for its district that provides standards for development and protects the area from the use of eminent domain.

Over 400 CB9 members, West Harlem business owners and residents, Columbia students, and locally elected officials crowded into the community center of the Manhattanville public houses to express their support of the plan at the public hearing. One by one, 50 people took the microphone and expressed distrust of and disdain for Columbia's expansion plans, while extolling the virtues of the 197-a.

Common themes surfaced as speaker after speaker called the plan "responsible," "democratic," and "moral." Many noted that the 197-a would both preserve West Harlem's character, while allowing for significant and inevitable growth. Of those who spoke, all were in favor of the plan.

"The process by which we forged it took everybody's needs and interests into account," said Tom Kappner of the Coalition to Preserve Community, a group that has assiduously fought Columbia's proposed expansion.

Tom DeMott, another CPC member, agreed. The 197-a "wasn't hatched downtown in a corporate office. It wasn't hatched in an ivory tower; it came out of the community."

This inclusiveness may be why the plan took so long to create.

For over a decade, CB9 members and the Pratt Institute have been working on the 197-a plan, which was approved for the ULURP process on June 18th. It is being considered concurrently with Columbia's 197-c plan.

If adopted by the City Council and the City Planning Commission, the 197-a plan would not provide for new development--rather, it would create a set of land-use guidelines that developers would have to meet. The plan calls for new developments to be "greener," an idea that finds easy favor among people living and working in an area with high asthma rates.

The plan mandates that 50 percent of all new housing units by set aside as affordable for people who already live in the community-a number lower than the city's calculations of what qualifies as affordable.

The 197-a plan also calls for mixed-use zoning and protects residents from primary and secondary displacement from new developments. But, as Joan Levine, the co-chair of the Morningside Heights Sanitation Coalition said, "the bedrock of the plan is that it would not support the use of eminent domain," which Columbia has said it may ask the state to use to acquire property within its expansion zone.

While many expressed personal approval of the plan, others urged locally elected officials to testify in favor of it. State Senator Bill Perkins, D-Harlem, gave his support of the plan a slight flare by delivering it in the third person. Though he was invited to speak, Councilman Robert Jackson, D-Washington Heights/West Harlem, declined.

Even without a heavy presence of elected officials, those present soon became self-congratulatory and were visibly delighted by the unanimous support.

"Our community knows what it needs, all it needs now is for the city to make it happen," said Mario Mazzoni, a West Harlem resident.

Luis Tejada, executive director of the Mirabal Sisters Cultural and Community Center, agreed. "Get out Columbia," he said. "We don't need a plan other than the 197-a."

The full community board is expected to vote on both the 197-a and Columbia's rezoning plan in mid August.

Also Monday, University President Lee Bollinger and architect Renzo Piano formally presented their expansion plans to the City Planning Commission. On Thursday, Columbia will hold a community meeting to answer questions about its plans.

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http://www.nysun.com/article/58053

Columbia Expansion Plan Debate Will Intensify by ELIOT BROWN The New York Sun July 9, 2007

Debate about Columbia University's planned 17-acre expansion is heating up this week, with the Ivy League school and the project's opponents pushing dueling land-use proposals for West Harlem.

Columbia's $5.8 billion plan entered the city's public review process late last month, a seven-month window during which the university must win the approval of the City Council and the city's Planning Commission. The university will plug its plan at a meeting with the Planning Commission today and is holding a community meeting on Thursday, at the request of officials and community leaders, a Columbia spokeswoman said.

In an effort to curb the impact of an expansion, members of Community Board 9 are pushing for approval of their land-use guidelines for West Harlem, called the "197-a" plan, for which a public hearing is scheduled tonight.

Central to the 197-a plan is an attempt to block the taking of private land by eminent domain, the potential use of which in West Harlem has riled critics of the project and has been steadfastly and unanimously opposed by Community Board 9. While Columbia owns most of the land within the campus expansion footprint, it has asked New York's Empire State Development Corporation to declare the area "blighted" to clear the way for eminent domain acquisition of the remaining lots. "This is a land grab, pure and simple," a co-founder of the Harlem Tenants Council, Nellie Bailey , said. "They have properties elsewhere, they have land elsewhere; they have an endowment of what I understand is $6 billion."

The 197-a plan, if adopted in full, would limit the scale of Columbia's expansion, according to an environmental analysis released last month. Due to development restrictions, the analysis said Columbia could develop up to about 30% of its desired 5 million to 6 million square feet of new construction.

A spokeswoman for Columbia, La-Verna Fountain, said the university had already adopted some of the recommendations of the 197-a plan, including staggered building heights and the preservation of some existing buildings.

Community leaders acknowledge that the plan would restrict the size of the university's expansion, but say that by taking eminent domain off the table, it would maintain private property rights and preserve the jobs of residents.

"It's the community-backed plan, it's the community-based plan," the chairman of Community Board 9, Jorge Reyes-Montblanc, said.

Many other Ivy League universities have recently completed or are planning large expansions, and Columbia has said the new campus development is necessary for it to compete for top talent, both among academics and students. Included within its plan is space for biomedical facilities, the business school, and student housing.

A vote on the expansion and the 197-a plan from Community Board 9 is expected in late August, though the board's recommendation is non-binding.

The state expects to complete the blight study, a required step for the use of eminent domain, some time this summer.

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http://www.wnyc.org/news/articles/81900

Columbia Presents Expansion Plan by Arun Venugopal July 10, 2007 WNYC radio

Columbia University presented its plan to remake a 17 acre area of Harlem to the city planning commission. The ambitious plan met got mixed reviews. WNYC'S Arun Venugopal was there.

The star of the presentation was the Italian celebrity architect Renzo Piano. He laid out his vision for a series of buildings that would, in his words, float over the campus and be humanistic in their appeal. But many of the commissioners seemed troubled by elements of the plan. Columbia says it needs control of the entire, 17-acre section of West Harlem and would apply for eminent domain if local businesses don't move out.

But one commissioner said the university needed to work harder to integrate those businesses and other members of the community into the campus. Another commissioner, Irwin Kantor, asked why Columbia was applying for 3 times as much space as it has plans for, a question that drew cheers from opponents of the plan. But Columbia says it has to prepare for the distant future, especially if it wants to remain competitive against the Yales and Harvards of this world.

Next month, the planning commission will hear a competing proposal for the site, from Community Board 9.

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(2) Columbia University will be holding a meeting on Thursday night, 7/12/07, at 6:30PM on its proposal at LERNER Hall. (passed on from CB 9 Board Chair)

At the request of CB9M, Columbia University will be presenting/discussing its expansion plan:

THIS THURSDAY, JULY 12th AND JULY 19th AT 6:30 pm AT LERNER HALL, (Roone Arledge Cinema, 2nd fl. (located on 2920 BROADWAY (bet. 114 & 116th Streets).

• Proposed expansion,
• rezoning amendments and
• Questions and Answers period.

A petición de La Junta 9, la Universidad de Columbia presentará/discutirá sus planes de expansión:

ESTE JUEVES, 12 DE JULIO Y EL 19 DE JULIO A LAS 6:30 PM EN EL LERNER HALL, (Roone Arledge Cinema, 2do Piso. (2920 BROADWAY (entre 114 & 116th Streets).

• la expansión propuesta
• enmiendas a la rezonificación
• preguntas y respuestas