CB9 Chair Reassures Worried Residents

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News


CB9 Chair Reassures Worried Residents



By Matthew Carhart
Spectator Senior Staff Writer
November 19, 2004



At yesterday’s full board meeting of Community Board 9, the atmosphere was a lot more relaxed than it was at the board’s Housing Committee meeting on Tuesday.

Some attendees walked out of the Housing Committee meeting in anger because they feared that Columbia was prepared to buy two Manhattanville buildings from New York City’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD). Yesterday, tensions calmed during the full board meeting as CB9 chair Jordi Reyes-Montblanc assured board members that the city had no plans to sell and Columbia had no plans to buy.

The board also passed four resolutions yesterday with little argument, and the Nominating Committee presented candidates for the slate of officers for next year’s board.

Reyes-Montblanc distributed a memorandum he had previously sent to CB9 about his correspondence with both Columbia and HPD. In the document, Reyes-Montblanc wrote that HPD representatives had told him that the department would swap with Columbia the two buildings in question—3285 Broadway and 3287 Broadway—only if Columbia acquired two other local buildings, rehabilitated them, and sold the housing units to tenants.

Reyes-Montblanc wrote that he has “today confirmed with highest authorities at both HPD and CU that no such sale as reported has taken place, nor is it in progress.”

Also according to Reyes-Montblanc’s correspondence, University Senior Executive Vice President Robert Kasdin told Reyes-Montblanc that Columbia would buy the buildings if possible, but that the University has not done so and would inform the board of any deal.

The nominations for next year’s seven officer positions included five officers who will run unopposed, including Reyes-Montblanc for chair, Carolyn Thompson for first vice-chair, Ted Kovalov for secretary, and Barbara Marshall for treasurer. All of these candidates already hold these positions in this year’s board. Only second vice-chair and assistant secretary will be contested.

The meeting began with a presentation by the New York City Economic Development Corporation on some of its plans for the redevelopment of 125th Street. The plans are still in the development stage and may include widened sidewalks, new street lighting, and investment in transportation along the street. The design portion of the project will be funded by Columbia, while 80 percent of the construction of the project will be funded by the city and 20 percent will be funded by local sponsors.

Also yesterday, Amelia Schwarz of the New York Public Library announced that the Morningside Heights branch will be closed from Dec. 20 to Dec. 27 for construction work on the circulation desk.