CB9 Welcomes New Members, Old Debates

Columbia Spectator -


CB9 Welcomes New Members, Old Debates
CB9 Meeting Addressed Housing, Plans to Relocate �Grange�
by Lindsay Schubiner
Spectator Staff Writer

September 16, 2005

At Community Board 9�s general meeting last night, the board heard a presentation from the National Park Service about its plans to relocate Columbia alumnus Alexander Hamilton�s home from its current tight quarters between a church and an apartment building to neighboring St. Nicholas Park, where it would be set against a background more similar to Hamilton�s original sprawling estate.
Hamilton�s home, nicknamed �The Grange� and designated a National Memorial in 1962, now sits sideways in its lot on Convent Avenue between 141st and 142nd Streets.

�This is a national shrine. This is irreplaceable,� James Pepper the superintendent of National Parks in Manhattan, said.

The relocation would be accompanied by a restoration of the original stairs and certain floors of the building. The project did not get federal funding this year, so the National Park Service was at the board meeting to garner further community support for the project in hopes of getting funding in the future.

In his report, District Manager Lawrence McClean spoke about the board�s confusion after hearing from the police department that New York�s Office of Emergency Management was planning to set up a �processing center� for victims of Hurricane Katrina at 520 West 135th St. Upset that CB9 had not been informed directly of this matter, McClean placed an angry call to the mayor, after which the Office of Emergency Management let the board know that the center was set to open yesterday. McClean had not verified if the center had in fact opened or how many people it planned to aid, but promised to let board members know of any new information.

Board Chairman Jordi Reyes-Montblanc also confirmed that he was reflecting the board�s opinion when he testified in support of a Borough Board resolution that would attempt to wrest control of New York City rent regulations from the state government and return it to city government, a position the board seemed to support enthusiastically. Although several similar resolutions have consistently been approved by the city dominated New York State Assembly in the past, the State Senate, led by an upstater, has never passed them.

�To me, it�s incredible that a city like New York cannot regulate its own rents and instead people 300 miles away who have no conception of New York are making our rules,� Reyes-Montblanc said. �It�s time to get control back.�

At the end of the meeting, five new board members who were appointed in April and May stood up and introduced themselves. Among them was Anne Whitman, the president of Hudson Moving and Storage and a vocal member of the West Harlem Business Group, which has organized to oppose the use of eminent domain in Columbia�s proposed expansion into Manhattanville.