Vocal Business Advocate Whitman Joins CB9

Columbia Spectator -

Vocal Business Advocate Whitman Joins CB9
Whitman Claims to Be �The Living, Walking, Breathing Target That CU Wants to Eliminate�
By Lindsay Schubiner
Spectator Staff Writer

September 29, 2005

If Community Board 9�s position on the use of eminent domain in Manhattanville was not made clear by its unanimous passage of a resolution against its use last fall, a recent addition to the Board will help solidify its opposition.

This summer, Anne Whitman was appointed to Community Board 9 by Manhattan Borough President C. Virginia Fields. Whitman is a very vocal member of the West Harlem Business Group, an alliance of six family-owned businesses in Manhattanville that formed last September to oppose Columbia�s possible use of eminent domain, a power granted to governments to forcibly buy land for �public use.� The business group has hired prominent civil rights attorney Norman Siegel to aid their efforts.

�I�m the living, walking, breathing, target that Columbia wants to eliminate, to exterminate, and I think that I bring a human face to the Community Board,� Whitman said. �I come as a person who�s really got an issue.�

Whitman owns Hudson Moving and Storage, a business that was started by her father, and lies in the path of Columbia�s proposed campus. University officials have repeatedly stated that they hope to acquire all properties in the area through normal negotiations, but they have refused to take eminent domain off the table.

�We�all the family businesses that are there�purchased our businesses so that we could control our own destinies,� she said. �We consider our businesses and properties a successful example of the American dream.�

Anne Whitman has already been assigned to the Board�s rezoning task force, which mostly deals directly with Columbia�s plans, but she also expressed an interest in the committee that addresses local landmarks and historic preservation.

Community Board Chair Jordi Reyes-Montblanc said he was glad to see Whitman appointed because, unlike many other Board members, she has a business background.

�Personally, I am happy that she is on the Board. She is a good person and has experience in areas that not many other people have,� Reyes-Montblanc said. �We have one of the most diverse communities, so we like to have a diverse board, diverse opinions, diverse experiences, diverse backgrounds.�

However, Reyes-Montblanc said he did not consider Whitman�s appointment anything other than routine.

�We had several openings, and she applied for it, and she was appointed,� Reyes-Montblanc said. �There is no hidden agenda. There is no hidden meaning... It�s just a planned, routine type of thing.�

A staffer for the borough president agreed that Whitman�s application had been treated like all other applications.

Despite her fervent resistance to Columbia�s use of eminent domain, Whitman still hopes that the community can steer its relationship with Columbia toward a partnership and avoid the adversarial relationship they have had in the past.

�I�m hoping for a compromise between the Community Board and Columbia, where Columbia comes in, and the community invites them to build where they have purchased,� Whitman added. �I really admire Columbia in so many ways, but this is our livelihood�our past, present, and future at stake.�