WEEKLY EVENTS WRAP-UP: CU�s Expansion Plan Comes Under Fire at Forum. Community Service Replaces Eminent Domain as CB9�s Focus

Columbia Spectator
WEEKLY EVENTS WRAP-UP

October 21, 2005

CU�s Expansion Plan Comes Under Fire at Forum

A panel of community activists and business owners blasted Columbia�s possible use of eminent domain in Manhattanville yesterday, addressing a standing-room-only crowd at a forum hosted by the Municipal Art Society in Midtown.

The event began with an historical presentation on the neighborhood by Manhattanville historian Eric Washington, who traced the area�s history from the battle of Harlem Heights in the American Revolution to the revitalization plans put forth by Community Board 9 during the last decade.

In the ensuing discussion, panelists criticized Columbia�s plan for the 17-acre site north of 125th Street, which would include academic and residential buildings as well as biotechnology research facilities.

�It�s so ugly to see raw, naked greed,� said Anne Whitman, president of Hudson Moving and Storage, a business that would be displaced under Columbia�s plan. �[Eminent domain] is the equivalent of putting a gun to somebody�s head. It�s not good faith negotiation, it�s bullying.�

In the subsequent question and answer session, Columbia�s Director of Campus Planning Jeremiah Stoldt rose from the audience to defend the school�s actions, saying �The University would love to not to ever have to ask any agency to use eminent domain,� but that �we feel it�s an option that we have to continue to have open.�

Stoldt was greeted with boos and hisses from members of the audience. �The longer you talk, the longer your nose is getting,� responded panelist and CB9 member Walter South.

� Lydia DePillis



Community Service Replaces Eminent Domain as CB9�s Focus

Columbia University�s expansion into Manhattanville has long been the focus of Community Board 9�s activities, but as board members and Harlem residents await the November 15th scoping session, the conversation at CB9�s monthly meeting returned to business as usual.

The meeting�s discussion shifted from the lack of affordable housing, to legislation pending approval and possible neighborhood programs.

State Assemblyman Keith Wright (D-Harlem) presented HR 1018, a bill proposed by Congressman Charlie Rangel (D-Harlem) that would repeal mandated community service by public housing residents. Wright compared the current program to indentured servitude, and followed the bill�s mention with the introduction of his Amistad bill�which would require that more about slavery be taught in New York�s public school system.

Robert Sann, the executive director of We Can, presented his organization�s interest in operating on 127th Street under a limited lease. We Can is a nonprofit organization that pays homeless and impoverished people for the bottles and cans they collect, and although the board has yet to discuss We Can�s presence in the community, CB9 member Maritta Dunn said she would not support the plan.

Dunn suggested that the type of people such a service would attract to the community are not the kind of people she wants to attract to the neighborhood.

Existing tension soon softened when Tom Kappner, an active member of the Coalition to Preserve Community, announced that he has been diagnosed with tongue cancer. Kappner has fought for affordable housing in Harlem for decades, and used what may be his last appearance to criticize Columbia�s efforts to buy apartments and convert them to dormitory living for students.

The issue of eminent domain resurfaced throughout the evening as candidates in the November election made brief appearances. Inez Dickens, the local Democratic candidate for city council, Assemblyman Scott Stringer, a Democrat running for Manhattan borough president, and State Assemblyman Danny O�Donnell (D-Morningside Heights) stopped by to express clear disapproval of eminent domain and ask CB9 and its audience for support.

� Anna Phillips