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From: "Tenant"
Subject: Setting-up the Columbia Sell-out (how to quiet opponents)
Columbia expansion: Is community deal in store?
CrainsBy Erik Engquist & Anne Michaud
Published on June 26, 2006 Apparently not all community benefits agreements are created equal. The city's Economic Development Corp., Harlem's Community Board 9 and Councilman Robert Jackson announced last week that a local development corporation has been formed to negotiate a deal on behalf of neighbors of Columbia University's planned second campus in Manhattanville.
Developers typically promise benefits like jobs for local residents in return for community support of big projects. Though the Bloomberg administration originally approved of such pacts, the mayor has become more critical in the past two months. He characterized efforts by Queens politicians to win concessions from the Mets as "ransom.
The members of the LDC will include 13 commercial and residential property owners and representatives of the community board, tenant associations and cultural and church groups. City Hall is providing $350,000 for a conflict resolution expert; negotiations over Columbia's plans are expected to continue through the summer.
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