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Columbia University's Expansion Project In February of 2003, Columbia University, already owning property in and around the borough of Manhattan (click here for images), announced that they intended to purchase and develop a significant amount of real-estate in a yet-to-be-determined area near their upper-west side campus. By the end of July, 2003, the University had publicly selected a 17-acre area of West-Harlem as the focus of their expansion. The area, located in the vicinity of the town historically known as Manhattanville, is zoned for manufacturing and mostly bordered by Broadway and 12th avenue to the East and West and 135rd and 125th streets to the North and South (see proposed development area). According to figures prepared by the University, Columbia currently owns 42% of the area and is actively negotiating with city and state officials to acquire the 19% of real estate owned by the city and state. The area in question is currently zoned for manufacturing and is described in an article on July 30th by The New York Times as “a run-down industrial area of warehouses, auto-repair shops and a meatpacking plant”. However, according to the New York Police Department's current crime statistics, it is also located in one of the lowest-crime precincts in Manhattan; in an area that on a recent tour, Luther Smith, chief of staff for Borough President C. Viginia Fields remarked that he was, “amazed at the vibrancy and vitality” of the places he was shown. According to Maritta Dunn, executive director of the Harlem Valley Heights Community Development Corporation, businesses like those in the West Harlem Business Group “have been here forever. When no one else was looking at this area, they provided jobs for this area.” Although Columbia has promised several times to approach the expansion from a community-based perspective , their plans for the property show that they don't have much concern for the continued existence of the existing neighborhood (click here or to the left to find out more about the plans). When they say they want to "improve" the area, they mean they want to change it to suit their interests. While they promise to raise the quality of life for those in the area, they seem almost indifferent (or even oblivious) to the fact that the neighborhood’s current residents would most likely not be able to afford the new standard of living. However, that's not the scary part. Although Columbia wants the property, that doesn't mean that they can just have it, does it? If the current owners don't want to sell or move then they should be able to make choices about their own land and property, right? It does stand to reason that as established business owners they should have some say as to whether or not they want to leave, or even the price at which they would consider leaving? It's not as if they have plans to build a public hospital, or a public highway. Well, guess what: here's where it gets very troubling.
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