Community Board Debates Subway, Post Office Concerns

After a long summer hiatus, Community Board 9 reconvened last night for a four-hour general board meeting.
About 50 people attended the meeting, including most board members, members of the public, and liaisons for public officials. The board discussed dozens of issues important to community members in its jurisdictional area, which spans from 110th St. to 155th St. west of Morningside Drive.

CB9 Pushes 197-A Manhattanville Plan

At the top of the agenda was CB9’s 197-A document, a master plan that will outline the board’s vision for the Manhattanville region and other areas under CB9 jurisdiction.

Ron Schiffman, the senior planner in charge of developing the 197-A, said that he will make newly-revised maps and data from the plan available to the public within a few weeks.

CB9 hired Schiffman to develop an alternative master plan to challenge Columbia’s proposal for Manhattanville. The board’s intention is to provide the City Planning Commission with an alternative to Columbia’s plan, forcing the Commission to take community members’ concerns into consideration when redeveloping the area.

“We think the best way to counter Columbia’s plan is to have a community plan to go to the city with,” said Tom DeMott of the Coalition to Preserve Community. “That way we can say: ‘This is another plan; try this one instead.’”

Both DeMott and Schiffman emphasized the need to preserve well-paying, unionized manufacturing jobs in Manhattanville.

Schiffman also focused on the 197-C rezoning plan, eliciting concern from community members that see the 197-A plan as more important.

“Let’s be realistic about what we can do and what we can’t do at this moment,’” said George Goodwill, the chairman of CB9. “To say that we cannot proceed with the 197-A until we have some movement on the 197-C is not appropriate.”

Board member Tom Kappner said that Columbia is rumored to be aiming for January as a release date for its own plan.

“The timing factor is very key here, because we know that Columbia is moving very quickly,” Kappner said.

Understaffed Post Office Pledges Change

In response to the demands of the CB9 Seniors Committee, the Manhattanville Post Office has pledged to create plans to improve mail services for seniors and other residents, according to CB9 district manager Lawrence McClean.

Problems at the office have long irritated area residents, who say that their mail delivery has been delayed, that the office’s hours are too short, and that there is no window designated to serve seniors.

“This is an ongoing sore in our community,” said Theodore Kovaleff, the CB9 secretary.

The pre-existing problems have been made worse by staffing cuts that all Manhattan post offices have experienced in the past two years. The staff at Manhattanville’s office has gone from 150 to 125, even as the volume of mail has increased by 10 percent.

DeMott, who has worked at the post office for the past three decades, said that severe understaffing is the source of the problem—and that that problem can be solved only by putting political pressure on Rangel’s office.

“While it may look like people are out to lunch, everybody’s just overworked completely,” DeMott said. “The only way to solve this problem is to get more people over there working.”

Maritta Dunn, CB9’s second vice chair and executive director of Harley Valley Heights Community Development Corp, stressed that while all Manhattanville offices have lost staff, these problems do not plague offices in other areas.

“Go to the post office on 68th and Columbus,” Dunn said. “It is like you walked into another world. Once you have gone into that post office, you will understand what you are not getting.”

Officials from the Manhattanville Post Office will present a written proposal for improvement at the the Seniors Committee meeting on Nov. 5.

Real Estate Company To Announce 110th St. Development Plan

Cyrus Real Estate Company, which owns the property at 110th St. and Broadway currently occupied by Columbia Hot Bagels, West Side Market, and other businesses, has set a date to announce its plan to redevelop the property.

“They mentioned something at least 20 stories high,” Goodwill said. Under the existing zoning the company is authorized to build up to 30 stories.

Goodwill noted that Columbia is not directly involved with the project.

Cyrus will unveil its plans at a meeting with the Community Board on Oct. 21.

Area residents “must become very conscious that we’re going to lose some services,” Goodwill said.

MTA Apologizes for 125th St. Station

A presentation by Adrienne Taub, the assistant director for government and community relations at NYC Transit, sparked a heated discussion of problems with the subway station at 125th St. and Broadway.

The northbound side of the station has been closed since Aug. 25 for renovations. Taub said it will reopen Oct. 5, when the southbound side closes until Nov. 17.

Community representatives said that the renovations have caused undue stress to the residents who rely on the stations and to the escalators that go up to them. They said that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority has not posted signs informing subway riders what is working and what is broken.

But the construction was not the only source of community members’ MTA gripes. The 125th St. station has been long plagued by escalator problems, board members said, because the MTA has not made its employees available to fix escalators when they are broken.

“Even if Jesus Christ stops that escalator, some special provision should be made at this time to get it started again,” Dunn said.
Taub pledged to communicate residents’ problems to higher-ups at the MTA.

CB9’s next general board meeting will be on Oct. 16 at 6:30 p.m. Meetings are held in the CB9 office at 565 W. 125th St.