Though Columbia’s expansion into Manhattanville has been approved at both city and state levels, local opponents of the plan made it passionately clear at public hearings Tuesday that they haven’t finished fighting.
The Empire State Development Corporation held the hearings at Aaron Davis Hall at City College to discuss the potential use of eminent domain in the neighborhood—a process by which the state can seize private property on behalf of the public good.
This summer, when the ESDC released an analysis of Manhattanville deeming the area “underutilized,” the possibility of eminent domain was officially put on the table as a way for Columbia to acquire commercial properties in its campus footprint.
Eminent domain is a process by which the state can seize land for public use. Neighborhood activists have loudly voiced their opposition to the use of eminent domain in Manhattanville.
The hearings, however, provided community activists with a platform to voice their dissent of the campus expansion beyond eminent domain. Many arguments against the use of the process spiraled into racially charged characterizations of the plan. Tom DeMott, CC ’80 and a member of the Coalition to Preserve Community, described Manhattanville as a “corrupt ... racist project.”
Of the many people who spoke at the hearing, only a handful came out in support of the University. President Lee Bollinger offered a statement at the meeting on the dire need for space in order for Columbia to “continue to be one of the great Universities of the world,” but added later that, “You don’t want to be in any way at odds with the people that are your neighbors.”
La-Verna Fountain, Columbia’s associate vice president for construction business services, stepped up to the podium later in the evening to defend the project as “a win-win situation” and noted that the 6,000 jobs created to serve the Manhattanville campus will allow local employees to walk to work.
“Not if you can’t pay the rent!” interrupted Harlem Tenants Council President Nellie Bailey, a sentiment which was echoed with similar retorts and boos as Fountain explained, “I know what it means to live in poverty.”
The tension in the room was thick, with much of activists’ frustration inflamed by a feeling of déjà vu. The same faces have appeared at public hearings at other stages in the expansion approval process, and many called Tuesday’s gathering another in a series of “formalities.”
“I’ve become very cynical,” 51-year Manhattanville resident Joan Levine said. “Our wants and needs have been ignored.”
“What is it that my children and grandchildren are going to say about my neighborhood?” 39-year Manhattanville resident and Mirabal Sister Theo Hernandez asked.
New York State Assemblyman Daniel O’Donnell, who represents Manhattanville and Morningside Heights, made a brief appearance to “unequivocally oppose the use of eminent domain” and call it “legally permissible but ethically repugnant.”
Community Board 9 Chair Pat Jones agreed with O’Donnell and railed against the state-adopted General Project Plan for the Manhattanville campus for leaving open the possible seizure of residential properties for Columbia’s use. The University has consistently promised it would not seek ownership of homes through eminent domain.
Notably silent was Manhattanville property holdout and vocal eminent domain fighter Nick Sprayregen, who said he was a “spectator” for the day. Sprayregen and his lawyer Norman Siegel won a freedom of information case last month over a “conflict of interest” in the ESDC’s Manhattanville study, and have also filed a suit challenging Columbia on environmental grounds.
Sprayregen explained that he and Siegel are waiting to make a presentation when the hearings continue on Thursday, promising that they will “go on the record with a very substantial document we are very excited about.” With regard to the case he is building against the University, Sprayregen said, “What we have is very substantial.”
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