http://www.columbiaspectator.com/authors/posts/27435 An authors posts... used for embedding en http://www.columbiaspectator.com/node/28757 http://www.columbiaspectator.com/node/28757#comments News 125th St. rezoning Norman Siegel Thu, 24 Jan 2008 22:46:38 -0600 Sara Vogel 28757 at http://www.columbiaspectator.com http://www.columbiaspectator.com/node/28456 http://www.columbiaspectator.com/node/28456#comments News Local Harlem Neighborhood Retail Tue, 04 Dec 2007 02:19:09 -0600 Sara Vogel 28456 at http://www.columbiaspectator.com http://www.columbiaspectator.com/node/28043 http://www.columbiaspectator.com/node/28043#comments News CFB Inez Dickens Morningside Mon, 12 Nov 2007 02:50:56 -0600 Sara Vogel 28043 at http://www.columbiaspectator.com http://www.columbiaspectator.com/node/27832 http://www.columbiaspectator.com/node/27832#comments News Metro Theater Wed, 31 Oct 2007 02:20:02 -0500 Sara Vogel 27832 at http://www.columbiaspectator.com http://www.columbiaspectator.com/node/27805 http://www.columbiaspectator.com/node/27805#comments News Tue, 30 Oct 2007 02:01:35 -0500 Sara Vogel 27805 at http://www.columbiaspectator.com http://www.columbiaspectator.com/node/26491 http://www.columbiaspectator.com/node/26491#comments News CB7 Park West Village Whole Foods Fri, 07 Sep 2007 06:06:21 -0500 Sara Vogel 26491 at http://www.columbiaspectator.com http://www.columbiaspectator.com/node/26417 http://www.columbiaspectator.com/node/26417#comments News Extell Development Corporation Jewish Home and Hospital Sheldon Fine Wed, 05 Sep 2007 01:07:34 -0500 Sara Vogel 26417 at http://www.columbiaspectator.com http://www.columbiaspectator.com/node/55127 A proposal to rezone the Upper West Side is one step closer to changing the rules that tell developers how tall they can build from 97th to 110th streets. After two years of drafting, public meetings, and compromise, the plan was unanimously approved on Wednesday by the land use committee of Community Board 7. It is set to be passed by the board as a whole at a meeting on June 4. Members of the community board and citizen groups like the West Siders for Responsible Development ramped up efforts to negotiate rezoning with the City Planning Commission, the Landmarks Preservation Commission, Borough President Scott Stringer's office, and the offices of other elected officials, as they witnessed Extell Development Corporation's twin 31- and 37-story luxury condominiums inch skyward from their lots on Broadway near 100th street, starting in 2005. "We don't want anymore monstrosities," said Bill Crane of West Siders for Responsible Development at Wednesday night's meeting. Since 1961, there have been no limits to building heights in this part of the Upper West Side. The plan that passed CB7's land use committee would set a 75-foot height limit for new buildings on many of the blocks east and west of Amsterdam Avenue that are lined with row-houses and low apartment buildings so that new zoning "relates to the area's existing scale and character," according to the CPC Web site. Though many who endorsed the plan on Wednesday admitted they were still concerned about several spots on the map, most said passing it quickly was more important to them. "There are developers waiting in the wings," Crane said. Stringer has stated that he will approve the plan as soon as it hits his desk on June 5, waiving what is normally a 30-day review period to hasten the final steps of the procedure-the City Planning Commission's review and the City Council's final vote. Currently, developers can set a building back from the street and purchase the air space from buildings next door to add more stories to their own buildings. The twin Extell Towers were able to legally climb stories above the surrounding buildings because Extell "bundled" airspace in this way, according to Cynthia Doty, a Democratic district leader and member of West Siders for Responsible Development. In the new plan, buildings along Broadway would not be able to rise above 102 feet, or 10 stories. Broadway is also part of an "exclusionary zone," which means a developer could build up to 145 feet, or 14 stories, if it built units of affordable housing-defined as apartments for households that make up to 80 percent of the average median income. These apartments could be provided on-site at the development or somewhere in the neighborhood within half a mile. "The city is only giving us so much," Doty said during the meeting about the possibility of developers' taking affordable units off-site. Proponents of rezoning this part of the Upper West Side said they designed the exclusionary zone and new height limits to stave off gentrification and keep rents in the neighborhood from skyrocketing. "We managed to take a step to preserve ethnic, economic, and racial diversity," said Sheldon Fine, chair of CB7. Still, many used the meeting on Wednesday to express concerns about aspects of the plan in the presence of councilmember Melissa Mark Viverito, D-Manhattan Valley, and representatives for Stringer, councilmember Inez Dickens, D-West Harlem, and U.S. Rep. Charlie Rangel, D-Harlem. One woman representing residents of 106th Street said she was concerned that developers could potentially purchase and demolish a string of low-rise buildings on her block because the zoning plan allows buildings as tall as 120 feet on 106th Street. One man on the committee was concerned about the shadows that tall buildings would cast over Straus Park at 106th Street. Another man stood up to say that the board was not being inclusive of young people and immigrant populations in the area, and that he had only just found out about the plan to rezone. His comments were met with groans from the audience, and one boisterous "Why don't you sit down?" Bryan Cook, senior planner for the borough president's office, asked the man how he could have missed thousands of signs posted on lamp posts throughout the district over the last few months, and said a vast cross-section of the community had attended earlier meetings. The 40 or so people in the audience applauded. Kate Wood, of the organization Landmark West, urged the group to continue bringing buildings to the attention of the Landmarks Preservation Commission to protect the old cornices, facades, and architecture of the neighborhood-"the things that lend beauty and texture to our daily lives," Wood said. Tuesday, the LPC voted to designate Manhattan Avenue between 104th and 106th streets a historic district, making it only the second such area above 96th Street. After the meeting, Doty said many of neighborhood residents' demands-for example, to blanket the entire area in the exclusionary zone-were not suggestions the city would have entertained, especially in a neighborhood with such a lucrative housing market. Viverito noted there was still time to negotiate specifics at the city council level. At the June 4 meeting of Community Board 7, the new zoning plan will come up for a final vote and then will get shuttled to the borough president's office for its quick approval. The organic grocer Whole Foods will also be present at the June 4 meeting to reveal plans for a 55,000-square-foot store at the corner of 97th and Columbus. The site is currently a vacant lot, set to be developed into 30-story buildings before the new zoning plan goes into effect. http://www.columbiaspectator.com/node/55127#comments News Thu, 17 May 2007 23:00:00 -0500 Sara Vogel 55127 at http://www.columbiaspectator.com http://www.columbiaspectator.com/node/55109 Playwright and MacArthur Genius Anna Deavere Smith portrayed several prominent Barnard alumnae during her keynote address to the Barnard College class of 2007 at Commencement ceremonies on Tuesday. Weaving together monologues spoken in the voices of educational philosopher Maxine Greene, BC '38, anthropologist Margaret Mead, BC '29, and poet Edna St. Vincent Millay, who did preparatory work at Barnard, Smith spoke about the tense relationship between activism and art. "I find my freedom in resisting," Smith said in Greene's raspy, New York accent, using the phrase "wide-awakeness" to encourage careful noticing and observant spirits in the graduates. Smith echoed the thoughts of student speaker Julia Turshen, who shared her experience reading Gertrude Stein in Barnard professor Margaret Vandenburg's modernism class. Turshen, who described herself as "uptight" when she came to Barnard, discovered that "big changes can be made through small gestures," as exemplified best by the difference between the words "and" and "or" in Stein's poetry. Many of the speakers touched on the relationship between art and activism, focusing especially on the role of women in that relationship. "Women are expected to shrink, to fade into the wallpaper," said Eman Bataineh, president of the Barnard student body. "I had a problem with that. So did Barnard. ... Barnard taught me to take up as much space as possible." Senior class president Puja Kapadia, who received the Frank Gilbert Bryson Prize at the Commencement ceremony, agreed. "Barnard has helped me find my voice as a woman," she said. Students and professors presented the Barnard Medal of Distinction to writer Joan Didion, columnist Nicholas Kristof, former Bryn Mawr President Mary Patterson McPherson, Harlem doctor Muriel Petioni, and Smith. Students presented their senior gift of $35,000 to go toward financial aid and a mosaic in honor of Camille Boquet, a member of the class of 2007 who passed away in 2005. President Judith Shapiro, whose speech at Commencement this year comes in the shadow of her announcement that she will resign in the cpring of 2008, quoted the philosopher Hillel, who asked: "If I am not for myself, then who will be for me? If I am only for myself, then who am I? And If not now, when?" "Don't postpone, ... but now is by definition a moving target," Schapiro said. "So addressing Hillel's question is a lifelong challenge." http://www.columbiaspectator.com/node/55109#comments News Tue, 15 May 2007 23:00:00 -0500 Sara Vogel 55109 at http://www.columbiaspectator.com http://www.columbiaspectator.com/node/55115 Ben Siegelman, CC '07, has many accomplishments under his belt from his time at Columbia. He has managed the University radio station WKCR, played guitar with the Columbia Jazz Ensemble for three years, and interviewed some of Duke Ellington's old managers and sidemen on air. And he's not done yet-this month he will reunite a 1970s Free Jazz trio for a concert on campus. But looking back over four years, Siegelman said he is most proud of the time he defeated winter. Born in Palo Alto, Calif., Siegelman spent his adolescence in Dallas and dislikes all things cold, dark, and snowy. "I can't control the weather," he admitted. "But the weather can't control me, either." Every day for the last six years, summer through winter, Siegelman has walked around in one of several pairs of his signature American flag flip-flops-changing only for events with the strictest of dress codes. This year, he played beach volleyball in Central Park well into December. February was tough, he said, but "it was seventy in March. So winter was defeated." Siegelman's brash defiance may help him battle the elements, but his other pursuits require patience and practice. An accomplished jazz guitarist and pianist, Siegelman, became station manager of WKCR in his junior year. In that position, he spent late nights at the station immersed in the music of his favorite artist, Ellington, soaking in the complex harmonies and obscure tales from those who knew him off-stage. "At KCR, people treat it [the music] like its important. They talk about it in a way that at least strives to place the music in its context-to say, 'You're about to hear this great music, let me help you understand what it is so you can be better at listening to it,'" Siegelman said. Between organizing this month's reunion concert festival and jockeying his weekly show, the music composition major picked up a third instrument-the Japanese hichiriki. He plans to continue studying the instrument in Japan this summer on a grant from the Institute for Medieval Japanese Studies at Columbia. After he returns, Siegelman said he will play beach volleyball and study music, although he doesn't know when, where, or how. Regardless, he is sure that he doesn't want to grow up into a shoe-wearing adult-ever. http://www.columbiaspectator.com/node/55115#comments News Tue, 15 May 2007 23:00:00 -0500 Sara Vogel 55115 at http://www.columbiaspectator.com