Daniel Amzallag

As neighborhood criticism of the West Harlem Local Development Corporation subsides, members of the corporation say they are four months into developing a full community-benefits agreement.

While the 125th Street rezoning proposal passed almost unanimously at New York City Council Wednesday, the advocacy group Voices of the Everyday People has vowed to continue its legal battle against the proposal.

Voices Of The Everyday People, a community-based advocacy organization, plans to file a lawsuit Monday challenging the Department of City Planning’s 125th Street rezoning proposal, the organization announced at a meeting Saturday afternoon.

Affordable housing and public-school overcrowding took the forefront at Thursday evening’s Community Board 9 meeting, as the board focused on issues surrounding the rezoning of 125th Street before passing several resolutions.

The 14-year-old male charged with assaulting a student in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, who killed by a passing car Friday night, was arraigned in Family Court Thursday afternoon.

Daniel Amzallag discusses the death and consequent mourning of 24-year old graduate student, Minghui Yu, who died on April 4th after being hit by a car while fleeing an assault.

While the campus mourns the loss of Minghui Yu, a student in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences who was killed by a passing car Friday night while fleeing an assailant, the circumstances of the tragedy have raised larger questions about juvenile crime and the strength of security on and around campus.

Minghui Yu, a student in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, was hit by a car after fleeing an alleged assault Friday night, and subsequently died at St. Luke’s Hospital. Police have since arrested a 14-year-old male in connection with the case, and the suspect has been charged with manslaughter in the second degree.

Wadleigh Secondary School for the Performing & Visual Arts, located at 215 W. 114th St., was evacuated Tuesday after one student attacked another with pepper spray.

“When the city tries to beat you, and you tell them it’s illegal, don’t let them cheat you, vote for Norman Siegel!” the Granny Peace Brigade sang Monday night at a fundraiser for Norman Siegel’s campaign for Public Advocate.

Sparks flew over City College of New York’s proposed expansion and a resolution concerning the relocation of Hamilton Grange to St. Nicholas Park at a Community Board 9 general meeting Thursday night.

Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United Nations Munir Akram spoke of his country’s global significance and his optimism regarding the parliamentary elections that took place in Pakistan on Tuesday in a talk at Roone Arledge Cinema Tuesday night.

University officials released a letter to faculty on Feb. 14 outlining signs of potential violent behavior, and the proper response if an official or faculty member notices students exhibiting such indicators. The letter was released just hours before a gunman at Northern Illinois University killed five students, injured 18 others, and took his own life.

As Columbia’s vision for expansion moves from the realm of possibility to seeming inevitability, community members opposed to the plan remain divided—some poised to continue the resistance, while others have come to the table for dialogue.

Two suspects accused of involvement in separate crimes—a spate of on-campus library computer robberies and a purse theft—were arrested this week by the Department of Public Safety and the New York Police Department.

Two suspects involved in a spate of on-campus laptop robberies and the theft of a handbag were arrested this week by the Department of Public Safety and New York Police Department.

When three men struck Maurice Parks to the ground and attempted to rob him as he walked home on Jan. 10, he pulled out a knife to fight his assailants, leading to the hospitalization of all four men—and the death of possible “Good Samaritan” Flonarza Byas.

Two students were robbed and assaulted early Monday morning on W. 112th Street between Broadway and Amsterdam, according to a security alert released by Columbia’s Department of Public Safety.

Police and Columbia University Public Safety are searching for the perpetrator of a mugging that took place Tuesday at 468 Riverside Drive and 119th Street.

In the midst of a quiet and barren Manhattanville street, a small but historic club roars with jazz and uninhibited merrymaking. But behind the high spirits of decades-old regulars lies an apprehension about the future of Harlem’s Cotton Club.

Police say they arrested the perpetrator of at least seven robberies of Morningside Heights stores when he attempted another robbery Saturday.

Police are asking for the public’s assistance in locating the perpetrator of at least seven robberies in Morningside Heights.

At least two Morningside Heights stores were robbed late last week, although more may have been victims as well.

Crime rates across the city fell considerably in 2007, in many cases setting records, especially in West Harlem precincts.

As the controversy over the University’s expansion into Manhattanville has raged over the past four years, development in the greater Harlem area has accelerated and faced similar discord.

The New York City Council paved the way for Columbia’s Manhattanville expansion on Dec. 19 when it approved the University’s plan for land rezoning.

As Columbia moves closer to breaking ground in Manhattanville, the University is negotiating with private land owners who own the three remaining commercial properties in the footprint.

The future of Manhattanville can be found on one-and-a-half non-legally binding pages.
Columbia agreed to provide a package of benefits and money to the local community in a document called a “Memorandum of Understanding” to mitigate and compensate for potential effects of its campus expansion.

Police responding to reports of a male shot found a body that had been gunned down in front of 133 W. 104th St. shortly after midnight Thursday.

Police discovered a dead body in front of 359 West 122nd St. Wednesday night, leading many in the neighborhood to blame a nearby vacant building for a recent surge of crime. The body had been shot once in the head.

Police found a body shot once in the head in front of 359 West 122nd Street shortly before midnight Wednesday.

A Community Board 9 meeting was especially heated Thursday night, as board members and neighborhood residents confronted elected officials in light of Columbia’s recently-approved Manhattanville expansion plan.

Columbia will contribute funds for public housing and a local school as part of a $150 million community benefits agreement reached Wednesday between Columbia and the West Harlem Local Development Corporation.

The New York City Council paved the way for Columbia's Manhattanville expansion Wednesday by approving a combination of rezoning plans melding elements of proposals from the University and Community Board 9.

The New York City Council paved the way for Columbia's Manhattanville expansion Wednesday by approving a combination of rezoning plans melding elements of proposals from the University and Community Board 9.

The City Council voted in favor of Columbia’s proposed rezoning 197-c plan and Community Board 9’s 197-a plan in a stated meeting Wednesday afternoon.

Columbia and the West Harlem Local Development Corporation agreed to a memorandum of understanding regarding a community benefits agreement of $150 million Tuesday night, according to LDC representatives.

Local activists, elected officials, and Columbia officers reacted with confusion Tuesday as rumors spread that the City Council could vote on Manhattanville expansion as early as Wednesday.

As controversial events and speakers have dominated the campus calendar in the last semester, political groups that are not affiliated with the University have maintained a near-constant presence on campus.

City Council Member Tony Avella, D-Queens, is currently running for mayor on a platform championing community in the face of real estate developers.

One man was killed and another injured in a shooting outside Amsterdam Avenue restaurant Radio Perfecto early Sunday morning. The perpetrators are still at large.

Members and supporters of the Coalition to Preserve Community rallied at City Hall Thursday to protest practices of the West Harlem Local Development Corporation regarding Columbia’s proposed expansion into Manhattanville.

Three members of the West Harlem Local Development Corporation announced their resignation Wednesday night, citing a lack of progress and corruption among local elected officials.

The Student Governing Board has requested a funding increase from the four undergraduate student councils due to pressures from previously-unrecognized humanitarian groups.

Butler bibliographic assistant and part-time student by day, Theo van Joolen is a Cossack soldier at the Metropolitan Opera by night.

Protesters rebuffed an attempt by administrators to reach out to the hunger strikers Monday night as the demonstrations closed in on the end of their first week.

The Manhattanville Community Center is low on operational funding and some fear it may have to be privatized, according to Maritta Dunn, former chair of the center’s advisory board.

An unmarked police vehicle attempting to make a U-turn collided with a black Ford Explorer Monday afternoon at the intersection of 119th Street and Amsterdam, according to Public Safety officials at the scene.

To protest a speech by conservative author David Horowitz, CC ’59, a small crowd clad in orange gathered on Low Plaza to chant against racism.

Clad in orange and chanting against racism, a small crowd gathered on Low Plaza this morning to protest the appearance of David Horowitz, CC ’59, in a rally organized by several student groups.

With the Lexington Avenue subway line down Thursday night, congestion was worse than usual around Hunter College, where the New York City Congestion Mitigation Commission held its first public hearing.

To facilitate its diverse constituency, the Columbia University College Democrats has been gradually developing sub-groups to promote activism directed at specific causes.

Since University President Lee Bollinger announced his initiative to make Columbia a global university five years ago, the School of International and Public Affairs has been among the most public faces of the effort.

“Mayor, oh mayor, pay up your dues, don’t give us the NYCHA blues!” chanted a crowd gathered Thursday at City Hall Park to rally for a budget increase to the New York City Housing Authority.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s hotly debated congestion pricing plan is aimed primarily at reducing traffic in the area of Manhattan below 86th Street.

As Columbia prepares to host one of the most controversial individuals on Earth at today’s World Leader’s Forum, University President Lee Bollinger meets both criticism and approval from students, alumni, and outside protesters—who are likely to flood the streets of Broadway today by the thousands—for his decision not to withdraw the invitation.

Shouts of “The price is wrong, Bush!” and “Fight for children’s health insurance!” rang out along College Walk yesterday as the Columbia University College Democrats solicited supporters for an expansion of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program.