Columbia And LDC To Meet Today

Members of the Local Development Corporation and Columbia University officials will meet today to begin negotiating a Community Benefits Agreement.

The meeting, which is to be held at 9 a.m. in a Columbia-owned building on Riverside Drive, will be the first concrete step taken by Columbia and the LDC to begin formulating the CBA, a process that LDC president Pat Jones estimates will take months. Jones described her approach to the meeting as "guarded optimism."

But what's on the table is something of a mystery, as both groups have refused to discuss the negotiations. This has long been Columbia's policy, but on Thursday the LDC met and decided to minimize contact with the press. LDC member Tom Demott said that the LDC did not have any formal proposal at this point. The LDC "is going through the process of developing a negotiating position and ensuring that it is faithful to the 197-a plan," Demott said.

The 197-a plan is a rubric passed by Community Board 9 for development in West Harlem.