Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s office came out in support of an open Columbia campus on Thursday, siding with community members who have been rallying against the University’s gate closures for almost two years.

West Harlem residents will head to the polls Nov. 3 for the 2026 midterm election, with races ranging from Congress to the state legislature—spanning New York’s 13th Congressional District and State Assembly Districts 69 and 70. Voters will have the opportunity to voice their concerns on issues like the increased presence of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the closure of Columbia’s gates, and affordable housing.

More than three years of conflict between city officials and local leaders over a contentious project in Hamilton Heights came to an end on March 26 when the New York City Council unanimously voted to approve the 200-unit affordable and supportive housing complex at 1727 Amsterdam Ave.

Elected officials and political candidates, including those running in West Harlem, gathered outside Gov. Kathy Hochul’s Midtown office on Sunday to demand the passage of proposed state legislation that would prohibit state and local resources from being used for federal immigration enforcement.

Hundreds of New Yorkers crowded into the pews of St. Michael’s Episcopal Church on Sunday, united by a different mission than that of the church’s usual services: to combat the presence of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents on the Upper West Side and across Manhattan.

“Other people before us have been trying to get them to do this for decades,” Dave Robinson, president of the Morningside Heights Community Coalition, said. “The new program that is starting is just the beginning, we hope, of a change in the policy, but it’s a very small beginning.”

With the holidays around the corner, existing food disparities in West Harlem—where nearly half of the population relies on food assistance programs—are now exacerbated by complications with Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program installments.

St. Nicholas Park will receive $3 million in city funding to renovate a staircase as part of Mayor Eric Adams’ “rat mitigation” program, according to a Sept. 3 Manhattan Community Board 9 meeting.

Chopped Parsley, a beloved, Japanese immigrant-owned restaurant located at 500 W. 146th St., has served Hamilton Heights with fresh onigiri and hip-hop music for almost a decade. But the community staple is now facing eviction, despite the verbal promise of a lease renewal from its landlord Brighton Management.

New York state’s highest court ruled against a New York City law that would have allowed 800,000 noncitizens to vote in local elections, declaring it unconstitutional in a sweeping majority on March 20.