Manhattanville

With U.S. unemployment rates at a record high in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, rising market rates in a low-supply market will place low-income West Harlem tenants at heightened risk of eviction and virus contraction, according to housing experts.

During the peak of COVID-19 cases in New York City, Columbia construction workers resumed operations at the Manhattanville campus after an updated state order outlined exceptions to social distancing guidelines on Sunday. However, workers and experts raised concerns over construction workers’ increased risks of contracting COVID-19 and the conditions that place workers at greater risk of injury and make social distancing impossible.

Hundreds of workers in Morningside Heights and Manhattanville were laid off in the last two weeks following orders to close all nonessential businesses and limit restaurants to offering takeout and delivery only.

The Manhattanville Community Center temporarily closed several rooms where its after-school programs were hosted due to unsafe lead levels in areas of the building, a move that incited community concern over disrupted services for children and health of visitors, following an inspection from the New York City Housing Authority earlier this month.

City leaders reaffirmed their commitment to moving Columbia Secondary School from the overcrowded building it currently cohabitates with two other schools at a Community Board 9 meeting Thursday. CB9 is a local advisory board representing Morningside Heights and its surrounding areas.

Last February, Mayor de Blasio gave up on his signature three-quarters of a billion-dollar initiative to turn around New York City’s worst-performing schools by providing access to additional financial and human resources. Functionally, what he really did was give up on finding a solution for New York’s children who are chronically underserved by the city’s public school system, both inside of the classroom and out. Ten months later, one of our own, beloved Tess Majors, was killed in a horrific way that was beyond words. The outrage and shock of the crime were exacerbated by the ages of its alleged-perpetrators—kids who should have been engaging in after-school programming or playing a sport, not lurking in the shadows of Morningside Park.

Bearing the names of two Harlem-raised Columbia College alumni, the Thompson-Muñoz Scholars program embodies Columbia’s commitment to invest in first-generation and low-income students from local communities. Between 2016 to 2019, only 5 percent of the program’s cohort was accepted into the Columbia College and the School of Engineering and Applied Science from open-admission public schools, according to public data.

As Aline Estefam, a graduate student in urban planning, approached 125th Street and Broadway, she immediately noticed the contemporary architecture of The Forum at Columbia University. With wide windows and sharp white edges, it stands in stark contrast with the surrounding gradient of brown brick buildings.

On 12th Avenue, in a once-industrial area that now resides in the shadows of Columbia’s ongoing construction in Manhattanville, business owners largely agree on one factor that has led to a 30 percent decrease in revenue and two closed businesses during 2019: a lack of parking spaces.