Come out and support our protest this Tuesday, Dec. 7th, 3:30 – 5:30PM, against Columbia’s failure to address issues it promised to resolve when the Borough President and City Council sold out the Harlem community.
Where are the jobs? Where is the job training promised by Columbia and the West Harlem Local Development Corp so Harlemites in Boards 9, 10, 11 and 12 could work from the very beginning?
Why does Columbia still insist that residents facing eminent domain must be out of the expansion area by 2018? Why does Columbia not leave the last two property owners alone and let them, and other businesses who still have leases, stay under the 197A philosophy of sharing the community? (The Sprayregens and the Singhs are still fighting against eminent domain, and we still expect that CB 9 would be supporting them according to the CB 9 position against eminent domain, but check out the CB 9 Chair’s statements below.)
Why do the politicians, and the West Harlem Environmental Action group, support Columbia’s biohazard lab #3 business park – spurred on by military defense contracts - in our residential community? Here is how Community Board 9 is approaching this situation – two quotes from Chairperson Larry English in the Columbia Spectator :
“In West Harlem right now and in Harlem in general, there is not a vibrant, entrepreneurial, economic class, and that is crucial to everyone living in West Harlem,” English said in an interview in October.
“Obviously, the last four years caused a lot of tension between the Columbia and the community, but as a community board, we’ve ruled that we’re turning the page. We don’t want to do anything that’s gonna inhibit the project.”
Somehow the whole notion of the 197-a plan, 10 years in the making, is absent from CB 9 Chair Larry English’s language and apparently from his scope of vision. It is a radical shift on the part of CB9; it goes right along with the CU concept of “all or nothing” that CU has pushed relentlessly. All along this dispute with Columbia has been about their illegal conflict of interest regarding how they used the threat of eminent domain as a scare tactic that worked.
A CPC member reacted to English’s comments as follows:
“This guy is really a politician in the making – he’s just changed the language of everything and has conveniently forgotten all of the key points CB9 was defending. He’s dropped the validity of 197-a plan which was ALWAYS what the Community had as an organized response to the real deficiencies in how the neighborhood is being unfairly treated while Columbia grabs land on the cheap.”
COME OUT AND STAND UP FOR THE COMMUNITY PRINCIPLES OUTLINED IN THE 197 A PLAN OF SENSIBLE DEVELOPMENT.
COME OUT AND DEMAND REAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE JOBS COLUMBIA HAS PROVIDED TO THOSE WHO HAVE COME TO ITS “EMPLOYMENT CENTER” OVER THE LAST FIVE OR MORE YEARS.
NO DISPLACEMENT, NO BIOHAZARD LEVEL #3 LABS, NO EMINENT DOMAIN ABUSE. COLUMBIA HAS SAID IT WILL DISPLACE 5,000 PEOPLE IN A TEN BLOCK RADIUS OF ITS EXPANSION AREA. YEAH, CHAIRMAN ENGLISH, WE DO WANT TO “INHIBIT” THAT… AND THE USE OF EMINENT DOMAIN, AND LAB #3’S…
YO COLUMBIA, GIVE UP THE INFO ON THE CENTER AND TELL US, WHERE ARE THE JOBS? SEE FLYERS BELOW IN SPANISH AND ENGLISH AND IF YOU CAN HELP DISTRIBUTE FLYERS, Thanks from the CPC.
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COALITION TO PRESERVE COMMUNITY -
United for an Open and Strong Community
POST OFFICE BOX 50 - Manhattanville Station
365 West 125th Street
NEW York City, New York 10027
WHERE ARE THE JOBS?
THE COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY EXPANSION PLAN WAS APPROVED BECAUSE IT WOULD PROVIDE JOBS. WHERE ARE THEY?
COLUMBIA PROMISED JOB TRAINING AND 7,000 JOBS. CONSTRUCTION HAS BEGUN. WHAT TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT HAS GONE TO THE COMMUNITY?
JOIN US IN A DEMONSTRATION TO DEMAND NUMBERS, NOT WINDOWDRESSING.
PLACE: COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY “EMPLOYMENT OFFICE”
Broadway just below 125 St., east side of the Street
Tuesday, December 7th 3:30 – 5:30 P.M.
And hey Columbia: drop your eminent domain abuse* & no biohazard #3 labs in residential Manhattan
* Let businesses and residents stay - support the 197A
NO DISPLACEMENT - AND REAL EMPLOYMENT
For additional information contact Coalition to Preserve Community: write: CPC, PO Box 50, Manhattanville Station, NY, NY 10027. Visit our website: www.stopcolumbia.org ESPANOL – OTRO LADO
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COALITION TO PRESERVE COMMUNITY -
United for an Open and Strong Community
POST OFFICE BOX 50 - Manhattanville Station
365 West 125th Street
NEW York City, New York 10027
