To CPC Members and Others Interested: 3/30/08
COME TO DEMONSTRATION TOMORROW AT THE COLUMBIA GATES (116th Street and Broadway), MONDAY, 3/31, 4:30PM – 6:15PM. Columbia told the 26th Precinct to deny us a permit to use a sound device so come on out and help us shout out our opposition. In the past, Columbia has not opposed a sound permit at that time of day, but as community opposition mounts to the rezoning plans across 125 th Street that will have far reaching impact right into Washington Heights, Columbia, and the elected officials who are doing such a great job defending displacement policies, want to silence critics. So come on out for an hour or two and criticize, agitate and organize. It’s called democracy – what the real pulse of Harlem is all about.
(1) Come to the Coalition to Preserve Community demonstration at the gates of Columbia on Monday, March 31, 4:30PM and join the picket line. This fight has just begun. See flyer below and contact numbers are on the flyer below and call 212 666-6426 if you can help distribute flyers today or tonight.
(2) Below are two articles about last Thursday’s press conference announcing the lawsuit challenging environmental aspects of Columbia’s bathtub foundation. You can download a copy of the petition at www.tuckitaway.com
(3) Here is a note that the Coalition to Save Harlem sent out about the hearing next Tuesday, April 1 at City Hall. We urge everyone to come out and testify:
4/1/08 PUBLIC HEARING -- 125TH STREET REZONIING HEARING AT CITY COUNCIL
The Coalition to Save Harlem urges the public to attend the New York City Council public hearing on the City’s plan to rezone 125th Street in Harlem. This plan ushers in massive, luxury development on 125th Street, putting long-time residents and businesses at risk of displacement! This hearing will be held Tuesday, April the 1st, at City Hall beginning at 9:30 AM. Please arrive early. This is your last opportunity to be heard as we call for fair and just development on 125th Street. We, the Coalition to Save Harlem, are calling upon the NYC Council to vote against this proposal!
Your voice WILL make a difference! - Coalition To Save Harlem.
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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
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Coalition to Preserve Community
PROTEST AT COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY:
JOIN THE PICKET LINE AT THE CU GATES, 116THST. & BROADWAY, MONDAY,
MARCH 31,2008 4:30PM – 6:15 PM.
We will not be moved! Harlem residents will defeat Columbia's eviction plan!
A lawsuit was filed on Wednesday to fight the biohazard labs and environmental dangers posed by the Columbia eviction/expansion plan. One of the property owners (Tuck-it-away) who is facing eviction by eminent domain worked with the Coalition to Preserve Community and others and filed a suit to protect Harlem & the upper Westside from biohazard dangers and other negative environmental impacts. Join us Monday & demand Columbia give us answers.
WE WILL FIGHT FOR OUR HOMES & BE HERE LONG AFTER COLUMBIA'S EXPANSION PLAN IS DEFEATED!
Columbia's proposal will demolish 17 acres of our community, eliminate 800 quality jobs, force over 400 long-time residents to relocate, and evict longtime property owners and businesses by abusing eminent domain. Columbia predicts that 5,000 people in the surrounding community could be pushed out of their homes just in the period while the project is being built. GET UP, STAND UP, AND PICKET.
COME OUT. YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE.
CONTACT US: Call (212) 666-6426, 646-812-5188, or (212) 234-3002 (se habla espanol) or go towww.stopcolumbia.org and sign up to be on our contact list. ESPANOL – OTRO
Sprayregen Brings Up Environmental Issues in Lawsuit Against Columbia
BY ALIX PIANIN
PUBLISHED MARCH 28, 2008
After formally bringing a lawsuit against Columbia and the city on Thursday, Tuck-It-Away owner Nick Sprayregen and his lawyers held a press conference at his storage facility to officially announce the legal action. Though he previously focused on rallying against the potential use of eminent domain in Manhattanville, Sprayregen is now also setting his sights on the environmental implications of the University’s planned underground development.
“Tuck-It-Away vs. the City of New York” calls on the New York State Supreme Court to take a “hard look” at Columbia’s two-million-square-foot Manhattanville development that would extend seven stories below the street. As it stands now, the University’s design poses significant environmental risks that the city has not properly considered, according to lawyer and public advocate candidate Norman Siegel.
“Without proper review, a disaster may someday occur,” Sprayregen said. “We are not challenging the overall rezoning.”
The underground plan, known as the “bathtub,” would stretch from 125th Street to 133rd Street, Broadway to 12th Avenue, and would house campus laboratories, a swimming and diving center, business school programs, a Metropolitan Transportation Authority bus depot, and storage facilities.
Sprayregen, Siegel, and attorney Steve Silverberg say that the placement of the “bathtub” on a flood plane and earthquake fault line could pose daunting environmental concerns, including flooding.
The recent focus on the environmental implications of the Manhattanville expansion is a marked departure from Sprayregen’s usual focus on eminent domain. Siegel said that the statute of limitations was about to run out following a Nov. 26 meeting, where the City Planning Commission approved the findings regarding the environmental implications of the bathtub. The four-month opportunity to appeal ran out yesterday, the day they filed their lawsuit.
“My perspective being that environmental laws are put in place to protect the safety and well-being of the community ... I concluded over the weekend that the work up to this point doesn’t comport with the ‘hard look’ requirement,” Siegel said.
Sprayregen and Siegel have also been working with Community Board 9 consultant and director of the Pratt Institute Ron Schiffman and senior researcher Klaus Jacob to study the implications of building the bathtub.
“Our recommendation was that CU should hire an outside risk assessment firm to study the [long term] risks associated with flooding in the face of rising sea level,” Jacob said.
Jacob said that building the bathtub on a seismic fault may mean that water pressure from the Hudson River could proliferate faults on the bottom of the basement, which would be expensive to fix.
Siegel also raised concerns about the engineering mechanisms given by Columbia officials to stave off environmental damage to the buildings. According to Siegel, the mechanisms were too vague to provide sufficient assurance that the facilities would withstand future natural disasters without endangering surrounding areas, yet effective mechanisms are still in reach.
“They essentially said, ‘an engineering solution exists. We will find it and we will provide it at a later date,’” said Silverberg, who is also representing Sprayregen in the case.
The plaintiffs also named CB9 in its lawsuit, though Siegel emphasized that they were seeking no relief from the board, and that CB9 was named as a respondent. He stressed that CB9 has been supportive of a thorough and critical review of the Manhattanville plan.
“Now they have an opportunity to speak consistently,” Siegel said.
Betsy Morais and Joy Resmovits contributed reporting this article.
alix.pianin@columbiaspectator.com
Lawsuit: Columbia Expansion Poses 'Biohazard' Risk
Posted by Duncan Meisel at 4:28 PM, March 27, 2008
The largest landowner threatened by Columbia's Manhattanville expansion has filed a suit against the school and city, alleging that the environmental review process for the expansion was insufficient. The process may have even ignored the risk for potential biohazard threats to the West Harlem community, the plaintiff's lawyer said.
"I think it's selfish for Columbia, it shows a level of uncaring for the people of West Harlem" said Nick Sprayregen, the owner of Tuck-It-Away Storage, the lead petitioner in the suit, which was filed Wednesday afternoon.
At issue is the construction of a massive underground "bathtub" structure that would extend about seven stories below ground throughout the development, a planned expansion that would include a research facility that the university calls a "biosafety" center, while the plaintiff calls it a "biohazard" center . According to the plaintiffs, the placement of such a structure on a geological fault in a flood zone poses a risk to the surrounding community. But according to Columbia, the research facilities will be built above grade and pose no risk.
"The rim of the bathtub is barely above the Hudson river, we believe it poses a risk of catastrophic failure" said Norman Siegel, Sprayregen's lawyer. He cited global warming and its connected risks as an issue of serious concern.
There exists a likelihood of a storm surge that would come over the bulkhead and flood the bathtub" and "hazardous materials from these facilities could be washed out into the West Harlem community" he said.
The suit challenges whether the City Planning Commission took the required "hard look" at environmental hazards for the site. The suit claims that the planning commission "provided that the engineering issues raised during the environmental review process would be resolved at some later unspecified date."
However, "Neither the engineering consultants - nor Columbia University consultants outline in any detail what those solutions are, what the impact of carrying out those approaches might be" the suit claims in a quote from Jordi Reyes-Montblanc, the chairman of Community Board 9.
Columbia declined to comment on the pending litigation, but said in a statement: "We are confident that the extended public land use and environmental review processes were rigorous and comprehensive. They underscored that thriving universities are essential for New York City to remain a leader in attracting the talent that pursues new knowledge and creating the good, middle-income jobs for people who seek to improve their lives here."
A Columbia spokeswoman clarified the nature of the research facility, taking issue with the plaintiff's use of "biohazard. " "There are no plans to put biosafety facilities below grade," said the spokeswoman La-Verna J. Fountain.
Sprayregen's concerns extend beyond the bathtub to the facility itself.
"It just boggles the mind why Columbia, supposedly an altruistic institution, would but a biohazard research center in Manhattan" he said. "I question the wisdom of placing, particularly after 9/11, a biohazard facility that sticks out like a sore thumb for any potential terrorists" in the city center.
"These are bio-safety rooms" Fountain said. "These are not whole buildings, just rooms."
No matter the result of this current suit, litigation about the Columbia expansion seems bound to continue. The suit filed yesterday is the fifth which Siegel has been involved in, and he sees the potential for at least one other suit. "If eminent domain is used, transferring private property to a private university, we will litigate that issue" he said.
The activist group Coalition to Preserve Community announced a protest for Monday at Columbia. Continued community resistance to the Manhattanville plans has been a driving force for the ongoing legal battle between landowners and the school, and both Sprayregen and Siegel cited community activists as a key factor in their decision to file suit.
"You need the community behind you on this" Siegel said. "Property owners have standing, but the community members were the heart and soul of this lawsuit."
Visit www.stopcolumbia.org
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