HURRICANE COLUMBIA - WEATHER REPORT:
VICTORY AT PS 36!!!!
Community Protest Blocks Columbia's Plans
to Take Over Beloved Harlem Elementary School
In response to massive parent and community protest, plans were withdrawn to house a proposed Columbia-sponsored magnet school for junior-high and high school students at PS 36, a highly regarded West Harlem elementary school that serves pre-kindergarden through second-graders. This is a HUGE victory not only for the PS 36 students and families, but for the entire community. Parents, neighbors, and activists united, and were able to reverse a disastrous plan that was initially announced as a "done deal". The message to Columbia is clear: we cherish the neighborhood that is already here, and will come together to fight for its preservation. Columbia's is falliable when our community is united.
Background of the PS 36 struggle:
In November of 2006, it was revealed that Columbia University had made a back-room deal with the New York City Department of Education to fast-track Columbia's plans to open an elite junior high and high-school, by taking over part of the building that belongs to PS 36---a community-oriented public elementary school serving 3 to 8 year olds, located at West 123rd street and Amsterdam Avenue. Columbia's promise to create an elite junior high and high school was a last minute addition to its expansion plans, designed to solicit political support for the contentious expansion proposal itself. While PS 36 has a long track record of success serving West Harlem youth, the proposed Columbia school is designed to serve students from throughout northern Manhattan, with no gauranteed slots for West Harlem youth. Columbia's initial promise was to donate land within the expansion zone where a junior high and high school could be built, but in late 2006, there was a sudden rush by Columbia to have the junior high school open before a building for the school existed, and before the expansion proposal itself had even been voted on---a political move that Columbia clearly hoped would make its expansion plan seem as if it were already underway.
Without warning, the Department of Education announced in November of 2006 rhat PS 36 would be forced to 'share' its facilities with the 'Columbia School' students in less than a year. No mention was made of the obvious concerns about the safety of the young children, the disruptions this would cause to the learning environment at PS 36, nor the fact that the highly coveted seats at PS 36 for neighborhood children would be reduced annually as Columbia's presence in the building grows. The announcement came as a shock to parents of PS 36 students, to the PS 36 faculty, and to the the local Community Board---none of whom were consulted about these plans.
Parent were vocal not only in resisting the PS 36 takeover, but in rejecting Columbia's larger Harlem takeover plan, of which PS 36's upheval was a part.
NEWS COVERAGE OF THE INITIAL ANNOUNCEMENT TO TAKE OVER PS 36:
Parents Protest Columbia Plan. The New York Times. November 22, 2006.
Parents Share P.S. 36 Concerns. Columbia Spectator. November 22, 2006
'School Squeeze' Protest. New York Post. November 22, 2006.
CB9 Opposes Plans for P.S. 36. Columbia Spectator. November 17, 2006.
Parents Decry Proposal To Add Older Students to Mix. New York Sun. November 15, 2006.
Protesting Columbia. New York Post. November 15, 2006.
Parents Protest Magnet School: Meeting Over Columbia Secondary's Location at P.S. 36 Postponed. Columbia Spectator. November 15, 2006
Angry over nixed school meeting. New York Daily News. November 15, 2006
NEWS COVERAGE OF THE VICTORY AT PS 36
City Will Not House Magnet School at P.S. 36. Columbia Spectator. February 27, 2006.
City Retreats on Plan To Mix Older and Younger Students. New York Sun. February 21, 2007
West Harlem businesses targeted for eminent domain filed a lawsuit on November 10, 2006.
 The businesses sued the Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC), a New York State agency, for refusing to disclose documents that were requested through a Freedom of Information Act request pertaining to the agency's dealings with Columbia University. ESDC has the power to seize property from private owners who do not wish to sell their buildings or land by using the State's power of "eminent domain". Columbia has already paid $300,000 to ESDC to fund a 'blight study' of the area of Manhattanville that the university is seeking to develop. If the area is found by ESDC to be 'blighted', the State can begin the process of condeming property in the area and transfering ownership to a different entity—in this case Columbia. In addition to the obvious conflict of interest with ESDC receiving money from Columbia for a study that is supposed to be objective, there is also an issue of secrecy and potential collusion for which the West Harlem businesses are suing.
Columbia recently bought 3251 Broadway and tried to close down the freight elevator that five floors of auto mechanics and an antique restoration business depend on to survive. These businesses provide SKILLED JOBS, the kind that would be PRESERVED AND ENHANCED IN THE COMMUNITY 197A PLAN AND ELIMINATED IN COLUMBIA'S PLAN. We stopped Columbia in January, but the University refuses to give leases to the businesses.
FOUR BUILDINGS IN THE PROPOSED EXPANSION AREA ARE ELIGIBLE TO BECOME LOW INCOME OWNERSHIP (TIL) BUILDINGS. Two of them (602 West 132nd St. and 3289 Broadway) are in the middle of the conversion process. BUT COLUMBIA WANTS TO EVICT TENANTS AND DEMOLISH 8 RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS USING EMINENT DOMAIN.
LARGE, LOCAL, LONGTIME BUSINESSES WANT TO STAY. All of them have been here for years, and are expanding. Columbia wants to have them condemned if they don't want to sell.
Columbia University wants to build HIGH BIO-SAFETY LEVEL LABS IN MANHATTANVILLE. These labs can conduct experiments with dangerous and deadly biological agents such as Avian Flu, Sars, and the Plague. Many of these agents are transmitted by air, highly contagious, and could cause serious illness. ACCIDENTS HAPPEN. WHY RISK THE HEALTH AND SAFETY OF A RESIDENTIAL COMMUNITY? These labs would get federal grants, including money from the Department of Defense. THEY WOULD MAKE OUR COMMUNITY A POTENTIAL MILITARY TARGET.
COLUMBIA'S PROPOSED EXPANSION IS FEEDING
DISPLACEMENT THROUGHOUT HARLEM:
- 3333 Broadway owner opts out of Mitchell Lama, removing affordability protections
- Morningside Gardens' cooperative triples sales prices for apartments
- Public Housing is under increased pressure with add-on costs and privatization threats.
- Buyout offers pressure tenants on Tiemann Place at the southern end of expansion area
- Columbia removes apartments from rent-regulation status and converts to dorm spaces.
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