[This speech was delivered at the November 15th, 2005 scoping hearing on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the Columbia expansion proposal] 

My name is Tamara Gayer. I'm an artist. My artist studio is on 131st Street directly in the expansion zone for the past eight years. And when I read the scoping document, it's not only a certainty that we will be displaced, but even the analysis of who occupies Manhattanville and what type of functions goes on there is incredibly inaccurate.

We have been there for eight years. There have been a lot of other artist studios. There still are. And there were people before and people coming after us that were not mentioned at all. The scoping document conveys this impression that Columbia is going to bring this cultural capital to an area which doesn't really have it. And we're not only talking about making the history of Harlem arts, which is incredibly vibrant, but the presence of the Harlem arts which we are a very important part of. I share my studio with other artists and musicians and we are all vital members of not only the Harlem but the New York arts and including a show in Chelsea Galleries and performing in all of New York's major music venues.

So this plan doesn't take into consideration anything of that sort. Even in establishing things like an art school, all it will do is bring very temporary residents whereas we present a permanent and continuous history going on here.

A history of the arts in New York City is predominantly non-institutional. Artists have always sought spaces where the City essentially has not gotten in their way and they are relatively affordable. Having a manufacturing zone allows us to have it because artists may use equipment or materials which are not suitable for use in regular residential areas. And this is one of the last places where this is available. We used to work downtown and we had a variety of places and we came up here and Manhattanville has been incredibly welcoming to us and has helped us develop our careers and contribute to the New York cultural scene for the past eight years that we've been here.

So there is nothing in the plan which addresses any of these types of things, nor does it really say how the cultural pact with the university is going to expand and improve the neighborhood, just that it's going to be present in some way. It's really unfortunate because since Columbia is becoming a major land owner in the area, not only in the displays of artists but they really have an opportunity to do something fantastic. This could be a model for the first urban cooperation between a university and a community which clearly in the scoping document is not. It is a very exclusionary, a hundred percent Columbia development and it really does not allow for any kind of progressive cultural development which it seems in a vague way is theoretically the point of expanding the academic institution.

TAMARA GAYER