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

Dr. Vicky Gholson

The process which is undertaken here is a very sterile process. It is a process, we can refer to it as technical. But what is most important is that what has -- what has been engaged here, what has been placed on the table, whether it was a $250,000 model or it was six months of presentations amongst community is an assault on the legacy of a community and its people -- a very diverse people.

We cannot only look at the Manhattanville area and talk to it specifically of that area when we talk about the entity which has presented or is making a plea to be able to have these changes and these City subsidies to enable them to re-alter the legacy of a people and to enable them to be able to be subsidized at the disbenefit of so many others. That entity is Columbia University. We can refer to this specific development area of being West Harlem/Manhattanville, but Columbia is a very dominating entity within the Harlem community. Its history and its legacy has not been one favorable to the Harlem community.

What is afoot now because of the lack of specificity in its design, because of lack of specificity in solutions for additional waste, which we are already oversaturated in the existing facility, which is not specified in terms of solutions for what has been presented thus far, is the encroachment of open space. What has not been specifically stated thus far is what specific offerings, concrete and mortar and programmatically, that will lend to the further development and the sustainability of the Harlem community, as opposed to presentations being made in a very business and formal fashion that undermine the struggle, the accomplishments, the celebration of the legacies of all the ethnicities that constitute the Harlem community, Manhattanville
in particular.

When we talk to rezoning, there is an emphasis that is placed squarely upon the transportation, the history that has taken place. With this community and within that immediate area lies individuals who have lived there for many, many years, various types of living styles and affordable housing increments. That model and the presentations that have been made thus far undercut the cultural legacy and the cultural projections. It undercuts the local businesses which are not glued to bureaucracy by which they are helping small businesses and they are incubating what needs to be done within the area.

If there is -- if there are no specifics given, the City need not to be a cohort in allowing this massive plan to move forward. It needs to stop, constitute how we will proceed and redistribute the financing so that all presentations have equal credibility

Dr. Vicky Gholson

Community Board 9 member

Executive Director of DEEL Communications, a local not-for-profit, standing for Design, Environmental, Experiential Learning