Business Owners Pick Up Support Against Columbia

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The New York Sun

The Manhattan borough president, C. Virginia Fields, is trying to pressure Columbia University to remove the threat of eminent domain from the university’s negotiations with West Harlem property owners.


As Columbia seeks to buy the industrial properties in West Harlem to make room for its planned expansion into the neighborhood, the possibility of the state using its power of eminent domain to acquire the properties and transfer it to the school looms over the negotiations.


Ms. Fields is throwing her support behind property owners, who are reluctant to sell their properties and have hired civil rights attorney Norman Siegel to fend off eminent domain proceedings.


After meeting with several property owners and Mr. Siegel last week, Ms. Fields asked top Columbia officials to meet with her and the owners, according to her chief of staff, Luther Smith.


Mr. Smith said the borough president wanted a meeting with “the leadership of Columbia…where the businesses would be able to put the issues on the table.”


He said, “She doesn’t support the idea of eminent domain as a way to proceed with” Columbia’s expansion into the area bounded by Broadway and 12th Avenue and 125th and 133rd streets.


The New York City Economic Development Corporation recently completed a draft of a “blight study” of the neighborhood, but its conclusions have not been released. Designating the area blighted would be a major step toward condemning property.


Mr. Smith said the borough president is opposed to the idea of forcing out business owners, “who have long-term commitments in the area” and who employ residents in the area.


Ms. Fields wants Columbia to compromise with the businesses, rather than allowing the state to seize the land through eminent domain, he said.


Mr. Siegel, who represents a group of seven businesses that includes moving and storage companies and a window factory, said his clients are opposed to relocating.


He argues that the state is barred from transferring the property to Columbia because the university is a private entity. Under the “takings clause” of the Fifth Amendment, government may take private property as long as there is “just compensation” and it’s for “public use.”


State officials have given no indication that they plan to exercise eminent domain powers.


Columbia officials say they don’t make eminent domain decisions – only the state has the power – and say they are considering the needs of the businesses in their negotiations.


University officials say the school’s expansion into the 18-acre area would generate thousands of permanent jobs and hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue.


In April, Columbia unveiled preliminary plans to add classroom space and laboratories there over the next 30 years. The university’s Morningside Heights campus is close to running out of space.


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