February 13, 2001

Mr. Eric M. Nelson

Chairman

Community Board 7

250 W. 87^th St.

New York, NY 10024

 

Re: 110^th Street/Broadway Project Review

Dear Mr. Nelson:

First, I want to thank you for the interest, patience and care you have shown in the review of our proposed project at Broadway and 110^th Street.  It is a project that has elicited strong opinions, and I realized after the meeting of the Land Use and the Youth and Education Committees on January 17, that the need for multiple hearings had precluded our responding to all concerns in one place at one time.  This letter provides a summary of information we have offered in one meeting or another, in discussions of the major issue areas listed below.

THE NEED FOR APARTMENTS AND A K-8 SCHOOL

Columbia recruits approximately 350 faculty a year, from all over the country and the world.  Over the last few years, in working with the Deans of our 15 Schools, it has become increasingly difficult to recruit a critical cohort of younger faculty with children without the ability to provide them with an apartment and a school placement that enables them to feel comfortable with the decision to move their families to New York City. 

The creation of a Columbia University School is a part of a broader effort to improve local schools that includes a range of efforts.  These initiatives include assisting individual schools and clusters of schools, as well as having the laboratory school serving as a resource to the public schools.

Attached to this letter is a description of many of the current programs through which the University seeks to be a resource to its neighbors (Attachment A).  Individual school initiatives include our partnership with the Bronx High School of Science and President Rupp's offer to Chancellor Levy to have the University become a partner with a school in Community School District #3.  Our outreach to clusters of schools includes the offer of a new media tool, the Columbia Analyzer, to all of the schools in CSD#3, along with training for the district technical staff and faculty in the use of the tool.  In Community School District #5 we are providing preparation for the certification exam to the District’s uncertified teachers, the top priority request of the CSD #5 Superintendent.

The Columbia University School itself will help the local public schools in a variety of ways.  It will act as a point of entry through which public school educators can request support of the University, and through which new initiatives from the University can be offered to the public schools.  In addition, approximately half of the students enrolled in the School will be neighborhood children from families not associated with the University. These students will be admitted by lottery and will be eligible for need based financial aid.  We believe that the Columbia University School will function as a bridge between the University and its neighbors through this balance of University/non-University families served.

As a laboratory school, we see the Columbia University School as developing new curriculum materials and pedagogical techniques that can be shared with the public schools.  We envision this school as a site for research and teacher-training opportunities open to the public schools, and we anticipate a range of after school and summer programs open to the entire neighborhood.  We are committed to making this school an education resource that will benefit a community far broader than the University community.

OUTREACH TO THE ADJACENT COMMUNITY

Effective outreach to and consultation with those near the development is a critical part of developing a major project.  We began discussing this proposed project over a year ago with elected officials and with both Community Board 7 and 9. We have briefed elected officials and/or other staff regularly.  Once we had hired an architectural firm, Beyer Blinder Belle, we began holding regular meetings attended by BBB and neighborhood residents suggested by the Community Boards, elected officials and community organizations.  While those meetings always included updates and discussion on design, they covered a broad array of other issues as well.  Additional meetings were scheduled with the Provost and Assistant Provost for Special Projects to allow more in depth discussions of the proposed school.

Last fall, we hosted a series of meetings with nearby residents to show plans for the building and discuss any areas of interest or concern.  Most importantly, many of the concerns raised have resulted in modifications to the proposed project, or other actions designed to address concerns.  These are reflected in the discussion that follows. In all, we have held more than 30 meetings to inform interested parties about the project, and to hear their thoughts.

A chronology of meetings is attached (Attachment B).

THE SITE

Much has been said about the site, and whether its location is too busy for a school.

First, the central location of the site, with its proximity to both subway and bus service, offers excellent access that will enable 75% of those coming to the school to come on foot or by transit. Siting an active use adjacent to transit capacity is a basic principle of good urban planning.

Of course, safety is of paramount importance to us, and we have looked extensively at the intersection and how it operates.  Although this intersection is not identified as a "high accident" intersection, nevertheless many people perceive the intersection as hazardous and it is important to understand why.   Observations made over the last 18 months show that the problem has more to do with the array of uses and movements than with the actual number of vehicles and pedestrians.  This means that there is capacity within the intersection to sort things out better, and we have proposed ways to do that.

Specifically we propose three changes that improve the operation of this intersection significantly.

First, we propose adding a protected left turn movement from Broadway southbound onto Cathedral Parkway eastbound.  This will provide enough time to clear the backup that currently blocks not only southbound movement, but the whole intersection as well.  This proposed signal change has now been endorsed by the Transportation Committees of both Community Board 7 and 9, as well as both the 24^th and the 26^th Precincts.

Second, the removal of commercial loading -- formal and informal -- from the bus stop on Cathedral east of Broadway will further improve the south-to-east turn, as well as keeping buses from blocking the eastern crosswalk while they pick up and discharge passengers.  Drop off for the school will be accommodated in the drop off space already allocated in front of Synagogue Ramath Orah, as their times of intense use do not overlap with daily school drop off and pick up.

Finally the posting and enforcement of a No U Turn prohibition will further reduce both the number and the complexity of south - to - east movements.

Based on community response and discussions with affected parties, we have decided to withdraw any proposals for more elaborate curbside changes, such as those we presented for discussion earlier.

253 & 259 WEST 109^TH STREET

Early on in the development of our plans for this site, we decided to preserve the two residential buildings on the northeast corner of 109^th and Broadway, and to dedicate them for the continued use by community residents not affiliated with Columbia, and of modest income.  This means that 17 three-bedroom apartments that would have otherwise been turned over to Columbia affiliates, as non-affiliated tenants left, will instead continue to be available for the types of tenants feeling the most pressure in this neighborhood. 

In addition, we have sought to address the impact of construction on the existing tenants of the two buildings in the following way.  The three tenants in the most affected apartments -- those with north-facing windows in 259 West 109^th -- have been offered any of 5 renovated vacant apartments.  Should they prefer, they can wait for right of first refusal on an apartment that becomes available in the future.  Next, all other tenants with north-facing apartments will be offered right of first refusal of existing and future vacant apartments.  Once a vacant apartment has been offered to all existing tenants, it will be made available for leasing to someone not currently in one of the buildings.  Future tenant selection will be managed by the West Side Federation for Senior and Supportive Housing (WSFSH), to assure that we are successful in preserving housing options for the existing income group.

In some of our meetings, a broader concern was expressed that the development of a new building would add to the pressure of gentrification already affecting low and moderate-income tenants in the area.  We heard numerous complaints that tenants were being pressured -- possibly illegally -- to move out.  In response, the Columbia Law School’s Center for Public Interest Law has committed to expand its program to work with tenants in the area who are experiencing these pressures.  Working under the supervision of a full time lawyer experienced in this area, Columbia law students will work with residents to help them to understand and defend their rights as tenants.  The program is funded for two full years.  The School of Social Work will work with the Law School project to provide appropriate support.

D'AGOSTINO'S

There has been a great deal of concern about the recent loss of supermarkets on Broadway. As part of the proposed project, we are committed to making a workable space available to a major market operator.  If D'Agostino's wishes to return, we will be happy to have them as a tenant.  While the space available, about 7300 square feet, is about 15% less than the existing store, it is 25% more than the West Side Market, and 70% larger than the recently closed Sloan's.  If D'Agostino's chooses not to return, we are confident that we will be able to attract another high quality operator.

We have looked very carefully at the contention that we should build around a functioning D'Agostino's.  Attached is a letter written by our architect and summarizing the work done by the architect and the engineer, which concluded that preserving an aging tax payer would be an unwise approach to the overall construction of the new building, and that the market would have to be closed for many months even if we tried to preserve and build around the existing space. The letter specifically addresses the comparison to Symphony Space that was cited.  We have also done a survey of existing markets and the phone order and delivery services they offer.  If the project is approved, we intend to work to improve those services, and to explore the possibility of a joint effort to run a shopping shuttle during the period that D'Agostino's is shut down (Attachments C & D).

Because of the need to dedicate all of the retail space to a market, we are unable to offer space on the project site to the four remaining tenants.   We have made space available to the check cashing service on 109^th Street, adjacent to their old site.  We have also discussed alternative sites with the owner of Mike's Papaya, but so far he has not felt that we had a site that met his needs.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Over the next two weeks we will attend the regularly scheduled meetings of your three committees.  We hope that you will let us attend if there are additional issues you would like to have addressed at that time.  We will make effort to respond in a thorough and timely way.

This is a project of great importance to Columbia, and we very much hope that we will be able to address all of your questions to your satisfaction.

Sincerely,

Emily Lloyd

Executive Vice President for Administration

Provost's Alerts Page | Attachment A | Attachment B | Attachment D