Repeals the Columbia University Education Mixed-Use Development Land Use Improvement and Civic Project Modified General Project Plan adopted by the empire state development corporation on December 18, 2008.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
9944
IN ASSEMBLY
April 26, 2024
___________
Introduced by M. of A. TAYLOR -- read once and referred to the Committee
on Economic Development
AN ACT to repeal the Columbia University Education Mixed-Use Development
Land Use Improvement and Civic Project Modified General Project Plan
adopted by the empire state development corporation on December 18,
2008
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Legislative intent. The overwhelming breadth and scope of
2 The Columbia University Education Mixed-Use Development Land Use
3 Improvement and Civic Project Modified General Project Plan adopted by
4 the Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC) on December 18, 2008 has
5 been of longstanding concern to residents of the 30th Senatorial
6 District and Harlem in general. The project was vehemently opposed by
7 many who live in the community, including those whose residences and
8 businesses were in the area to be destroyed. Many feared that the
9 project was not just an abject land grab by a private university, which
10 would have no public benefit, but that it was a way to displace histor-
11 ically settled Black residents, businesses and homeowners. Meetings and
12 hearings were held and the community was generally opposed to and
13 concerned about the project. Today, with soaring rents, a replete lack
14 of affordable housing and the widespread gentrification of Black Harlem
15 leading to historic outmigration of generational residents, the greatest
16 fears of those who opposed this project have been realized. The project
17 was one of the greatest abuses of the mystical standard known as
18 "blight" accompanied by "eminent domain" that our state and nation has
19 ever seen. The words, the process and our people were used and abused
20 towards a predetermined end. The Appellate Division of the New York
21 State Supreme Court agreed in 2009, finding in sum, that: The Empire
22 State Development Corporation violated both state and federal due proc-
23 ess clauses in an effort to prevent affected property owners from
24 obtaining necessary information. ESDC's finding of blight was "bereft
25 of facts" to establish true blight. The ESDC's determination that the
26 project even has a public use, benefit or civic purpose was also called
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD15206-01-4
A. 9944 2
1 into question. Most troubling of all was the pattern of collusion
2 between the state and Columbia, a private developer trying to utilize
3 the state's power of eminent domain to take private property. This was
4 clearly evidenced by the ESDC and Columbia each hiring the exact same
5 consultant to conduct the blight study that served as the rationale for
6 triggering condemnation proceedings. For several years, groups in the
7 Harlem Community, such as the New York State Interfaith Commission On
8 Housing Equality, have been calling for the full repeal of this project,
9 which, naturally, was not approved by the City Council, State Legisla-
10 ture or any elected body whatsoever. Since the project is still open
11 ended, and the authorization still allows actions to be taken that
12 threaten the very existence of West Harlem and Washington Heights, the
13 only sane approach is to repeal the plan.
14 § 2. The Columbia University Education Mixed-Use Development Land Use
15 Improvement and Civic Project Modified General Project Plan adopted by
16 the empire state development corporation on December 18, 2008 is hereby
17 REPEALED.
18 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
