The Weekly Standard posts “Razing West Harlem,” an article about Columbia University’s plan to expand uptown beyond its present Morningside Heights locale:
West Harlem — TUCK-IT-AWAY SELF-STORAGE dominates the blockbetween 131st Street and 132nd Street on the west side of Broadway, astretch of the famous thoroughfare where the New York City subwayactually runs above ground. This is West Harlem, in a largely black andHispanic neighborhood known as Manhattanville. Hanging from the side ofTuck-It-Away’s massive brick edifice is a banner reading, in bothEnglish and Spanish, “Stop Columbia! We Won’t Be Pushed Out!” The IvyLeague university has proposed expanding its uptown campus into a17-acre section of Manhattanville, thus endangering many localresidents and businesses, including four buildings owned and operatedby the storage company.
It’s an interesting tale of how the folks potentially on the business end of redevelopment and a public/private exercise of eminent domain feel about it.
Besides, these are my old haunts — I used to live in this neighborhood when I was attending Columbia Law, and even rented a small storage locker at the Tuck-it-Away self-storage place on Broadway mentioned in the article. Go here for Google’s maps where you can see the “We Won’t Be Pushed Out! / ¡ Pare a Columbia!” sign on the building’s Broadway frontage in “Street View.”