The Big Apple supports Columbia University in the war to keep the gates closed.
City lawyers said Ivy League schools should be allowed to block the public from their beloved community spaces on the Morningside Heights campus.
“It’s always been private property,” Rachel Moston, a senior adviser to the City Department of Justice, argued in court this week.
At the heart of the legal battle is the College Walk. This is the once bustling sidewalk on West 116th Avenue that allows pedestrians to cut across the school’s campus, rather than being forced to roam around the six blocks Columbia will be picked up.
Members of the Morningside Heights Community Coalition have messed up the decision to close Columbia’s gates into the aisle, which was closed during a chaotic student protest last year.
“It was a great public space,” Dave Robinson, president of the neighborhood group, told the Post.
“It really enriches the lives of students [and] “Our kids performed on campus, and after-school groups come there,” Robinson said.
“It was a very important public space for people living in the community. It’s been ambiguous by the discussion about safety, where safety is important, but it’s not the only one.”
The closure will allow only those with a valid Columbia ID to enter the main campus. The main campus extends from West 114th Avenue to West 120th Avenue. Locals can apply for a pass, but dissatisfied neighbors argue that it is a complicated process for older people, leading to long waiting times and crowds on the streets.
After filing a petition and open letter requesting the reopening of campus be made public to the public, Morningside Heights resident Philip Afrey sued the university in January alongside three other gray-haired locals.
“[Columbia] It’s part of the community – they aren’t Community,” Ofray told the post, adding that his 97-year-old mother will no longer be able to tackle her daily activities since the closure.
“Anyone who is trying to go to the subway or bus, all of those people are being imitated, indicating that Colombia is a bad neighbor.”
Among local debates is that the spread of the quad space on West 116th Street was intended to continue to be public after the city sold it to private agencies decades ago.
Columbia is considered to be the biggest private property owner in the Big Apple, but reportedly paid the city $1,000 in 1953 to take over the stretch on West 116th Avenue.
According to a report from the city planning committee that year, the deal mandated an “easiness over pedestrian walks proposed for the university to build.”
The language of the city’s agreement – whether “pedestrian walks” in particular is unpublished or private property, was at the heart of oral arguments in Offray’s case at the Manhattan Supreme Court on Tuesday.
Columbia’s lawyers noted that the section of West 116th Avenue between Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue does not exist as a road. City Map – And the campus is closed without any issues with graduations or other instances, including the terrorist attacks on September 1, 2001.
“In a perfect world, we all want to go back to July 2023 years ago, but that’s not the world we live in today,” a Columbia lawyer told the court.
“The university is doing its best to move in that direction.”
Even the city’s lawyer, Mostan, agreed and told the court that easements would simply tell the city its ability to perform light water and manhole repairs.
However, Toby Gollick, the plaintiff’s lawyer, had a very different interpretation of the city’s agreement with the elite institutions. And they argued that if parts of West 116th Street were actually allowed to be converted into private corridors, there was opposition from the large community at the time.
The contract “definitely creates pedestrian easements,” Golick said. [that] It’s very important. ”
Golick told horror stories from three other senior plaintiffs in the case, including 92-year-old Barbara Griffiths’ long trip to the grocery store and how 86-year-old Mary Allen lost her “lifeline” to other parts of her community.
“[Allen] I just love sitting there and watching students, and there are often toddlers and rehearsals and parents. It was an active place,” Golick previously posted. “And now it’s kind of a dead place.”
As the case progresses, Judge David Cohen, who denied the plaintiff’s request to temporarily resume Gates on Tuesday, concluded that “there are valid arguments on both sides, and neither side is carrying the day.”
School claims to dismiss the lawsuit will be heard next month.
Columbia closed its access to campus for the first time on October 7, 2023, after protesting and once again in April last year. “It’s a matter of weeks, not months.”
“The university will continuously evaluate access to the morningside campus,” a Columbia official told the Post.
“In response to the opinions of many stakeholders, in February we implemented changes to access protocols that streamline access for alumni, Morningside Heights and West Harlem neighbors, faculty and university guests,” the statement said. “We continue to communicate regularly with our neighbors and our community regarding these and other changes to campus access.”
Still, members of the Morningside Heights Community Coalition said Columbia created a barrier to the community and illegally closed the precious space enjoyed by children and seniors.
“Legal considerations aside, this is a moral and community-centric issue,” said Dan McSweeney, a resident of West 111th Street, part of a local group.
“This is ridiculous and it’s not making anyone safer,” he told the Post. “It’s causing a lot of problems – not only the elderly, but also the disabled and people across the road. This has been a publicly accessible aisle for over 70 years, so why does it happen?”
