David Dinkins Columbia Universitys New Track Star
By Kwesi McDavidArno
I would first like to state that I write this article with great trepidation. I would like to say that I respect the former Mayor David Dinkins as an elder African American. I have crossed his path several times, and he strikes me as an honest and forthright man. However, I must say that my last encounter with the former Mayor was very disappointing.
The encounter occurred at Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringers public hearing on the Columbia University's expansion into West Harlem. Columbia's expansion into West Harlem has been shrouded in controversy. BlackBallot.com writer Keisha Saul wrote a groundbreaking investigative report on the issue for the July 22 issue of The Weekly Report. last month, the New York Post published its own article on the unscrupulous tactics that Columbia has utilized. Mr. Dinkins, a Columbia employee testified in favor of the project. Shortly after Dinkins gave his testimony, I approached him to request a two to three minute interview. However, after being interviewed by another news crew, Mr. Dinkins would not speak with me.
I don't know why the former Mayor did not stop to speak to me. I can't help but feel that it had something to do with the color of my skin. The other journalists were white. Or perhaps it had something to do with Mr. Dinkins's lack of connection with his former constituents.
As he said he would see the video clip, Mr. Dinkins
emailed me his statements from that day, which I have included below. The statements confirm that the former Mayor is totally out of sync with the residents of West Harlem. No one is questioning whether or not Columbia is a quality institution and a benefit to the Harlem community.
The issues of concern, and the issues that Dinkins totally ignored, are the questions of affordable housing, Black and Latino displacement from or gentrification of the community, and the building of a biotech facility. Columbia plans to house a biomedical research level3 lab right in the heart of the community and in dangerous proximity to the Hudson River.
Based on the controversy surrounding this issue and his obvious conflict of interest being a Columbia employee , the least Mayor Dinkins could have done for the constituents who elected him and made him was to stay impartial.
Remarks by David N. Dinkins
Manhattan Borough President Public Hearing:
Columbia University Manhattanville Rezoning
Community Board 9 197A Plan
Some of you know me, and know that I have some history representing this community and trying to make life better for people who live and work here.
Back in the early 1990s, while I was Mayor, the City and local community developed a series of plans to attract responsible growth to the blocks between the Henry Hudson Parkway and the Broadway IRT viaduct.
Unfortunately, those plans didnt work out.
I have studied the Universitys Manhattanville proposal and Im convinced that it can and will be a good thing for both the University and its Harlem neighbors.
In my dozen years on faculty at Columbia, I have seen firsthand how essential it is to the Citys future that we have great urban universities as engines of not only educational, but economic opportunity.
And Ive seen how todays leadership of Columbia takes very seriously the fact that it is Columbia University in the City of New York...and in the community of Harlem.
Of course, I know towngown partnerships are not without their stresses and strains, and the relationship between the Harlem community and Columbia University hasnt always been good.
I was one of those picketing Columbia back in the 1960s, so I know the history and appreciate the concerns that some Harlem residents may have about the University.
But we should give each other credit where credit is due, and not lose sight of just how much has changed since then...and the ways in which the partnership has benefited the partners.
We should acknowledge the hundreds of public health and human service programs...the educational and cultural exchanges...the workplace experiences and entrepreneurial opportunities that are here because the university and the community have worked together to make them happen.
From the Mailman School partnerships with Geoffrey Canadas Harlem Childrens Zone to address childhood asthma and obesity ...to Columbia University Medical Centers staffing of Harlem Hospital...
From Columbias oncampus Double Discovery Center a program that has given generations of local students a better chance to go to college...to the creation of a new public school for math, science and engineering...
From cultural partnerships like the ColumbiaHarlem Jazz Project ...to the kind of conversation on affirmative action I moderated at the Schomburg Center just a few months ago, cosponsored by Columbia and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund...
From cultural partnerships like the ColumbiaHarlem Jazz Project ...to the kind of conversation on affirmative action I moderated at the Schomburg Center just a few months ago, cosponsored by Columbia and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund...
From the thousands of people who live in the community and work at Columbia in good jobs with good benefits...to the millions of dollars in University contracts that now go to local and minority owned businesses.
Twothirds of the people who make a big institution like Columbia work are the payroll administrators and lab technicians...the trained electricians and master carpenters...the clerical staff and dining managers.
Working New Yorkers continue to find opportunity at places like Columbia at a time when many such jobs in the private sector are moving elsewhere.
Those are just a few of the many connections that make good partners of the Harlem community and Columbia.
They are the kinds of opportunities that I believe will only grow with the 6,000 new University jobs in Manhattanville.
No commercial developer can guarantee that.
I continue to see New York as a gorgeous mosaic and believe that places like Columbia are important parts of what makes our City unique.
If were serious about preserving New York as a place where a diversity of people can come to pursue important ideas and find economic opportunity, then we want to make a place for Columbia to continue to be a part of this community instead of taking its building projects and the jobs that go with them somewhere else.
Columbia University could have no better partners in this venture than the people of Harlem ...and it works the other way around as well.
Jena 6
American South
CBC
Columbia University
s 
Arno
s public hearing on the Columbia University's expansion into West Harlem. Columbia's expansion into West Harlem has been shrouded in controversy. 
BlackBallot.com writer 
Mr. Dinkins, a Columbia employee testified in favor of the project. Shortly after Dinkins gave his testimony, I approached him to request a two to three minute interview. However, after being interviewed by another news crew, Mr. Dinkins would not speak with me.
I don't know why the former Mayor did not stop to speak to me. I can't help but feel that it had something to do with the color of my skin. The other journalists were white. Or perhaps it had something to do with Mr. Dinkins's lack of connection with his former constituents.
Some of you know me, and know that I have some history representing this community and trying to make life better for people who live and work here.
town
a program that has given generations of local students a better chance to go to college...to the creation of a new public school for math, science and engineering...