College Journalism
The 2020 Census and Ranked Choice Voting: What Community Board Nine Wants the District to Know
October 30, 2019
Residents of Morningside Heights, Manhattanville and Hamilton Heights gathered at the general community board meeting held at Fortune Society on October 17 to discuss critical issues that will be taking place in the near future.
The 2020 Census was the first topic of the evening. By April 1, every household will receive an invitation to participate in the census. Leading up to that, there are many concerns that community board 9 had to cover. Julie Menin, director of the census for New York City opened the discussion. Menin stressed the fact that completing the census accurately and on time is a responsibility that will affect the city for the next ten years, “One of the main reasons the census is so crucial is the federal government allocates over $650 billion dollars each year” said Menin, “funds that can go towards for public education, public housing, Medicaid, senior centers and many other important programs.” Community Board No. 9’s response rate for the 2010 census came in at 68.9%, compared to the national average of 76% and New York City’s average response rate of 62%.
Ranked choice voting was another hot issue of the meeting. Ranked choice voting is the process of ranking candidates on the special election or primary ballots from first to fifth, rather than voting for one candidate. Voters are not required to rank all of the options; they are still permitted to vote for one candidate. The ranked-choice voting option allows the community to have a stronger impact and make their voice heard. Ben Kallos took the floor to educate the community on ranked-choice voting. Kallos explained, “If one candidate does not receive more than 50% of the vote, the candidate with the fewest votes will be dropped from the list, and then voters will redistribute their second-choice votes until a candidate receives 51% of the votes.” This voting system would replace the current primary system, which results in a runoff election if a candidate does not receive more than 50% of the votes.
The next general board meeting for Community Board No. 9 will cover participation budgeting, public transportation, housing issues and much more. The meeting will be held on Thursday, November 17 at Castle Gardens on West 140th St.
Where is the Low-Income and Affordable Housing in Morningside Heights?
November 20, 2019
In 2017, 29.7% of tenants in Morningside Heights were spending more than half of their household income on rent. Assembly Member Daniel O'Donnell said, “The most important issue in the world and in our neighborhood is housing.” In Morningside Heights, affordable housing has been a major concern for many years now, especially as the neighborhood continues to change and new luxury buildings are constructed.
Kofi Boateng, Executive Director of West Harlem Development Corporation has announced that the WHDC is currently working with a developer on a site located on 152nd St. between Riverside Dr. and Broadway. This site would be used as mixed-income housing as well as senior housing, aiming to open 100 units. In the past, the West Harlem Development Corporation has run into several problems when trying to implement affordable housing. According to the Columbia Spectator, the WHDC has struggled with little progress made over the course of several years, plans out of their budget, loss of partnership and trouble negotiating with sellers.
Community Board No. 9 has pushed forward a motion regarding an empty lot located at 1763 Amsterdam Ave. The site previously belonged to the Childs Memorial Temple Church of God in Christ, where Malcolm X’s funeral services were held. The original plan to open a transitional homeless shelter caused a lot of backlash from the community, including the Greater Harlem Coalition, stating, “Community Board No. 9 needs residential affordable housing. Why was this site changed to transitional housing?”
The community board has urged the owner of 1763 Amsterdam Ave. to work with the West Harlem Development Corporation to instead implement permanent affordable housing for families who were formerly homeless. “We are not in opposition to homeless families,” Barry Weinberg, Chair of Community Board No. 9 explained, “but we are in opposition to warehousing them in a 400 studio unit building.” Director Boateng added that they are currently working with an architect and if the site is used for senior housing, they will be able to establish 125 units; and regular affordable housing will come out to about 75 units. Boateng stated that both have very good potential.
The Inconsistency of the M11 Bus
December 19, 2019
On a bright and early Monday morning, several Hamilton Heights residents are scattered around the Riverside Drive and West 139th Street station waiting for the M11 bus. It’s cold, windy and each person takes turns periodically checking the time and looking to see if the bus is in the distance. There are no bus shelters along Riverside Drive, which makes it even more difficult to brace the cold wind that comes off the Hudson River, just a few hundred yards away from the station. The scheduled bus times are 8:58 A.M., 9:06 A.M. and 9:16 A.M. The M11 bus didn’t show up until 9:20 A.M., and it was crowded.
Elderly passengers are forced to stand because all of the seats are occupied, students take off their backpacks and parents hold their children close in an effort to take up less space. At the front of the bus, a woman is on speakerphone with 311. A man beside her asks, “How long did you wait today?” “Over twenty minutes,” she replies, “A bus did come, but it went straight past me without stopping. I was going to call then, but my hands were frozen.” The man nods, “All we can do is call. Keep doing it.” This is an average day on the 11 bus. Outside on the street, people are walking faster than the speed the bus is traveling at.
According to NYC Bus Turnaround, a service that offers report cards on the speed and dependability of MTA buses, the M11 on average travels at 4.6 mph. The average human travels at 3 mph. It states that the M11’s on-time performance is only 48% on time, which is worse than 84% of New York City buses.
Resident Fred Sherman of Claremont Avenue explained, “It’s really horrible. I’ve waited for the bus on many occasions and been forced to take a cab instead and end up paying much more than I would like to. Not everybody has that option.”
The primary issue with the M11 bus is the lack of consistent service. When buses do arrive (much later than they were scheduled to), they are overcrowded and people are uncomfortable. Meanwhile, there are cross-town buses further downtown that are arriving on time with plenty of vacant seats. In a community with riders who are disabled, elderly, living in public housing or trying to get to school and work; it is crucial to have reliable public transportation. People of the neighborhood have been voicing their complaints about the M11 bus for years now and nothing has changed.
Community Board 9 represents Morningside Heights, Manhattanville and Hamilton Heights. During the October public session where members of the community are able to voice their concerns, one prevalent issue everyone agreed on is the instability of the M11 bus. The bus service begins at Riverbank State Park on Riverside Drive between 144th and 145th Street. The service continues on Riverside Drive and leads to Amsterdam Avenue, serving the major roadways of these neighborhoods.
People of the community shared their experiences with the M11 bus, waiting over half an hour for a bus to pick them up, despite the numerous scheduled times buses were intended to arrive. Along Riverside Drive, people are waiting outside in the blustering wind right beside the Hudson River. Some pointed out that they wait far too long for a bus to show up and then some stations have up to three buses all pulling in at the same time. According to The Gothamist, more than 16 percent of M11 buses arrive within two minutes of a previous bus's scheduled arrival time.
Even Barry Weinberg, chairperson of the board, commented “The M11 is particularly bad.” Weinberg explained to the community that in August there was a meeting with the MTA about the Manhattan bus network redesign project taking place next year, which will take into consideration what the community needs in terms of bus services. At the meeting, the M11 bus service was brought up and how the community desperately needs more reliable transportation.
Coral Caporale, resident of Riverside Drive, has been struggling with the M11 bus for years now and has done all she can in an effort to raise awareness for the inconsistency of the bus, “I’ve called the MTA, I’ve tweeted at them and I’ve brought it up to our local board members, I don’t know what else I could possibly do to get functioning public transport.” Caporale recalled a story she told to her local representatives at a meeting last year, “In the evening, I was taking the 11 bus from 97th Street back uptown. I waited forty minutes for it to arrive. When it pulled in to 125th Street, the driver told us to get off the bus, in the rain. I told the bus driver no. I said, in Spanish and English, ‘Excuse me, we are not moving. I waited over thirty minutes for a bus to arrive and now you are asking me to get off when I haven’t even reached my stop?’ The driver told me there was an issue with other buses in route getting bunched at the same station, which meant we would all have to pay the fare on the next bus.” The M11 suspending service is a very common occurrence. Caporale said that when she told her story at the meeting, several other residents chimed in to say they have also been told to step off of busses before arriving at their destination.
In the past three months, the official New York City Bus Transit Twitter account has posted eight tweets to alert followers of delays on Amsterdam Avenue, a main road for the M11 bus route. Of these delays, three were due to traffic, two were due to FDNY activity, one due to street paving, one due to construction and one due to a local event. Outside of the neighborhood, Columbus Avenue has only had two delays posted, and 9th Avenue only had one.
“It’s really horrible, there are so many people in the area who depend on this bus; people from the projects, the elderly, the disabled, students, people trying to get to work. I think it’s a systemic problem” said Rosa Angustia, mother of two, “I’ve taken cross-town buses and all kinds of routes throughout the boroughs and I think the 11 bus has to be one of the worst, which just so happens to serve a large community of color.”
In a Forbes article reporting the MTA’s long-term plans, a study showed that between 2015 and 2018, the number of passengers riding the bus decreased by 12.5%. In April, the MTA put the latest fare hike into effect, raising a weekly Metrocard from $30 to $33 and a monthly Metrocard from $121 to $127. With over five million people in New York City using MTA service on a daily basis, the people of Morningside Heights, Manhattanville and Hamilton Heights are left to wonder, where are the fares they pay going?