Northattan

Grant's Tomb is one of Morningside Heights' key tourist attractions. Photo by Bebeto Matthews/AP

A 15-year lobbying effort to have Morningside Heights designated a historic district is about to pay off, but the area marked for approval may be much smaller than some had hoped.

Since 1996, the Morningside Heights Historic District Committee has argued that the area from 110^th to 129^th streets, between Riverside Drive and Amsterdam Avenue, is worthy of historic district status from the Landmarks Preservation Commission, pointing to its architecture, elevated natural boundaries and high density of historic institutions. Yet since the commission officially began discussions in September 2010, it has agreed to cite only the area between Claremont Avenue and Riverside  — a small fraction of the original proposal.

Gretchen Borges, vice president of the Historic District Committee, says the original proposal does a historic neighborhood greater justice. “All the land was owned by institutions for a long time, so when development occurred, it occurred all at once,” Borges said “So the neighborhood seems all of a piece because it was basically built all at the same time, and that’s not characteristic of the rest of New York. It makes the neighborhood stand together in a coherent way that we would like to see preserved.”

The Landmarks Preservation Commission did not respond to a request for comment. Its final decision is still pending, and expected within the coming weeks.

With historic district status, Morningside Heights architecture would be protected as New York City landmarks. A co-op apartment or business hoping to replace its windows would face little conflict obtaining a permit, but ambitious changes to a building’s design would be subject to formal review with the landmarks commission.

“People are under the mistaken impression that once you’re designated, your buildings are frozen in time,” said Gregory Dietrich, the founder of Gregory Dietrich Preservation Consulting and a supporter of the historic designation. “Any visit to the Landmarks Commission on a Tuesday, when they hold the hearings, will tell you otherwise. They’re constantly approving new additions.” Dietrich points to the approval of a large addition to the base of Hearst Tower, a landmarked building on 57^th Street,  as an example of how flexible the commission can be.

The area encompassed by the committee’s proposal already includes several designated landmarks. The 116^th Street subway station, Riverside Park and Grant’s Tomb are registered as state or national landmarks, giving the city little authority over them St. Paul’s Chapel, Fire Station 47 and St. Luke’s Hospital are already New York City landmarks.

Low Library is the only section of Columbia University currently with landmark status. Committee members note that Columbia, one of the crown jewels of the area, has been reluctant to get on board. Dietrich says that Maxine Griffith, executive vice president for Government and Community Affairs, has told the Morningside Heights group that it was premature to talk about Columbia’s involvement before the  city had set the district’s boundaries. Columbia is not part of the landmarks commission’s proposal, but would be covered by the Morning Side Heights group’s plan.

But Dietrich speculates that other motives may be at work. He notes that Emily Lloyd, executive vice president of the university, commissioned an inventory on historic properties and produce design guidelines on future alterations within the neighborhood. Dietrich believes the Northwest Science Building, which began construction on 120^th and Broadway in 2007, might not have received a Certificate of Appropriateness. “With district status,” said Dietrich, “at the very least there would have been consideration that this is a very historic crossroads.”

New York State Assemblyman Daniel O’Donnell, a founding member of the historic committee, notes that Columbia was actively engaged with the committee during its first proposal in 1996, but persuaded the committee not to include Morningside Drive, where the university owned property. “I think that’s ridiculous,” said O’Donnell. “What is a historic district? It’s an area where buildings are consistent. I think if you look at the structures on Morningside Drive, they are as consistent as the buildings on Riverside Drive. I would like someone to point out to me the differences.”

Columbia’s communications office did not respond to a request for comment.

Andrew S. Dolkart, a Morningside Heights historian and an architecture professor at Columbia, said he thinks the university is “perfectly happy not having landmarks in the area,” adding, “There are certainly some sites it’s no secret that Columbia would like to develop, and designation would probably inhibit it.”

Regardless of the landmarks commission’s decision, the Morningside Heights Committee plans to continue lobbying for wider district recognition. “We do have resources at our disposal,” said Dietrich.

New York comedian George Carlin opening a comedy festival in 2007 (AP Photo/E. Pablo Kosmicki)

What was supposed to be the Uniform and Transportation meeting for Community Board 9, to decide whether it would support renaming 121^st Street for comedian George Carlin, took an unexpected turn on Oct. 6 when a group of priests and others from Corpus Christi Church, Carlin’s church as a child, appeared at the meeting.

“We have some problems,” said Carolyn Thompson, the head of the Uniform and Transportation Committee, as soon as comedian Kevin Bartini, who is spearheading the renaming campaign, walked in. This committee is responsible for deciding whether a recommendation to rename the street should be passed to the City Council.

As Bartini presented his case, he said, the church contingent was silent. But then one older churchwoman said she had lived in the neighborhood for 40-plus years and never even heard of George Carlin. Another said Carlin didn’t even grow up in the area, nor did he die there, or do anything for the neighborhood. Bartini said he was fuming.

“Carlin lived in the area for 20 years! Are they joking?!” said Bartini lividly. At the end of the meeting, no vote was taken. Instead, the members of the church, the people who live on that block of 121^st Street and Bartini set up a meeting where the community could voice their opinions on why they are for or against the name change.

The Rev. Raymond Rafferty of Corpus Christi Church declined an interview, but instead referred to a sample letter and daily flier that he and the church have distributed to oppose the renaming.

The memo said that people in the community are opposed to “Carlin’s anti-religious rants, his advocacy of substance abuse and his misanthropic tirade about being happy to see people suffering because of natural disaster.” Carlin’s comedy also based some jokes on his atheism and made a mockery of Corpus Christi, though that is not mentioned in the flier.

Sample letters are available in the church vestibule, where people can sign a copy or send one of their own.  The letter, which is supposed to be sent to the Rev. Georgiette Morgan-Thomas, the chair of Community Board 9, says that Carlin’s vulgarity does not make him a role model for the children who attend the Corpus Christi School on the block. The letter also states, “I know of no way that George Carlin has contributed to the community.”

For his part, Bartini needs more support from people on the block instead of fans across the world. Corpus Christi says that by getting signatures on the petition only from out-of-town fans, it is a “frivolous attempt by geographically dispersed fans of George Carlin to bestow upon him some sort of posthumorous honor.”

At a recent rectory meeting, Rev. Rafferty, Bartini, Randy Jurgensen and two other supporters of the street renaming met for two hours to discuss how to proceed. Jurgensen is a parishioner at Corpus Christi and went to school with Carlin.

“If George knew this was going on, he would be pissed off,” said Jurgensen.

Jurgensen says the school was run differently from the way other Catholic schools were run.

“We dressed in civilian clothes,” he said. “We entered into the same door and boys and girls sat alongside each other.”

Because the school already seemed so liberal, by Catholic school standards, Jurgensen said he doesn’t see how Carlin’s performances could create an uproar over the street renaming.

“I am in no way challenging the priests,” he said. “What I’m hoping to do is show them, in a proper way, the non-staged George Carlin that never forgot the neighborhood.”

Jurgensen said, for example, that when one of their classmates fell on hard times, “Carlin paid his rent for 22 months.” When that man, a New York City police officer, died, Carlin flew in and paid for the funeral, Jurgensen said. Carlin also flew another police officer classmate to California to see his own doctor about a heart problem, and supported a shelter for battered women, he said.

Bartini said he went to the meeting at the church not to fight them, but to hear them out. Rev. Rafferty expressed concerns that the church’s letterhead address would have to change because of the street renaming, Bartini said, but he assured the priest that it would not change the address: The street would still be 121^st Street, and Carlin Street or Carlin Way would be just a co-name.

“I pointed out that we are living in a democracy, and the majority are on our side,” said Bartini in regards to their meeting. “At the end of the day, it is a majority rules type of thing.”

But until Bartini can spread the word around that actual block and ask residents (not fans) about how they would feel about the street renaming, the vote will be postponed. They will regroup in January or February next year.

George Carlin grew up in Morningside Heights. Photo by Jeff Robbins/AP Photo

Community Council 9 in Morningside Heights will vote on whether to name a block of 121st Street between Amsterdam and Broadway after the late comedian George Carlin—who grew up there.

Erinn Cawthon reports.

UPDATE: Carlin Street Campaign Sparks Controversy by Erinn Cawthon, 11/11/11.

Columbia University’s sheltered fraternity row on West 114th Street between Amsterdam and Broadway was tense Tuesday, after New York City police staged a dawn raid to arrest five undergraduate students on charges that they sold ecstasy, marijuana, cocaine, LSD and Adderall from several fraternity houses and campus dorms.

Columbia frat boys shielded themselves from reporters as they entered the Alpha Epsilon Pi brownstone on West 114th Street. Photo by Carlos Mayorga/Northattan.

Along fraternity row, students rushed down the street, covered their faces with hoods and turned away or even cursed at reporters swarming outside the brownstone fraternity houses. As a Channel 2 news crew filmed outside one house, residents inside lowered all the blinds.

“It doesn’t surprise me,” said undergraduate student Mark Holloway of the drug bust.

“I want to feel bad for the kids. People here are smart,” said Columbia junior Lew Bibler, 20, who lives near the frat houses, reflecting the somber reaction of many students at the news swirled around campus. “I’m sure they’re good kids. College is expensive.”

The arrests marked the climax of “Operation Ivy League,” a five-month undercover narcotics investigation, in which police say they made 31 drug buys totaling $11,000 from Columbia students at Alpha Epsilon Pi, Pi Kappa Alpha and Psi Upsilon fraternities, as well as the Intercultural House and East Campus dorms.

Harrison David, 20, faces the most serious charges of the five students for his sale of cocaine, according to the Special Narcotics Prosecutor's Office. Photo courtesy of Facebook.com.

The arrested students, Harrison David, Adam Klein, Chris Coles and Jose Stephan Perez, all 20; and Michael Wymbs, 22, were arraigned this afternoon in Manhattan Criminal Court. All five pleaded not guilty, and bail was set for each. The Special Narcotics Prosecutor’s Office said Wymbs was released quickly when his parents arrived with a cashier’s check to post bail. The office said the other students would be sent to Riker’s Island jail Tuesday night if bail was not paid.

The operation also led to arrests of three people who police say supplied the students with drugs to sell on campus: Roberto Lagares, Megan Asper and Miron Sarzynski,. Sarzynski faces additional charges of plotting to kidnap a pair of rival cocaine traffickers.

Police said that in searching the five Columbia students’ rooms this morning, they found a bottle of LSD, 50 MDMA (ecstasy) tablets, 15 Adderall pills, more than half a pound of marijuana and approximately $2,000 cash.

New York City Police Detective Stephen Arienta said that Coles, who is charged with selling marijuana, told arresting officers this morning “I just sell it to pay tuition.” Arienta said David told the officers “Why do you think I have to do this,” that his father  “won’t pay my tuition.”

Adam Klein, 20, is accused of selling Altoids laced with LSD. Photo courtesy of Facebook.com.

Intelligence from other investigations and some community complaints called into Crimestoppers led to the initial investigation, said Kati Cornell of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor’s Office. Cornell said that Operation Ivy League began with an investigation of David. A young undercover officer posed as a would-be distributor who wanted to sell drugs at another school outside of New York City. David referred the undercover officer to the other students, who also supplied the officer with drugs, according to Cornell.

An acquaintance of David, who declined to be identified, described him as a “low-key guy, subdued in a pothead kind of way.”

Another student who asked not to be identified said he knew Mike Wymbs as “a normal, likeble guy. The fact that he is very much a conventional Columbia kid who was probably preparing for finals when this happened underscores just how surreal the bust is.” Wymbs was also the former vice president of the School of Engineering’s student council.

Few students expressed surprise to hear of a campus drug bust. “It was common knowledge,” said Ashley, a resident of East Campus, of the students’ drug dealing on campus. “That’s gonna happen at any school.”

Columbia University reacted to the arrests with an official statement, noting that “the alleged behavior of the students involved in this incident goes against not only state and federal law, but also University policy and the principles we have set – and strive together to maintain – for our community.”

Jose Stephan Perez, a.k.a. Stephan Vincenzo, 20, one of the arrested, was a member of the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity. Photo courtesy of Pi Kappa Alpha.

Police said they arrested Lagares, one of the alleged drug suppliers, on Sunday afternoon in Bedford Stuyvesant. Sarzysnski and Asper were arrested on Oct. 27 in the East Village. Sarzynski had sold cocaine, LSD and DMT to undercover officers on multiple occasions and manufactured drugs in his apartment with the help of Asper, his girlfriend, according to the police charges.

Police said Sarzynski also attempted to hire an undercover policeman to kidnap rival cocaine traffickers whom he believed had stolen money from him. According to the Special Narcotics Prosecutor’s Office, Sarzynski told the undercover officer that he would shock the victims with a stun gun, hit them in the head and rob them. Police said he said, “Then I would have done something nasty like put a few drops of acid in his mouth and then leave him there.” Sarzynski also told the officer to kill the victims if no ransom money was provided.

“An ominous aspect of this investigation was the involvement of college students in the violent drug dealing business,” said Special Narcotics Prosecutor Bridget G. Brennan. “The students arrested today supplied dangerous substances to their friends and other students to turn a quick profit, but subjected themselves to risks, of which they were either ignorant or in denial. These students were playing with fire.”

Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly added, “The fact that a supplier to Columbia students was willing to kill his rivals should demolish any argument that drugs on campus is a victimless crime. This is no way to work your way through college.”