August 4, 2018
The Inwood rezoning plan was approved on Thursday by the City Council’s zoning subcommittee and rejected by community activists uptown. As the plan moved forward toward an up or down vote by the full Council next week, a dozen people occupied the Wadsworth Avenue office of Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez to convince him to vote No.
By 9 PM Friday night only a few souls remained on the scene. Deborah Cardona, a school teacher and lifelong resident of Washington Heights, stood outside the shuttered office and provided this summary of the occupation for the Gazette: around 11:30 Thursday night 6-8 NYPD responded to an alarm going off at the office and left without making anyone leave or arresting anybody. When the office reopened on Friday morning, an understanding was reached whereby 3 people max could remain so the staff could work. Around lunchtime one of them, Ayisha Olgive, stepped out briefly and was prevented from re-entering, even to get her personal belongings. By then security was being handled by the Council’s Sergeant-at-Arms and a standoff ensued at the entrance. Ayisha was arrested by NYPD but was back by around 6PM. There was a press conference after which the activists remained outside the office for several more hours playing drums and chanting before going home. They plan to keep the pressure on until the vote next week.
Ale M of Washington Heights told the Gazette that this “is not just about Inwood. It’s about the whole city, the whole country. The world. Globalization. I was in Portugal when it was awful, and now it’s gentrifying too.” People are being pushed out of their communities everywhere, she said.
The full Council votes on Inwood rezoning next Wednesday, August 8.
