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Inwood Politicians to Hold Dueling Community Meetings on Columbia Project

By DNAinfo Staff on March 17, 2011 2:32pm

Elected officials Councilmen Robert Jackson and Ydanis Rodriguez, State Senator Adriano Espaillat  and other politicians at a January event. The men will hold separate meetings on a Columbia University construction project.
Elected officials Councilmen Robert Jackson and Ydanis Rodriguez, State Senator Adriano Espaillat and other politicians at a January event. The men will hold separate meetings on a Columbia University construction project.
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DNAinfo/Carla Zanoni

By Gabriela Resto-Montero

DNA Reporter/Producer

MANHATTAN — A feud between Inwood City Councilmen Robert Jackson, City Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez and State Senator Adriano Espaillat over a Columbia University construction project has resulted in dueling community meetings scheduled for this weekend.

Jackson will hold his meeting on the Columbia Baker Field project 6:30 p.m. Friday at the Good Sheperd School Auditorium on Isham Street, between Cooper Street and Seaman Avenue.

Meanwhile, Espaillat and Rodriguez will host a meeting 2 p.m. Sunday at Northeaster Academy at 532 West 215th Street.

The dueling meetings are the culmination of a feud between the politicians that erupted in a shouting match between Rodriguez and Jackson at a City Council meeting Tuesday, the Daily News reported.

Rodriguez and Espaillat had been pushing for more of a say in the construction negotiations with the school, the News reported.

Jackson accused the two men of creating racial divisions.

"You've got a problem, come say it to my face," Jackson said to the New York Observer.

"Don't try to make me look racist against Dominicans. I have done more for Dominicans on Upper Manhattan than any of them combined," he said to the paper.

Now, the different meetings on the construction project are leaving some residents to say that they're being put in the middle.

"Personally, I really resent being held hostage to egos of political figures who are supposed to have our best interest at heart," said resident Zaida Grunes on Twitter.