Residents, Politicians Rally For Local Jobs At New George Washington Bridge Terminal

WASHINGTON HEIGHTS, NY — Washington Heights residents and elected officials protested outside the newly-renovated and long-delayed retail section of the George Washington Bridge bus terminal Wednesday night to demand the Port Authority, developers and retail tenants uphold promises to hire from within the local community.

Picketers stood outside the new Marshalls store — one of the big-box retailers that will be moving into the terminal — and chanted "What do we want? Jobs! When do we need them? Now!" and "Respect, respect, respect the community!"

"The Port Authority and the developers promised out community that most of the jobs that will be created here will come to the local residents of Northern Manhattan," City Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez told Patch at the protest. "What we found out is that most of the jobs right now, that they did not start a process to hire local."

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Marshalls held hiring events at the a Workforce 1 center on West 125th Street in Harlem this week, but did not coordinate any hiring events at a center on 181st Street in Washington Heights, Rodriguez told Patch.

The developers of the new retail terminal — a public-private partnership between the Port Authority and an entity called the George Washington Bridge Bus Station Development Venture — have not begun outreach to local business districts, nonprofits or elected officials to spread the word about hundreds of potential job openings at the terminal, Rodriguez said.

"This is about demanding respect, demanding that they fix any mistake they have made on not hiring local, and also to work with the local businesses that have made agreements to establish themselves in this community," Rodriguez told Patch.

Several other politicians such as Borough President Gale Brewer, State Senator Marisol Alcantara, State Assemblywoman Carmen De La Rosa and Congressman Adriano Espaillat attended Wednesday night's rally. The politicians were joined by union workers striking in front of the terminal's new Spectrum store and community activists.

In May, the Port Authority opened the renovated bus concourse at the George Washington Bridge terminal after two years of delays and nearly $20 million over budget. The new concourse features seating for 125 people, new Greyhound bus lines and greater handicap accessibility, officials said. But many of the retail and community spaces that were promised during the renovation have not opened.

During a March 16 community meeting the developers behind the bus station came under fire for misleading small businesses that leased space in the new station. Due to the construction setbacks, small businesses have had to delay their opening by years, throwing many of the mom-and-pop shops into a financial hole.

Washington Heights residents are owed jobs at the new terminal because they endured disruptive construction in their neighborhood for nearly eight years, Congressman Adriano Espaillat told Patch.

"The community was hospitable and friendly, and didn't really require much from the developer because we knew these stores would provide jobs for local residents," Espaillat told Patch. "As it turns out Marshalls, at WorkForce 1, are not interviewing or making an effort to hire people from the local community that was impacted by the closure of the terminal and that suffered the hardships and consequences of having this terminal closed."

Photo by Patch