Community Corner

Tessa Majors Deserved Safer Morningside Park, Harlem Says

Community members aired their concerns about Morningside Park and hopes for its future in the wake of December's fatal stabbing.

Harlem residents attend a community forum to discuss the future of Morningside Park after the fatal stabbing of a Barnard College student.
Harlem residents attend a community forum to discuss the future of Morningside Park after the fatal stabbing of a Barnard College student. (Brendan Krisel/Patch)

HARLEM, NY — Hundreds of Harlem residents gathered in the neighborhood Wednesday night for a community forum to discuss the future of Morningside Park in the wake of the deadly December stabbing of Barnard College freshman Tessa Majors.

Harlemites — and concerned residents from other nearby neighborhoods — said that safety in the park has been an issue since long before the stabbing, and called on the city to provide more programs and activity for area youth in an effort to make the park safer. The forum was organized by Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer and the Friends of the Morningside Park.

"It often takes horrible tragedy — I've been doing this work for 40 years — to bring people together. That's the worst part," Brewer said during opening remarks of the forum.

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During the forum Brewer called for "sustainable" youth development programs in the area near Morningside Park as a solution to safety concerns. The borough president said that community centers should be open more often, for longer hours and on weekends to give young people alternatives to being on the street.

Majors was walking through the park when she was approached by a group of teenage muggers and held up at knifepoint, NYPD Chief of Detectives Rodney Harrison said in December. During the robbery, one of the muggers stabbed her repeatedly in the stomach, Harrison said.

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Three minors have been taken in for questioning in the wake of Majors' death. One of the boys is facing charges of felony murder, weapons possession and robbery, but is not suspected to have stabbed Majors himself. The 13-year-old will be held in a juvenile detention facility until the beginning of his trial.

City Councilman Mark Levine also attended the forum and said that the age of the suspects in the murder is "doubly devastating."

"We are still awaiting the details on that investigation, but it's not too soon to say that we are not doing enough for the young people of Northern Manhattan," Levine said. "Morningside Park, which is so critical to the livability of uptown to life throughout Upper Manhattan, must be a place where every single person feels safe at all times of day."

The city councilman said that he will fight for full-time social workers in community schools and to expand after school programs and summer employment programs for teenagers during the upcoming city budget process.

After speeches and updates given by elected officials, the local police precinct and other community leaders, residents broke out into small discussion groups on topics such as parks improvements, restorative justice, youth programming, public safety and building bridges between communities. After the sessions, group facilitators shared solutions and concerns identified by the residents with the rest of the forum.

Longtime Manhattanville resident Emma Bariacelli decided to attend the forum because she was saddened by the death of Majors. Bariacelli feels there is a gap between the Columbia and Barnard schools and the surrounding communities that must be fixed, and mentioned concerns about Morningside Park's safety at night.

"Yes I go to Morningside Park, but I go in the daytime. I don't go in the night," Emma Barriacelli, a longtime Manhattanville resident, said. "The parks around here are not safe at night, for a long time."

Harlem resident Linda T, who did not want to provide her full last name, said that she listened in on sessions for restorative justice and youth programming.

"We all have to have our feet in," Harlem resident Linda T said. "If we don't invest in our youth then our future is really different. If we don't understand our youth and give them what they need to have healthy, strong lives our community is going to be having problems."


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