would purchase a building adjacent to that station. In September 2002, the university was in negotiations to provide funding for the renovation of the 110th Street station. As a condition of the funding allocation for the station renovation at 103rd Street, the university wanted work on the project to be expedited. Residents of Morningside Heights approved of the renovations plans, but were concerned that the expedited repairs would come at the cost of damaging the stations' historic elements. Block associations near the 103rd Street station contracted a firm to develop a plan to renovate the station quickly while maintaining its historic elements. A similar plan was already completed for the 110th Street station. The MTA was expected to decide whether preservation or speed would be prioritized in the station renovation projects by the end of the year. The design of the station renovations at the 110th Street and 116th Street was met with controversy as local community activists believed that the plan to include artwork from the MTA's Arts for Transit program would damage the stations' original decorative tiling, which had remained untouched since the stations opened. The community activists believed that the new artwork would also be illegal for going against restrictions put into place when they were landmarked. The MTA had planned to install a small bronze subway track and train to be inlaid within the station walls surrounded by sepia-toned photographs of the neighborhood at 116th Street. In December 2002, Manhattan Community Board 7 voted in favor of the plan to include artwork from the MTA's Arts for Transit program at the 103rd Street station, which was not landmarked, but voted against the plan to include new artwork at the landmarked 110th Street and 116th Street. On February 4, 2003, Community Board 7 voted in favor of renovating the 103rd Street and 110th Street stations, but against the inclusion of any new artwork in the stations, going against the board's initial vote to support the installation of artwork at 103rd Street. The opposition to the addition of artwork at that stop stemmed from the belief among opponents of the plan for artwork that the station's historic features would be more vulnerable as the station was not landmarked. Columbia University contributed $1 million to the station renovation project at 116th Street after the MTA said it would have to put off the renovation projects in Manhattan due to