Jeremiah of Vanishing New York deconstructs the deconstruction of Harlem on his blog. He visited the strip of businesses that were being pushed out on Frederick Douglass Boulevard, near 125th Street. Some of these businesses had been in the neighborhood for two decades, and included House of Seafood, Manna’s, Bobby’s Happy House, Roti Plus and City High. The businesses that hadn’t already accepted the original deal offered by Kimco Realty, were offered a new deal which they settled upon recently. They have until September 30th to vacate their businesses.
As we know, all of these (with the exception of Manna’s) are small businesses that likely won’t rise from the ashes. While we definitely want to see a “better” Harlem on the horizon, do we really want it to look like Everytown, USA? Most people love the diversity of New York. The mom and pop businesses that have virtually disappeared from other cities were part of the character of the community (for better or worst). In the midst of a national mortgage crisis and bank failures, fears about moving Harlem too fast, too soon are real. Are there any safety nets in place and where will that leave Harlem when it “all falls down”?
Related: City Limits, “Maybe Beloved Shops Don’t Have to Disappear.”
Dwayne Neckles
July 27, 2008
Wow. I appreciate all of raw comments coming from both sides of folks who are passionate about what they believe in. As someone who doesn’t know all the facts and is still trying to understand the plus and minuses of gentrification, I do appreciate all of the commenters here for shedding that light and wanted to just say that.
….Though there seems no right answer, maybe life is not meant to be that simple.
… and notsoeloquent you went in extra hard for jugular (with your comment). Ouch, lol, Take it easy!
narmer
July 27, 2008
If Middle Class Blacks can afford 60 Thousand Dollar Cars, 3 Thousand Dollar Watches, Three Thousand Dollar Rims, Gold Fronts, and all the latest in fashions, They can afford a Down Payment for a 2.5 Million Dollar Apartment
Yvonne
July 26, 2008
And furthermore, If this was benefiting middle class blacks that would be a good thing. But what middle class black person you know can afford a 21/2 million dollar apartment?
Yvonne
July 26, 2008
To Anon with love,
If you are black which I am assuming you are since you state you grew up in Harlem, it seems as though you hate yourself and the people you were raised around.
There are plenty of good hard working people in “black” Harlem. However, as you said, they were not provided with the same opportunities as the rest of NYC. They only recently started caring about Harlem when white people began to take interest in it.
People don’t choose to be poor, it is a circumstance that is a reality.
I make six figures and can’t even afford any of the new apartments going up in Harlem. This is rediculous. When they say they provide affordable housing within the new projects that are going up they make the income requirements so low that you can’t actually afford the lower price. So my income is too high to qualify for special lotteries and the lower priced apartments.
this is all a big political game. I am all for more stores and different cultures moving into Harlem. However, that is not what is happening.
Harlem will soon be filled with all rich non-black people and all of its heritage and history will be revamped into somthing unrecognizable by any person who originated from there.
Instead of bashing the people that are there why not work to help find a solution to some of the issues?
Where do you work? Do you have the power to hire someone from Harlem?
If your not part of the solution you are a part of the problem. You are the worst kind also because you are a halemite. Think about it.
GDAWG
July 25, 2008
I don’t know bout ya’ll but I been seeing Jungle Fever is all over Harlem. Is it a by product of gentrification? Holla! One of those unexpected consequences.
anon2
July 25, 2008
Harlemite -
are you kidding me?: “there’s plenty of space to throw up condos, the midtown west side area between 10th and 12 avenues is just one area but yet they want to focus on stripping harlems ethnicity, and culture, “deghettofying” the hood. all of this has been purposely planned.”
What are you – a conspiracy theorist? Harlem is hot because it is a beautiful area full of rich architecture, 2 well known instituions of higher education (Columbia and City College), an arts scene, and convenience to midtown.
They are throwing condos up everywhere in Manhattan. Developers certainly aren’t picking on Harlem to move black people out. In fact, the majority of developments are built on abandoned lots. THAT is not displacing people.
WAKE UP!
Like many people on this post agree – Gentrification is GOOD for Harlem, especially if you have been here through the rough times.
ANON
July 25, 2008
Harlemite said, “to anon1, so harlem isn’t a area of hardworking, and ambitious people too?”
No, it’s not. I’m Black, born and raised here. Only went away for college, returned and built a career. Since the mid 60′s Harlem’s been a marginalized & lesser quality place to live. 90% of Black Harlem has been content living a marginalized life. 90% did not mind not having a bank anywhere close, not having a CVS or Duane Reade or a grocery store.
90% of Harlem is institutionalized with a “Bodega” mentality. They’ve never been anywhere, they’re under educated and under informed, 90% of Black Harlem has no clue as to how marginalized their existence was, and is.
99% of those living in Public Housing in Harlem are fine & comfortable with that existence and don’t aspire for anything beyond that. 99% of those in harlem on Welfare – Foodstamps are comfortable and fine with that hand out.
A very large % of Black (and Hispanic) Harlem does not want or aspire for “change”. They want the status quo of their “Ghetto/Welfare Existence” and are resistant to anything that threatens that.
Let’s be honest. Harlem of the 1970′s, 1980′s, and up through ’97 or so was a marginalized community on every parameter. Change began with Guiliani, bless his heart, when he cleaned up the ZOO 125th St. was and ended the merchants lining up and selling everything they wanted on 125th St. and created that African Market that was placed on 116th and Lenox (now the Renaissance Bldg).
The Fairway arrived on the far West Edge, the parking lot that stood where CVS now was developed and Harlem finally started to improve. Decent life starting taking root in Harlem with a Bank, Duane Reade, etc. Up until 10 year ago, WE NEVER HAD THESE BASICS.
Harlem was TOTAL GHETTO, 1 half-ass bank (that nearly went under), and NOTHING. Is that the Harlem you Nellie Bailey wing nuts want to roll back to?
That’s the funny thing about the anti-gentrification Crowd. They never quite define what version of Harlem the miss, long for, and don’t want to change. Harlem was a mess by any measure, hell the police did not even care.
Now? We have visible policing, community policing, there is a measure of safety when walking at night, etc. Harlem 2008 is 100 TIMES BETTER than Harlem 1992, 1000X BETTER than Harlem 1984.
NO THANKS TO THE LAZY, COMPLACENT, NOT HARDWORKING MAJORITY of BLACK HARLEM. Sorry, you show me one single hard working Black Harlemite, and I will show you TWENTY or THIRTY Black Harlemites that are comfortable and fine doing NOTHING.
You know it’s true.
anon
July 24, 2008
harlemite – People DON’T have a “right” to live where ever they want. Wake up.
notsoeloquent
July 24, 2008
@harlemite – “…you don’t know each persons personal situation, and where one chooses to live is their right.” This sums up the cradle to grave mentality that a lot (notice I didn’t say all) of Harlemites have. Do you even know what your rights are in America? Well let me tell you, housing is most certainly not one of them. Housing is what politicians have used to get your vote, not to improve your life. I would enjoy walking the streets of Harlem on an average weekday about mid-afternoon with you and you can point out all the 20 something, 30 something, 40 something healthy males lining the streets and you can tell me to my face that these are the hardworking people you are referring to. I’m going to assume, maybe unwisely, that you’re not one of these industrious go-getters leaning on the stoops because you are reading UF and commenting, so who are you trying to kid, really?
Jack Harlem
July 24, 2008
Why is it, whenever somebody reports on the Kimco site, they mourn the loss of Manna’s as if it (1) didn’t have at least 4 other locations, (2) has been there since the 20′s (it has only been open since the mid-80s), and (3) owned by blacks (it’s actually Korean-owned).
Now, I don’t begrudge Manna’s any of the above, but c’mon people! It ain’t a landmark. Leases expire (they are just an agreement to use a space for a specified period of time). Buildings are torn down – especially shitty ones – and new buildings go up. That’s business.
I should also mention that the other businesses made out pretty well in the settlement – I think the article said that they were all relocating within the neighborhood.
harlemite
July 24, 2008
to anon1, so harlem isn’t a area of hardworking, and ambitious people too? who are YOU to have the audacity to proclaim that people shouldn’t have the right to live anywhere, with the statement you made saying, “they (black harlem) have no business living in the most expensive city in the continental USA if they don’t want to carry their own weight.” you dont know each persons personal situation, and where one chooses to live is their right.
anon2, how convienent does it seem to be, where gentrification seems to be happening in the majority of all urban areas, in the city, and across the US? the city can throw up boo-koo housing south of 96th street, there’s plenty of space to throw up condos, the midtown west side area between 10th and 12 avenues is just one area but yet they want to focus on stripping harlems ethnicity, and culture, “deghettofying” the hood. all of this has been purposely planned.
laura he called it exactly what it is with the gentrification, “ethnic cleansing”. its apart of the master plan to relocate all of the minorities to the outer-borough areas. you better believe this will move on up to the washington heights area, and the bronx, which they’ve already nicknamed WaHi and SoBro.
tacony, harlem IS turning into tribeca, or soho, with the development of LOFTS, and CONDOS, which on the residential front i compared harlem to. i compared jersey to harlem with my big box retalier comment. your comment of “Tribeca and Soho don’t have any big box retailers, and hardly even have any chain stores”, is false. bloomingdales, whole foods, mcdonalds, wendys, whole foods, crate & barrel,
famous famiglia pizza, and starbucks.plans for harlem include a macys, (which owns bloomingdales), a whole foods is in the works, baby phat, american apparel, which is also in soho, and tribeca, AND a alleged target. do the above listed.
do the aforemetioned big box retailers sound like mom and pop stores to you?
ANON
July 24, 2008
“People are confusing the influx of chain stores with gentrification”.
No, and you don’t sound like a long time Harlemite. “Influx” of ANYTHING in Harlem is gentrification. Harlem’s been a wreck for decades.
People today complain about too many banks in NYC. Well it was not long ago, like 12 years maybe, when there was only ONE bank on all of 125th, and a crummy one at that! If you think there are not grocery stores or places to eat now, can you imagine what it was like in ’95? or ’85?
Well I can, I was here. Influx of ANYTHING is good and gentrification. A long time Harlemite will never complain if there is a CVS, DUANE READE and RITE AID on every corner because I can remember when there were NONE, ZERO, NOT A SINGLE ONE!
For Harlem, Influx of Chains Stores = Gentrification. We had NOTHING here for decades. No Banks, No Drug Stores, No Anything.
Hell it was a major big thing when Blockbuster came. There can never be too many chain stores in Harlem. If you were here in ’95 or ’85, you know exactly what I am talking about.
anon
July 24, 2008
People are confusing the influx of chain stores with gentrification. They are two separate issues. The fact that all of Manhattan is beginning to reflect the retail of middle America is not because of gentrification, but is part of a larger economic trend in retail about what business model can survive in this country (whether you like it or not). It has nothing to do with the wealth of a particular neighborhood.
tacony palmyra
July 23, 2008
Tribeca and Soho? I don’t get it… Tribeca and Soho don’t have any big box retailers, and hardly even have any chain stores. 125 has more chain stores than most retail centers in the city, and their continued success seems to point to Harlemites loving McDonalds, Modells, and more. Walk into McDonalds, be it on 125 or Times Square or Bergen County. Do the people eating there look like yuppie gentrifiers to you?
iloveharlem
July 23, 2008
And why is it necessary to destroy people’s lives, whatever you may think they have done or become, to develop a neighborhood. “Hell hath enlarged itself…”
iloveharlem
July 23, 2008
You’re right Laura, when I read those comments, it reminded me of Darfur, Serbia and Nazi Germany. And Black Wall Street. What’s kinda crazy is that nowadays a person’s fortune can change overnight and they can be one of the more unfortunate of us.
laura
July 23, 2008
Dear ANON, your use of the term “cleansing” is deeply disturbing and as I’m sure you intend evokes the thoughts of ethnic cleansing. I pray that do not live in Harlem or come anywhere near Harlem. I would never want YOU to be my neighbor.
anon2
July 23, 2008
I agree with anon. No neighborhood is exempt from this. The jews and italians of the lower east side – nope. Nor the african americans in Harlem. Gentrification is always used in Harlem as a bad thing – no one talks about the positive side. One positive is more middle class people are staying in the city. That means MORE tax revenue for the city to afford social welfare programs, police recruiting, etc.
These current business do not pay enough taxes I am sure. When they move, new businesses paying more taxes to the city will come in AND contribute to improvement in recreation centers, schools, and housing via the taxes they pay.
Basic economics 101.
ANON
July 22, 2008
harlemite, manhattan has always been a place of hardworking ambitious people looking to move upward. too much of harlem has been complacent thanks to government social welfare programs for food and housing. too much of harlem is institutionalized to not be part of what manhattan has always been (striving, aiming high, thinking big).
gentrification is doing what Black harlem would not do on its up, move on and upward to something “more”. gentrification = economic cleansing, the more the better, they (black harlem) have no business living in the most expensive city in the continental USA if they don’t want to carry their own weight.
may the mayor place a big arrow in front of all the projects that says, “Yonkers is that way”.
Long live gentrification, we’ve got a whole lot more cleansing to do!
harlemite
July 22, 2008
gentrification is the worst thing that ever could’ve happened to harlem. they’re turning it into tribeca, or soho, with new jersey appeal with big box retailers. if ANYONE thinks that this is gonna be good for the neighborhood, they’re in for a rude awakening. get ready to get priced out, and to live in the projects. don’t miss a rent payment!