A tree grows in Harlem « whatisthewhat

A tree grows in Harlem

23Aug07

This is going up on my block.

Addendum:

I have been told on more than one occasion that my posts are “vague” and don’t “give enough information” which makes readers feel “stupid.” That’s not what I want.

So here’s more on the situation of 110th street and the new building:

I found out about it when Tammy wrote to say there was a little conflagration at the proximal bus stop (M’s 2, 3, and 4) when the building, already sporting a phone number and the announcement of “2 bdrms. Starting at $1.5m” acquired an artistic rendering of the exterior-to-come with only fake little white people, and none of the real brown and black ones that populate the neighborhood. “What fuckin’ neighborhood do they think they in?” and that sort of thing. Of course they meaning me have been here for a while. We are many generations of Columbia graduate students, editorial assistants, dancers and other poor-ish “white” folk seeking low rents and park views and maybe some negrosity/hispanosity. Putting a whole glassy building right there over the subway (2, 3) is a bigger step than has been taken in the past and the association with “Trump” suggests the tide may really have shifted, for good. The website celebrates the building as a “gateway” destination, which announces manifest destiny with all the subtlety of a jackhammer. The 24-hour security, underground parking, 2nd floor “public lounge” and spare foyer smack of a green zone bunker. One imagines that like Aeroflot, the ground floor could be transformed for military use in 43 minutes.

The final thing of note is the ‘interactive’ map which illuminates the simple fact that there are no services in our neighborhood–no schools, no restaurants (the Blimpies on the east side doesn’t count), no grocery stores, no banks or ATMs, etc. What we have is: (1) several churches, or “iglesia/s” (2) a prison where they let the prisoners chill on the sidewalk, every-so-often (3) the Park Hotel, which serves as a residential hotel, halfway house and homeless shelter, and (4) several fried chicken spots which have bullet proof glass in front of the cashiers and no furnature.

But let me be clear on one thing: this is not a dangerous place, at least not compared to the rest of the city and other urban areas. These people need and deserve these services. My neighborhood is filled with working and middle class families who go to church and mosque, like to grill in the park, recreate at the city’s cleanest public pool, and like chicken. It sucks that Chase Manhattan, Fairway, CVS, or whatever else gets added in the next few years don’t realize that.