The beautiful Vornado building pictured here will be structured as an interlocking complex of luminous sqares and sited in the heart of Harlem, on the famous 125th Street. Rents will be half those of similar buildings in Midtown. Tenants could also get tax breaks. The main occupier will be the Major League Baseball communication company. However, New York City is set to rezone 125th Street and restrict building heights in such a way that the tower would be about 40 feet too tall. The company is hoping for an exemption. Local officials are also very concerned that the current wave of gentrification is displacing not only longtime residents, specifically the vibrant multi-ethnic African and Hispanic populations, but also small retail drug dealing and pimping businesses on the 125th Street that had stuck it out through the bad times in Harlem.
1 comment:
Ha ha. I have just discovered your blog and it is very intelligently written - it should have more prominence.
I used to attend Columbia University and once had a summer job that required me to take the train every day from 125th Street Station. In truth the drug dealing and pimping must have been taking place elsewhere, at least during daylight. What I saw then (late 70s when crime was otherwise at a peak) was a US typical slum retail strip - bars, wig shops, record stores, bakeries, beauty parlors, etc. No chain stores.
The strangest was a little Indian restaurant that I came to know well (the aloo paratha was to this day the best I have ever had). The owner/chef/waitress was an elderly African-American woman who was nevertheless a fantastic Indian cook. I asked her where she had learned to cook like this and she told me her story. The original owner of the the restaurant, Mr. Eshed Ali had come from India in the 1930s at at time when there were very few Indians in the US. He had hired this woman as a servant but eventually she became his wife. But he was embarrassed to tell anyone and so this remained a secret until he died and then she inherited the restaurant.
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