Manhattanville

With the opening of the new Harlem Piers just west of 12th Ave., Manhattanville is receiving lots of attention these days. Be it Fairway, Dinosaur BBQ, Talay or the Hudson River Cafe, it is now clear that this area is becoming a go-to destination Uptown. In this post, I'll peel back some of the layers regarding the development there, both in terms of what's currently happening as well as the future of this controversial yet vital area.
Beneath the Aquaduct, from the south end looking north.

Here's a shot of the North end space now occupied by Talay and Body circa 2003,

As it is today.

For a long time this area has slid further and further into decrepitude...

but since the announcement of Columbia's expansionist agenda,
the landgrab has commenced. Long time small business owners have been bought out and those that resist will most likely be forced out. Neighborhood institutions such as Fairway,

and the relocated Cotton Club, stand to gain as they are just outside of the area of Columbia's two stage annexation.

As a way of bolstering their claim of Community improvement, Columbia is engaging in a huge environmental assessment and remediation effort. Everything from ground water to air quality will be sampled, analyzed and hopefully corrected.

Needless to say that after almost 6 decades of industrial use, the land underneath this area has major oil, gasoline, benzene and other contamination (such as lead from paint and leaded gasoline).




One of the worst contributors is the Manhattanville Bus Depot (sorry City, you also are getting forced out in Phase 2).

Here's a shot of the Doll House Factory--one of the more controversial losers in this plan.

And the Eritrean Society, Floridita,

and one of the few gas stations in the hood.

Clearly this is still a hugely controversial issue. But I like the changes I see so far. The remaining top 5 concern include:
1) Environmental Remediation of the current site
2) Compensation and fair treatment of existing small businesses
3) Disaster management for the new Science labs
4) Holding Columbia to their pledge of 1000 afforable housing units
5) Ensuring that Community relations stay positive and mutually beneficial by conserving the history and relevant architectural elements of this area.


It is my hope that no one ends up marginalized by this process.

Green Harlem--The Highbridge Edition

Aside from the great people and architecture, another reason why I love Harlem is the abundance of under-utilized green space. Boasting at least 7 large Parks, Harlem forms an integral part of the Emerald Highway for migrating birds. Combined with the sparse use, these areas lend themselves to a complete "Natural Immersion" which I find necessary to balance out the otherwise frenetic and crowded feel of downtown. One of my favorite Parks which embodies these ideals is Highbridge Park, and on Sunday, I got a chance to go up in the iconic Watertower for the first time. (I did once get to crawl inside the watertunnel--will dig out those pix later). Without further ado, Highbridge Park!

The Crime Edition

Whilst Im amassing pix and intel on my current docket of projects, I'd like to take a little time to touch on a subject which I've been studying for pretty much my whole life...Violence. In neighborhoods such as Harlem, the spectre of violence is a constant fact of life. Residents of all backgrounds universally share in its destructive patterns, but it is Blacks and Hispanics who do in fact suffer the most of its effects. As a way of looking at this issue a little more analytically, I've compiled a few online sources which demonstrate the extent of the National tragedy of urban gun violence.
The first is a look at Harlem proper with the Google tracker, SpotCrime...
I extened the search parameters to include the entire summer on my search and revealed this...


This tool maps each reported incident along with a blurb about the case itself. Each incident is weighted according to the nature of the crime, but multiple shootings at the same time and place only receive 1 entry. So the shooting on 113th that I covered a few months back, only gets 1 entry, but the spasm of shooting up FDB and 127th from a couple of weeks, gets 1 entry per shooter. From this map it is clear that some blocks are definitely safer than others, and I put this info out there as a way for residents of this Neighborhood to make more informed choices about where they live and how they may conduct themselves. But I would also like to make a larger point, and that is about the racist policies of gun manufacturers. Take a look at this map from Chicago...


It shows a slightly different metric for gun violence, but its clear that nationwide we have a very serious problem with poorer Black and Hispanic neighborhoods being flooded with illegal guns. In my opinion, gun manufacturers must know that their weapons are ending up on the streets. Therefore this is a political problem that has to be addressed by our leadership. The only person who has even bothered to tackle this issue is Mayor Bloomberg. His radical use of undercover NYPD officers making straw purchases in Georgia, North Carolina, Virgina and Ohio is nothing short of a brilliant revolutionary measure which brought to light this overtly racist practice of white gun dealers knowingly selling numerous firearms to questionable Black buyers. Due to interference by Federal authorities (ATF most notably), Bloomberg has halted this procedure and replaced it with gun-buyback programs, but the fact is this problem is continuing in almost every major American City, with absolutely nothing being done by the media, politicians or other people in positions of power. Thank God (and Sergey Brin) for the power of the internet which is being used by concerned individuals to shed light on this extremely disturbing and persistent issue. Here are some more links and maps which further demonstrate the issue of illegal gun violence and its destructive effects on American Society:
NYC Murders
Baltimore
Los Angeles

Clearly we are at a crossroads...which way we proceed, depends on us!
(photo courtesy of Narmer)

The New Harlem Piers

On my way to Fairway on Sunday, I was fortunate to catch the OHNY tour of the new waterfront starting at 125th. Looks really great, should be open for good in another few weeks.













Definitely a great fishing spot. These gulls flocked to a school mid-stream




Ye Olde Waste Transfer Station

The bike path continues on to Riverbank State Park.


On two quick side notes...anyone know what's going on with this?

Is Columbia pumping some type of groundwater treatment into this Manhattanville lot?
And what about this water treatment on the ALoft site?

Closeup.

???