The Harlem Neighborhood Block Association

Neighbors united to improve the quality of life in northeast Harlem

Early Voting Sites Are Open!

Posted on by Harlem Shill

Vote in person, or simply drop off your absentee ballot.

Early Voting

New Yorkers can vote early for the November 3, 2020 general election.

Early voting starts on October 24, and runs until November 1, 2020.

Early Voting Information

 Saturday, October 24, 2020 10 AM to 4 PM
 Sunday, October 25, 2020 10 AM to 4 PM
 Monday, October 26, 2020 7 AM to 3 PM
 Tuesday, October 27, 2020 12 PM to 8 PM 
 Wednesday, October 28, 2020 12 PM to 8 PM
 Thursday, October 29, 2020 10 AM to 6 PM 
 Friday, October 30, 2020 7 AM to 3 PM 
 Saturday, October 31, 2020 10 AM to 4 PM
 Sunday, November 1, 2020 10 AM to 4 PM

On November 3, 2020, General Election Day, poll sites are open 6 AM to 9 PM.

FIND YOUR POLLING PLACE


A Feminist Walk Through Harlem: Celebrating Remarkable Women 

ValSaveHarlemNow (5).jpg

How do we honor Black and Latina women? How do we preserve their legacy? 2020 marks the Centennial of Women’s Suffrage, but Black women’s contributions to the movement largely go uncelebrated, and most Black women in America could not vote until 1965. As the city and the nation confront issues of representation and equity in public commemoration, and to build on FRIENDS’ discussion of the Women’s Right Pioneers Monument in Central Park, please join FRIENDS of the Upper East Side and Save Harlem Now! for a virtual walk through Harlem. The tour will focus on sites publicly celebrating pioneering Black and Latina women, and issues surrounding the preservation of such sites. Tour guide Leigh Hallingby, of Harlem Walks, will explore the neighborhood murals, mosaics, plaques, and other forms of public commemoration honoring such pioneers as Vivian Robinson, Ella Fitzgerald, Madam C.J. Walker, Billie Holiday, Mother Clara Hale, Ruby Dee, Lois Alexander, Mary McLeod Bethune, Julia de Burgos, A’Lelia Walker, Nicholasa Mohr, and Zora Neale Hurston. 

Monday, October 26th

6:00 p.m.

Register HERE!

HNBA November Meeting: Tuesday, Nov. 10th at 7pm

Posted on by Harlem Shill

The week after election day HNBA will hold its November meeting on Tuesday, November 10th at 7 PM.

We are looking forward to a fantastic lineup of guests, the first of which will be representatives from Chase bank who will talk about helping Harlem residents achieve home ownership, including:

 Applying for a mortgage
 Available Grants to help with the down payment
 2-4 unit properties – using rental income to qualify
 Multiple borrowers on one application
 Is now the time to refi? Pluses and minuses
 Working with a realtor
 Single-family
 Multi-family with rental income
 Market Condo
 Deed restricted condo
 Market co-op
 HDFC co-op

We will then meet Tali Farhadian Weinstein who is running for Manhattan DA. https://www.taliforda.com/ Tali and her staff recently join in on a walking tour of 125th Street from Lenox to Lexington to see first hand some of the major struggles we have with quality of life and small business development.

Tali Farhadian Weinstein is a prosecutor, a professor, and a proven criminal justice reformer.  She is also an immigrant, a daughter, a wife, and the mother of three girls. 

Lastly, Jana La Sorte from the NYC Parks Department will join us. Jana is the new administrator for the four Historic Harlem Parks — Jackie Robinson, Marcus Garvey, Morningside and St. Nicholas — that advocates for and supports the unique history and character of each park and their future development to better serve the greater Harlem community.

If you are a member of HNBA (Join Here) and would like to join in this exciting conversation on the 10th, email Shawn for the zoom link.

DWB (Driving While Black)

Join the New York & Virtual Premiere of dwb (driving while black) this evening until October 29th.

dwb (driving while black) isa new chamber opera about racism, erasure, and the fear and love that black parents experience when they send their kids out into a world that too often sees them not as a child, but as a threat. This powerful music-drama documents the all-too-familiar story of an African American parent whose beautiful brown boy approaches driving age. What should be a celebration of independence and maturity turns out to be fraught with the anxiety of “driving while black.”

REGISTER HERE (Registration required)

“One of the most singularly devastating theatrical moments of the last year.” –The Pitch


“A composer of vivid imagination and skill” —Fanfare

“Singers are storytellers,” says soprano/librettist Roberta Gumbel (“silver voiced…” – The New York Times), “but rarely do we get the opportunity to help create the stories we are telling.” Collaborating with composer Susan Kander and the cutting-edge duo New Morse Code (“Clarity of artistic vision and near-perfect synchronicity.” icareifyoulisten.com), this brief, powerful music-drama documents the all-too-familiar story of an African-American parent whose “beautiful brown boy” approaches driving age as, what should be a celebration of independence and maturity is fraught with the anxiety of driving while black. 

Roberta Gumbel, librettist/soprano
Susan Kander, composer
Chip Miller, director
New Morse Code– Hannah Collins (cello) and Michael Compitello (percussion)

Uptown Grand Central’s Clean Team

It’s the one-year anniversary of UGC’s partnership with Positive Workforce to create our East 125th Clean Team.


Spot a yellow trashbag along East 125? These are the guys who cleaned it up for you.

And after being out there seven days a week, Uptown Grand Central’s 125th Street Clean Team filled 12,000 bags in the past year. 💛

An Address to You from The First Lady

Posted on by Harlem Shill

Michelle Obama, First Lady of The United States of America:

An American Street Mural in Harlem

Harlem Park to Park – https://harlemparktopark.org/ – has a great teaser video out on the project to create the Black Lives Matter mural on Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Blvd this past summer.

The plan is to expand the project to produce a 40 minute video for the film festival circuit

As Patch.com notes:

While the film mostly follows the mural as it is created in real-time, Okera said it is informed by Harlem’s creative legacy stemming from the Great Migration, in which thousands of Black people settled here in the early 20th century after fleeing racial terrorism in the South — a process that led to the neighborhood’s flourishing during the Harlem Renaissance.

“We belong to that legacy — those refugees from terror that became Harlem residents,” Okera said. “The legacy they left was to enjoy that rich cultural mecca that has been Harlem for the last 100 years.”

The film’s launch will coincide with a yearlong series of programming that will be announced on the documentary’s website, americanstreetmuralinharlem.com. Those interested in supporting the film can donate online, where they can receive memorabilia including posters and T-Shirts of the mural.

The goal of the film is simple, Evans-Hendricks said: “to show our community matters, Harlem matters, has always mattered.”

https://patch.com/new-york/harlem/documentary-follow-rise-harlems-black-lives-matter-mural

LISC Small Business Relief & Recovery Program – East and Central Harlem

Apply for the New York City-based small, minority-owned businesses seeking direct relief grant funding through the LISC NYC Small Business Relief & Recovery Fund.

Each grant is limited to one grant per individual and business tax ID. Awards will be made to qualified businesses, and eligibility is based on accurate and complete submission.

This business grant application requires that business owners of at least 51% ownership identify as minority owners. Note: Certification as a minority and/or women owned business enterprise (MWBE) is not required to apply.

All awardees will have to certify that they are promoting the best interests of the community and are negatively impacted by the COVID-19 crisis.

Nonprofit organizations are ineligible for this application.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/LISCRELIEFGRANTAPPLICATION

Meet The Candidate

Day: Saturday, Oct. 24, 2020

Time: 4:30 PM – 5:30 PM

Place: MGP Amphitheater Seats.

Craig Schley is running for 70th Assembly and invites you and any of your neighbors to meet him at a social distanced gathering on Saturday in Marcus Garvey Park.

http://www.schleyforassembly.com

Samuel L. Jackson

Posted on by Harlem Shill

To Find Your Early Voting Location (You can begin to vote on Saturday)

You can (early) vote from Saturday, October 24th, to Sunday, November 1st. Note that your polling place will likely be different than the polling place you are used to. When I keyed in my address, this is what Vote.nyc told me was my early voting site:

To find yours, please go to this site and type in your home address

https://findmypollsite.vote.nyc/

Let’s do it!

Protest at The Lucern

Posted on by Harlem Shill

You likely have heard how some residents of the Upper West Side raised a significant amount of money to fund a legal campaign to force homeless New Yorkers out of the Lucern Hotel which the DHS had contracted to house homeless New Yorkers so they wouldn’t be at risk of COVID in congregant shelters

Judge Rules UWS Shelter Residents Can Stay at The Lucerne Hotel

Today members of HNBA and The Greater Harlem Coalition attended a protest and press conference to note that our community – East Harlem and Harlem – has had more than its fair share of shelters for decades, and that all communities in New York need to take their fair share of shelter residents in this pandemic until permanent residences can be built/found.

As the 2017 NY City Council Report on Fair Share noted:

Residential Beds in East Harlem

Manhattan Community District 11, with 52 beds per 1,000 residents, or 4% of all residential facility beds in the city, embodies the legacy of decades of poor planning by and coordination between City and State governments and the failures of Fair Share. A low-income community of color, it is third in the city’s beds-to-population ration.


Manhattan CD11, composed primarily of East Harlem and Wards/Randall’s Island, is home to 1,082 chemical dependency treatment beds, 1,312 mental health treatment beds, and 2,691 shelter and transitional housing beds. The community hosts 5% of all Department of Homeless Services (DHS) shelter beds, 19% of all State Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services (OASAS)-licensed beds, and 11% of all State Office of Mental Health (OMH)-licensed beds in the city.


Distributional equity does not only mean equity between community districts, though that is a reasonable unit of analysis, but also equity within community districts – as the Fair Share Criteria recognize in their directive to specifically consider facilities within one half-mile of a proposed facility as well as the total number of facilities within the community district. Yet Manhattan 11 fails this test of equity too, with one-third of the DHS, OASAS, and OMH beds in the district located between 116th St. and 126th St. between the East River and Park Avenue. If facilities were perfectly evenly distributed between the City’s 59 community districts, each district would host 1.7% of each facility type.

https://council.nyc.gov/news/2017/02/27/fairshare/

Fair Count

The voices of the Black community must NOT be silenced or lost in this upcoming election

Lift your voice & be heard at the polls! Vote early. Vote safely.

Take a 60 sec animated journey with us on why we must VOTE

#RiseUpAndVote at http://vote.org now!

To learn more about Black Women Animate Studios, the group behind this video, see: Black Women Animate Studios

Harlem’s 11th Restaurant Week

Harlem Restaurant Week returns for the 11th consecutive year, running through October 31.

Dozens of establishments throughout East, West, and Central Harlem are taking part in the event including chef JJ Johnson’s fast casual spot FieldTrip, Indian restaurant Chaiwali, cozy date spot Ruby’s Vintage, Marcus Samuelsson’s Red Rooster, the poultry-focused East Harlem spot Mountain Bird, and the Harlem outpost of Dinosaur Bar-B-Que. Restaurants are running $25 lunch and $35 dinner prix fixe menus along with a host of other specials priced under $10.

Where Do They Live?

Posted on by Harlem Shill

The oversaturation of substance use programs in Harlem and East Harlem has been proven repeatedly. Our community hosts many more programs than are justified by our population, by our addiction rates, or even by drug-related death rates.

One question remains, where do patients who are admitted to New York City substance abuse programs come from?

Using data from a 2020 FOIL request to OASAS on admission data, I have mapped where patients who attend NYC’s substance abuse programs come from. The result is fascinatingly national. From San Diego to Maine, from Miami Beach to Anchorage Alaska, men and women are admitted to New York addiction programs.

In the maps below, the red dots indicate the homes of people who are admitted to New York City’s substance abuse programs. The larger and darker the red, the greater number of admitted patients.

The fine print:

Admissions to NYS OASAS‐certified Chemical Dependence Treatment Programs Located
in NYC by Zip Code of Residence, from March 1, 2019 through February 29, 2020
Data Source: NYS OASAS Data Warehouse, CDS extract of 8/30/2020

  1. Admissions are not counts of individual people. A person can be admitted to treatment
    more than once throughout the time period.
  2. The data included in this presentation represent only admissions of patients to the
    OASAS‐certified treatment system. It is important to keep in mind that these data do not
    include individuals who do not enter treatment, get treated by the U.S. Department of
    Veterans Affairs (VA), go outside of New York State for treatment, are admitted to
    hospitals but not to Substance Use Disorder (SUD) treatment, get diverted to other
    systems, or receive an addictions medication from a physician outside of the OASAS
    system of care.
  3. Data includes significant others.
  4. Admissions are not limited to residents of NYC

To see the live map (you can hover over a dot to learn more):

https://fordham.carto.com/u/shill18/builder/dcea5644-f522-48dd-bba2-22078457109b/embed

Plastic Bags? Use a Tote, Instead

The delayed plastic bag ban has gone into effect, today.

Don’t forget to bring a tote with you whenever you leave the house. For an awesome option, try this stylish Harlem Tote:

https://www.etsy.com/listing/627213664/harlem-map-tote-bag

To see more great items:

https://afinelyne.pixels.com/

Defend the Black Vote!

Posted on by Harlem Shill

One of our neighbors, the amazing writer Troy Lewis – https://www.gasmoneybook.com/bio-encore – forwarded us a powerful video from The People for the American Way entitled Defend the Black Vote:

2020 V.O.T.E !

Whose Land?

There is a great new map out that attempts to show the where the First People of North America lived pre-1492. The difficulty of representing the fluidity of boundaries is, of course, present here, but we are at least presented with fact that the United States was not an unoccupied space, ready for frictionless colonization.

In the screenshot below you can see how our region was the site of a dense, tightly intertwined network of cultural and linguistic groups.

Getting closer in, the island of Mannahatta was inhabited and used by two groups. The indigenous nation which fished, farmed, hunted, and lived on northern Mannahatta – in what is now Harlem – was the Wappinger Munsee Lenape

And the language spoken here before the Dutch arrived was Montauk huluniixsuwaakan, a variant of Munsee.

To see the full map which covers North American and Australia, and parts of other regions, click here: https://native-land.ca/

Open Streets this weekend!

Posted on by Carey King

Hi neighbors,

We’ve now got not just one but TWO Open Streets here in East Harlem! This weekend’s schedule:

PLEASANT AVENUE AT 118TH:

Saturday, October 17:

  • COVID testing (rapid & antibody), plus flu shots (10 a.m.-5 p.m.)
  • HIV and Hep-C screenings (10 a.m.-4 p.m.)
  • “Pick your own” produce sales at Pleasant Village Community Garden‬ (10 a.m.-2 p.m.)
  • Free smoothies by Get Healthy East Harlem Cafe (Noon-5 p.m.)
  • ‬Zumba with Leo Zumba‬ (2-3 p.m.)

Sunday, October 18:

  • Adventure playground with playground:NYC, powered by Patsy’s Pizza (12-3 p.m.)
  • Obstacle course with Street Lab, plus chalk art with Jess Rolls (12-3 p.m.)
  • Free smoothies by Get Healthy East Harlem Cafe (Noon-5 p.m.)

The street will always be open for scooting and biking, plus our (as Patch put it, “staggeringly long”) community table is open for socially distanced dining from Bistro Casa Azul or any picnic you bring from home.

101ST STREET AT LEXINGTON:

101st Street has tables and chairs for open-air dining from local small businesses including Lexington Pizza Parlour, Chu Ros Thai, Au Jus Oklahoma BBQ, Burritos y Mas, Mojo Mousse Bar, Joy Burger Bar, Pro Thai, El Tepeyac, MY NY Cafe, Lloyd’s Carrot Cake & more. Plus games and sidewalk chalk for adults and kids!

Also, Saturday nights at 7 p.m., we’re screening film shorts curated by the International Puerto Rican Heritage Film Festival. Grab dinner and a drink from one of the nearby eateries, and join us!

Cash for Guns, Today!

Posted on by Harlem Shill

CASH FOR GUNS NO QUESTIONS ASKED!!!

GUN BUY BACK will be held on Saturday, October 17th, 2020.

Receive a $200 Pre-paid Card for Handguns and Assault Rifles Receive a $25 Pre-paid Card for Rifles, Shotguns, and Airguns Drop-Off Site:

Bethel Gospel Assembly 1832 Madison Avenue New York, NY 10035

Hours Open: 10:00 A.M. to 4:00 P.M

CB11 Newsletter

MEETING SCHEDULE • WEEK OF OCTOBER 19
Public Safety & Transportation Committee
Monday • October 19th • 6:30pm
In order to attend this meeting, please register in advance for this webinar. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.Informational Updates with NYPD, DOT, & DANYCommittee Discussion FY 2022 Statement of District Needs & Budget RequestsStreet Co-naming Request in honor of Terence Cardinal Cooke at the Southeast Corner of Fifth Avenue and East 106th StreetCommittee discussion re: policy intervention to promote motor vehicular (e-bike, scooters, etc.) safety

District Needs & Budget Committee
Tuesday • October 20th • 6:30pm
In order to attend this meeting, please register in advance for this webinar. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.Introduction by MBPO Director of Budget and Capital ProjectsReview committee edits and finalize FY22 Statement of District Needs & Budget Request

Executive Committee
Thursday • October 22nd • 6:30pm
In order to attend this meeting, please register in advance for this webinar. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.Informational UpdatesStatement of District Needs & Budget Requests for Fiscal Year 2022View our full meeting schedule here

COMMUNITY NEWS & UPDATES
State enforcement of the ban on plastic bags begins October 19
Starting October 19, 2020 enforcement of the New York State Plastic Bag Ban and Paper Bag Fee will begin. Stores will be penalized for distributing single use plastic bags and must collect a 5-cent fee on paper bags. Learn more about the law here.

Apply to Become an Emergency Snow Laborer with DSNY
The New York City Department of Sanitation has announced that registration is now open for those interested in working as Emergency Snow Laborers for the upcoming winter season. Emergency Snow Laborers are per-diem workers who shovel snow and clear ice from bus stops, crosswalks, fire hydrants and step streets around the five boroughs after heavy snowfalls. Snow Laborers earn $15 per hour to start, and $22.50 per hour after 40 hours are worked in a week.
To better allow for social distancing and COVID-related protocols, those interested in becoming a Snow Laborer must register for a 15-minute application appointment at nyc.gov/snow. Registration appointments take place at the Department’s 59 garages. Snow laborers must be at least 18 years of age, be eligible to work in the United States, and capable of performing heavy physical labor. All applicants must bring the following items at the time of registration:Two small photos (1 ½ square)Original and copy of two forms of identificationSocial Security cardTogo

New York City Releases Winter Outdoor Dining Guidance
Mayor Bill de Blasio joined the Department of Buildings (DOB), Department of Transportation (DOT), and the Fire Department of New York (FDNY) to release thorough guidance for city restaurants planning to stay open and serve customers outdoors with heating devices this fall and winter.
Participants in the Open Restaurants program interested in providing comfort heating for their customers in outdoor dining areas have three options:
Electric radiant heaters will be allowed in sidewalk and roadway seating setups. For full guidance from the Department of Buildings, click here.Natural gas radiant heaters will be allowed on the sidewalk only. For full guidance from the Department of Buildings, click here. Natural gas radiant heaters must also comply with the Fire Code.Portable heaters fueled by propane will be allowed on the sidewalk only. Propane heating will be regulated by the Fire Department, with requirements for safe handling, use and storage. For full guidance from the Fire Department, click here.

Movie Night with the International Puerto Rican Heritage Film Festival, with host/curator/CB11 Vice Chair Xavier Santiago
City lights, movie night. Head to the Open Street at East 101st & Lexington each Saturday night at 7 p.m. in October for award-winning film shorts curated by the International Puerto Rican Heritage Film Festival. Films include: Boricua, Dak Toka Taino, El Caballero, Boriqueneers, Ubering, The Step, Pie, Coqui Serenade, and more.

NYCEM Community Preparedness announces Strengthening Communities Through Recovery RFP
NYC Emergency Management released a new Strengthening Communities through Recovery COVID-19 grant opportunity.
Any interested community leader or community emergency networks that serves one of the below communities should apply. A community emergency network is a group or coalition that consists of nonprofit, community, and faith-based organizations that are organized around an issue important to their community such as climate change, gun violence, housing, disability rights, among others.
Apply by 10/20/20 at 5PM. Access the application here.
Proposals and questions about the RFP process should be emailed to Abdul Washington at procurement@oem.nyc.gov.

East Harlem Walks 2.0 Returns!
In collaboration with Randall’s Island Park Alliance, Harlem Run and with DOHMH East Harlem Neighborhood Health Center is hosting an array of walks and will have opportunities to earn entries to community races/fundraisers as well as gift cards. RSVP is required.

10/24/20 at 11am: Natural Areas Tour in Randall’s Island Randall’s Island Park is host to many acres of gorgeous wetland habitat, including our five-acre Little Hell Gate Salt Marsh and one of the city’s only freshwater wetlands. RIPA’s tours showcase these brilliant spaces and offer participants the opportunity to learn about how wetlands function and their ecological importance in an urban setting. Participants can enjoy viewing beautiful wildflowers, birds and other native wildlife while learning about some of the fascinating history that has shaped the natural areas on the Island. Meet snowy egrets, yellow crowned night herons, red-tailed hawks, and more! Please join us for a one-hour tour. Each person must register, including all children, so that we can be sure to stay within our meeting number guidelines. And everyone over the age of two must agree to wear a mask. RSVP here.
If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Agdalisa Rivera via email at or via riveraadalgisal@gmail.com text at (917) 653-1315.
Have any updates to share? Email Carly Wine, our Assistant District Manager, at cwine@cb11m.org. ‌  ‌

Film Studio

Posted on by Harlem Shill

The Harlem African Burial Ground development project has been put on hold and as a consequence, the abandoned MTA bus depot that currently occupies the site remains shuttered. In the past, however, this site has also been the location for a film studio.

The Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film studio was located between 126/127th and 2nd Avenue and the Willis Avenue Bridge on part, but not all, of the bus depot’s block.

The photo (above) is a 1940’s tax photo of the property. Note the water tower and the large ceremonial towers that would have been dramatically visible to riders on the 2nd Avenue El (the train tracks you see at the top left of the photo).

While this location had advantages in terms of its proximity to transportation and downtown NYC, the ever present roar of the El just outside the front doors must have been a huge impediment to sound recording.

By the 1980’s the bus depot had replaced the studio with a low-slung, 2 story facility. The water tower and the El, both long gone.