Landmarking Survey of Lower East Harlem to be Conducted

Ascendant is announcing that they have won a grant to survey lower East Harlem for buildings that should be considered for landmarking:

About Ascendant Neighborhood Development Corporation:
Ascendant Neighborhood Development (AND) builds homes, engages community members, and
partners with allies to raise up neighborhoods that provide stability and access to opportunity for all.
Since its founding in 1988, AND has supported the stabilization and growth of East and Central Harlem
communities, advocated for preservation of affordable housing, and helped thousands of New Yorkers
live with dignity and respect. Learn more: https://ascendant.nyc/

The El Barrio/Southern East Harlem survey area is a diverse mixed-use enclave within the larger Harlem community of Northern Manhattan. In addition to a variety of vernacular residential buildings dating from the late-1800s through the early-1900s, the area features several large-scale mid-20th century residential complexes including multiple public housing campuses. 
The survey area boasts many outstanding civic, institutional, and religious structures of various architectural styles. Within the proposed study area are multiple individually designated landmarks, including Public School 109, 28th Police Precinct & Fire Engine Co. #53 Houses, St. Cecilia’s Church Complex, Public School 72/Julia de Burgos Cultural Center, and the Museum of the City of New York.
The area developed over many decades as a predominantly working-class neighborhood, and it has been home to a succession of immigrant groups. The new survey will focus specific attention on the history of El Barrio’s Puerto Rican community and its impact on the (re)development of the neighborhood.
Ascendant, and our partners in the Landmark East Harlem (LEH) alliance, successfully worked to list the East Harlem Historic District on the State and National Registers of Historic Places in 2019. We successfully secured a determination of eligibility for the proposed East-Central Harlem Historic District in 2020, and we are working on a nomination to list that historic district in 2021. Ascendant and LEH, along with other local stakeholders, will use our new $12,000 Preserve New York grant to hire Marissa Marvelli to conduct the El Barrio/Southern East Harlem Cultural Resource Survey. The survey will help to identify potential individual State and National Register listings and the boundaries of potential new historic districts.

On 110th Street

The intersection of 110th Street and 3rd Avenue was ground zero for activism by The Young Lords.

In 1969, a group of New York City youth known as the Young Lords demanded change in the way the largest city in the United States handled sanitation. The initiative, known as the Garbage Offensive, wasn’t the group’s original plan of action, but it proved highly effective in calling out the needs and rights of the city’s Latinx community

The Young Lords were an activist group of poor and working-class Puerto Rican youth who modeled themselves after the Black Panthers, donned their signature purple berets, called for Puerto Rico’s independence, and hit the streets in search of a lofty organizing agenda in their home of East Harlem. But as the organization’s chairman, Felipe Luciano, humorously remembers, they found trash talk instead. 

“So we’re on 110th Street and we actually asked the people, ‘What do you think you need? Is it housing? Is it police brutality?’” Luciano says. “And they said, ‘Muchacho, déjate de todo eso—LA BASURA!” [Listen kid, fuggedaboutit! It’s THE GARBAGE!] And I thought, my God, all this romance, all this ideology, to pick up the garbage?”

To read the whole article, see:

https://www.history.com/news/young-lords-garbage-offensive

Learn About The Revolutionary Battle of Harlem Heights

https://www.nps.gov/planyourvisit/event-details.htm?id=889D6D1A-FF9D-B135-CC80D9825B084FE5

Join the Parks Service on a virtual tour of the Battle of Harlem Heights. Details in the link, above.

The Wiz, Tonight

Just a friendly reminder  . . . tomorrow, Friday, September 24th is our final night of Movies @ ERP Summer 2021.  East River Plaza and ImageNation Outdoors Movie Festival welcome you to join us for The Wiz.  The event starts at 6:30 pm. 

It’s free, but space is limited.  Please remember to RSVP at East River Plaza Movie Night

Please to share with your families, friends and neighbors

Tonight


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