The Harlem Neighborhood Block Association

Neighbors united to improve the quality of life in Harlem

Tag: Metro North

Drive Metro North

Posted on by Harlem Shill

If you’ve ever taken Metro North and wondered what the view would be like at the front of the train – driving it – there is a new video game out that allows you to drive a train from Grand Central to Harlem, and then up to White Plains

In the screenshot below you see the inside of Grand Central, before the train departs for Harlem.

The game – which can be livestreamed on Twitch – has some pretty impressive visuals – in the Park Avenue Tunnel, on the Harlem Viaduct, over the bridge to the Bronx, etc. The game was developed by Dovetail Games and is called Train Sim World 2 . Within the game you can choose to drive along the Metro-North’s Harlem line.

In the screenshot below, you are looking south, on Park Avenue towards 98th Street where the trains go into the tunnel to Grand Central.

This intro to the Harlem Line is remarkably beautiful in how it has recreated the experience of riding/observing Metro North:

To read more from Gothamist, see:

https://gothamist.com/arts-entertainment/metro-north-harlem-line-video-game-expansion

New 5G Poles Coming to Harlem

You probably recognize the LinkNYC kiosks that sprang up a few years ago – replacing payphones.

Mayor De Blasio touted them as a way to bridge the digital divide and provide information (advertising) to New Yorkers, even if the map of locations was heavily skewed to the wealthier and more commercial sections of Manhattan:

Now the company that runs LinkNYC – CityBridge – is going to add more kiosks that are outfitted with a 35′ tall 5G tower, so they can bolster flagging advertising revenue with renting 5G broadcasting capability to the major providers. The proposed ‘look’ of this new tower is shown below:

In order to address the digital (access) divide, CityBridge is required to install 90% of the new poles above 96th Street in Manhattan and in The Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island, per the new deal with the city. Among the total of 4,000 structures required to be built, CityBridge is also required to install 739 in 13 so-called “equity” areas.

City officials picked the locations based on their substantial foot traffic, low median incomes and lack of broadband options for local households.

Some have argued that libraries (by comparison) have been more effective than LinkNYC at addressing digital inequity. Libraries provide “the hardware, the software, that connectivity free of charge to anybody who wants to come in their doors or sit on the stoop outside for the Wi-Fi that leaks outside the building.”

The city’s three library systems make 8,500 computer workstations available to the public and offer free Wi-Fi at every branch. Since 2015, they have also lent Wi-Fi hotspots to patrons.

Harlem Canvas for Change

Posted on by Harlem Shill

HARLEM CANVAS FOR CHANGE
BRINGING ART DOORS TO YOU

ART DOORS is a project where the 125th Street BID worked with property owners to allow artwork to be created by the community on the outside of the doors that they use to receive their freight. Often these doors become eyesores as they are set back from the building line and they fall victim to being a place for where we have witnessed public urination, graffiti, litter and more. 

The 125th Street BID saw the unsightly conditions as another opportunity for placemaking community engagement with the community. The 125th Street BID presented a challenge to the NYPD Explorers program and a community organization “YOUTH ON THE MOVE” to use the doors as canvases to express their thoughts and feelings about human rights and social justice.   This black and white exhibit brings a new look to 124th Street between Frederick Douglass Boulevard and St. Nicholas Avenue.

A special thanks to Barbara Askins, who shepherded this wonderful free outdoor art exhibit.

The Lee Building

The Lee Building. Park/125. As seen on a dull day from the Metro North platform.

Mass Transit – 1837

Posted on by Harlem Shill

The New York and Harlem Railroad was the first public streetcar service – mass transit – in New York City. The first line of horse-drawn carriages traveled from Prince Street to the Harlem Bridge on 4th Avenue (Park Avenue), reaching Harlem in 1837.

Below is an image of the early depot that serviced the horse-drawn streetcars.

Among the company’s founders was John Mason, a wealthy banker and president of Chemical Bank who was among the largest landowners in New York City. They decided to build their railroad on the eastern side of Manhattan Island, convinced that it would never be able to compete with steamboat traffic on the Hudson River.

The New York and Harlem Railroad eventually became the New York Central Railroad and then the Metro North we know today.

A train at about 103rd Street, headed south and about to go into the Park Avenue tunnel. You can just make out Marcus Garvey Park in the haze, above the last cars of the train.

4th Avenue (Park Avenue) presented a challenge with the drop from Yorkville down to East Harlem, so initially a trestle was built of wood – eventually to be replaced by the masonry structure we know today (98th Street to 111th Street). Beyond that is an increasingly fragile iron and steel structure that extends to the Harlem River (Metro North) Bridge.

You can see the 1950 film, here:

that shows a train coming into New York City, crossing the Harlem River, then going through East Harlem, and eventually entering the Park Avenue Tunnel.

New York Health and Hospitals Wants Your Feedback

The Harlem Community Advisory Board’s 2022 Annual Public Meeting

Wednesday, January 19, 2022

5:00pm Live via Webex

All are welcome to join. For more information, please call (212) 939-1369

Fair Share and Safety Protest to Support Harlem’s Children

Posted on by Harlem Shill

And Their Right to Attend Schools Free of Drug Activity

Today at 11:00

The Harlem Neighborhood Block Association demands that the new drug site on East 126th Street be moved to a commercial or industrial zone, away from Harlem’s children. The Harlem Neighborhood Block Association believes that helping people suffering from addiction should not also endanger parents and children going to school.

If you can, please join us Today at 11:00. We’ll meet at the south plaza of Park and 125th Street, across from the main Metro-North entrance.

Please come out to support Harlem’s children, and to ask New York City, and New York State, to equitably distribute programs and services in all New York neighborhoods, and not simply pack them over and over again, in Harlem and East Harlem.

Rally to Support Harlem’s Children

Posted on by Harlem Shill

And Their Right to Attend Schools Free of Drug Activity – Saturday at 11:00

Mayor De Blasio placed the nations first opioid injection site directly across from a Harlem Pre-School with no community involvement. The block where this injection site has been located is already completely oversaturatated with men and women in methadone treatment, and the drop-off point for the Wards Island shelter population – a process that leaves these vulnerable men with no support services at the corner of Lexington and 126th Street.

The Harlem Neighborhood Block Association demands that this facility be moved to a commercial or industrial zone, away from Harlem’s children. The Harlem Neighborhood Block Association believes that helping people suffering from addiction should not also endanger parents and children going to school.

If you can, please join us on Saturday at 11:00. We’ll meet at the south plaza of Park and 125th Street, across from the main Metro North entrance.

Please come out to support Harlem’s children, and to ask New York City, and New York State, to equitably distribute programs and services in all New York neighborhoods, and not simply pack the over and over again, in Harlem and East Harlem.

Harlem Night Market is Back

Guess who’s back! And bigger than ever! That’s right, the Harlem Night Market returns Guess who’s back! And bigger than ever! That’s right, the Harlem Night Market returns to the historic La Marqueta this December 17th, 18th & 19th.

Join us the last weekend before Christmas as we celebrate the best food, makers and music from across East and West Harlem. This year we’ve expanded to include family friendly activities at @urbangardencenter and more vendors than ever in the stalls at @publicmarketsnyc.
@tedsmooth & @storminnorman will be holding us down again on the 1’s & 2’s and there will be plenty of hot foods and warm sweets to keep the chill off as you shop our makers plaza for unique holiday gifts.

Be sure to bring your wallet, your appetite, and your friends, and come celebrate with us while supporting small and local businesses.

Don’t wait in long lines! Free “Priority Access” tickets are available right now on EventBrite so click on the link in our bio and get your tickets now.

The Harlem Night Market is brought to you through partnerships with @uptowngrandcentral, @tbo.harlem, @nycedc , @unionsettlement and @cmdianaayalanyc, in addition to, support from @poncebank, @urbangardencenter, @qupey, @shopharlemmade and @elmuseo

Vendors apply at link in bio!

Proof of vaccination and ID are required to enter. Face coverings must be worn at all times when not actively eating or drinking.

#Harlem#harlemworld#eastharlem#elbarrio#elbarrionyc#uptown#nyc#newyork#newyorkcity#tboharlem#igersofnyc#visitharlem#harlemnightmarket#nycnightmarket#shopsmall#shoploca

Art in Our Midst

Posted on by Harlem Shill

The artist Allison Saar was commissioned to enliven the 125th Street Metro-North platform in 2018 and her subtle glasswork has delighted me since.

The stained glass that encompasses the waiting rooms on the platform, harkens back to the jazz scene in Harlem.

Even the title of the piece “copacetic” – a Jazz term from the interwar period – evokes smoky bars, men with hats, and everyone dressed for show.

The Zip Code Memory Project Gathering for Covid

December 5, 2021, 4pm-5:30 pm
Peace Fountain at The Cathedral of Saint John the Divine
111th Street/Amsterdam Ave, New York, NY 10025

JOIN the Participants of The Zip Code Memory Project for our first public gathering to acknowledge, mourn, and pay tribute to the losses of COVID 19 in a healing community ritual. Featuring live participation by the Harlem Choir.

  • What have we lost and learned from Covid?
  • How can we heal and grow together?

We invite you to bring 5×7″ postcards responding to these questions in writing, drawing, photography or other media to the event for display. You can also email your postcards to [email protected] and become part of our online archive on ZCMP.org Candles and blank postcards will be available at the Cathedral for free. If you address your postcard to someone, we will mail it for you.

The Zip Code Memory Project seeks to find reparative ways to memorialize the devastating losses resulting from the Coronavirus pandemic while also acknowledging its radically differential effects on Upper New York City neighborhoods. Working across the zip codes of Harlem, Washington Heights and the South Bronx, we are gathering with local community, arts and academic organizations to imagine how the losses of the pandemic can be acknowledged, mourned, and healed, and how the mutual aid, care and repair they have occasioned can be honored.

Questions or requests for further information, please contact: [email protected]

ZCMP.org

The Train Used to Stop at 110th Street

Posted on by Harlem Shill

Above is a rendering of the 110th Street station in 1876 on what became the Metro-North line on Park Avenue. Note that above 110th street the train line was not on an iron el platform, and instead was on a solid masonry platform.

You can see spacious upper Manhattan farmland, a few brownstones (long since gone and replaced by projects), the tunnel at 98th Street, and horse and buggies.

The 110th Street station opened in 1876 and Harlem residents could catch up to sixteen trains a day that ran between Grand Central and William’s Bridge.

By 1896-1897 as the line’s grade was raised onto iron girders north of 111th Street and the new viaduct and the new 110th Street station opened in February 1897. However, by 1906, the New York Central Railway discontinued service at the 110th Street station.

The 110th Street station (as seen above) was partially built within the viaduct. The station’s waiting room was built into the northern side of the bridge over 110th Street and was located at street level.

From the waiting room, two staircases went up along the side of the viaduct’s retaining walls–one per side–to the side platforms atop the viaduct.

The stairways to the street still exist and are used in case of emergencies.

Letter Sent to CB11 to Support Converting Shelters in CB11 to Supportive Housing

Letter-of-Support-for-Conversion-to-Supportive-HousingDownload

Community Board 11 – Full Board Meeting

Posted on by Harlem Shill

Tuesday (September 28) at 6:30 PM

Here is your chance to speak to our elected officials (and/or their representatives) about issues that concern you and your neighbors. You can raise your hand and comment, write questions/thoughts in the chat, and present any community announcements you might have.

Go to the CB11 calendar link below:

https://www.cb11m.org/pmcalendar/

And register for the September 28th meeting.

As Seen on the Metro North Platform

MetroNorth vs. Trucks

Posted on by Harlem Shill

A few times every year we come across a truck that hasn’t paid heed of the height warnings on the Metro North (Park Avenue) elevated line. Occasionally fragments of sharp aluminum litter the underside of the tracks – the only evidence of what happened:

Often these shards look like remnants of a giant can that has been opened, which is actually pretty close to what occurs.

And, when the trucks back out from being jammed under the Metro North tracks, they then can often get trapped in the tight turn to head north on Park Ave.

Save a Church!

As you likely know, HNBA advocated to save the old original brownstone Metropolitan Church at 126/Madison. There is currently another fight to preserve a different church on Edgecombe Avenue that is under immediate threat.

If you would like to send a letter to Landmarks to preserve this building by including it in a landmarked district, please fill out this form:  http://bit.ly/landmarkmtcalvary