The Harlem Neighborhood Block Association

Neighbors united to improve the quality of life in Harlem

Tag: NYC Speaks

NYC Speaks: Tell the Mayor What You Think

Posted on by Carey King

Concerned about what’s been going down in our neighborhood?

NYC Speaks is an epic effort to amplify the voices of New Yorkers as the new administration of Mayor Eric Adams begins: https://nycspeaks.org.

Speak your mind on issues including:
— Public Safety
— Housing & Neighborhoods
— Youth Development & Education
— Economy & Workforce
— Health & Wellbeing
— Arts & Culture
— Racial Equity
— Gender Justice
— Climate & Infrastructure
— Civic Engagement.

Responses from the survey will guide the new Adams administration, as well as set priorities for the upcoming city budget. The window to respond closes this Friday, January 28.

The survey’s available in English, Spanish, Chinese, French, Haitian Creole, Arabic, Bengali, Urdu, Polish & Korean. It’s online at https://nycspeaks.org, or text the words NYC SPEAKS to 212-457-1254 and a member of the outreach team from Uptown Grand Central will give you a call to complete the survey by phone.

Jelly Lived Here

Posted on by Harlem Shill

On this beautifully articulated brick facade is a glass (plexiglass?) sign noting that in 1939-40, the famous Jazz pianist “Jelly Roll” Morton lived here in Central Harlem, on West 131st Street.

Born sometime around 1890 in New Orleans, Jelly Roll began to play the piano in a brothel at age 14. He took the nickname “Jelly Roll” – slang for female genitalia – and left New Orleans to tour throughout the US.

In 1915 “Jelly Roll Blues” was one of the first jazz compositions to be published and later in life, Jelly Roll repeatedly claimed to have invented Jazz as a musical art form.

Below is a photo of Jelly Roll from 1941:

To hear Jelly Roll’s “Jelly Roll Blues”, click on the YouTube link below:

Raise Your Voice – Tell Mayor Eric Adams What You Want (and what you don’t!)

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NYC Speaks is asking you for your thought/wishes for your community.

They’ll take what you write to the mayor. Please fill out the survey – they can’t read your mind…