The Harlem Neighborhood Block Association

Neighbors united to improve the quality of life in Harlem

Tag: Trees

1880 – Where Did Women Live?

Posted on by Harlem Shill

This fascinating map of the density of women in 1880, shows how Central Harlem housed many more women than East Harlem (the darker the color, the more women per block – data coming from the 1880 census).

The answer is partly visible in terms of the buildings built in 1880 above 125th Street in Central Harlem – single-family, middle (or upper-middle) class brownstones.

This type of housing was likely to employ a number of women to cook, clean, and even nurse or educate the children. The blocks closer to the river, were more industrial and commercial areas, with tenements and other inexpensive housing for (male) workers.

In the 1880 census snippet shown above for the building I live in, you can see that Eliza Alexander and her 12-year-old white, female daughter, Bertha, lived as servant/s in the household, for example.

Both Eliza and Bertha are listed as being from Maryland, and columns 4 and 5 are curiously overwritten. I’m not sure if the line for Eliza, for example, had a “B” in columns 4 and 5, indicating “Black”?

Connector Ramp Wins Award

The team behind a new ramp on the Harlem River Drive has been recognized by the American Council of Engineering Companies New York (ACEC NY) with a Diamond Award as part of the 2021 New York Engineering Excellence Awards.

Parsons Corporation announced today that the company’s work on New York City’s RFK Bridge – the Harlem River Drive North Connector Ramp – was honored. The project was carried out on behalf of the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority, a division of the MTA, to provide a connection between the RFK Bridge to Harlem River Drive’s northbound lanes.

The new ramp has decreased congestion, reduced noise pollution, eliminated 2,500 tons of CO2-equivalent per year, and improved the quality of life in neighboring East Harlem, while providing a shorter and safer route for travelers.

The completed ramp opened to traffic in November 2020.

Thank You Mark Levine

Tree Cover

Posted on by Harlem Shill

The number of trees and the area shaded by them influences many neighborhood factors, such as attractiveness and lower summer temperatures that, in turn, encourage residents and visitors to walk and do other physical activity. “Tree canopy cover” measures the percent of a neighborhood that is covered (or shaded) by trees.

 About the Measure

Tree Canopy Cover – Percent

How Calculated: 

Tree canopy cover represents a ‘top down’ mapping perspective in which tree canopy over-hanging city features (such as sidewalks) is measured. The percent is calculated by dividing the area of tree canopy in km2 within the UHF neighborhood by the total land area (excluding inland water bodies). Higher percentages indicate greater tree canopy cover, with zero representing no tree canopy cover.

Source: The Built Environment & Health Project (BEH), Columbia University

Harlem

As found on the Fred R. Moore public school on 5th Avenue.

What Now? (After the storm)

Posted on by Harlem Shill

After Hurricane (or Tropical Storm) Isaias tore through New York City, the city, businesses, utilities, and neighbors have all been struggling to deal with the loss of mature trees. This tree on Randall’s Island (just over the 103st Bridge) is one example:

Before the storm and before COVID, the city had been marking-up, grinding out, and preparing a number of empty tree pits in our community for replanting with a new, young tree. This is a classic example:

Where the sidewalk has been cut out to the regulation size, and the address (on 5th Avenue) has been spray painted in white. This tree pit should have been populated in March but now who knows what will happen with the COVID related budget cuts that are starting to be felt in all city departments?

Street trees store 23% of all the carbon that New Yorkers produce. NYC ‘forests’ – think trees in parks – store another 69%:

See:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-08-28/planting-city-trees-with-a-new-focus-on-equity?

Help Our Trees

Posted on by Harlem Shill

As the recent hurricane showed, our street trees take a huge beating in extraordinary events like Isaias and in the world of day-to-day life on the streets of New York.

You may not know this but the moment a tree is planted in the sidewalk, the open patch of dirt and anything contained in it miraculously (okay, legally) changes from DOT control to Parks Department. Flowers, mulch, tree guards, trees, whatever – if it’s in a tree pit, Parks owns it – even if you planted it!

There is no (legal) such thing as ‘my’ tree in the sidewalk. The city owns it and manages it via the Parks Department irrespective of origin. That said, we all exist in a realpolitik space where we can’t necessarily count on city agencies to respond to every minute need, and thus we, as concerned citizens, need to take the initiative and do what’s right.

After paving (think Park and 5th Avenues this past week), block parties, film shoots, and family gatherings, ‘our’ street trees often remain taped with notices. Please, if you see taped notices on trees, remove it as carefully as you can.

Tape traps moisture, that both rots bark, and provides a moist haven for damaging insects. (Think of bandaids you might have left on a bit too long.)

Always, remove taped/stapled notices from trees (once the event has passed) and help a struggling street tree.

More Hurricane Damage

Posted on by Join HNBA

The day after Hurricane Isaias is one of disbelief in many communities. Today I saw a huge tree down at Park Avenue and 120th Street:

This will undoubtedly impact the use of the sports field that the tree fell into and may impact this school’s opening plans unless the tree is removed and the fence repaired soon.