Folks in New York City stay fighting over real estate. It’s the old new racism + classism = supremacism. The reason being that most people don’t come up on property without playing at least one of those cards. I’m not saying that everybody that owns some dirt in NYC got it through carpetbagging or some such technique, but a lot of property was acquired that way.
While every borough in the city has their battlegrounds, none have as many as Manhattan. There are folks protesting the new zoning regulations in the lower east side, while in the newly minted triangle below canal (TriBeCa) the nouveau riche are opposed to the nightclubs and the people they attract. All these arguments pale in comparison to the upheaval that Harlem faces as the longtime residents (read: poor people) are being rapidly displaced.
Columbia University is attacking from the south side of Harlem via Morningside Heights as well as from the north side of Harlem using the footprint of Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital. Some people want to slow Columbia’s roll because they feel like the longtime residents deserve a decision in the future of their neighborhood, while other people want to stop Columbia because they recognize that land is power and Columbia University is about to become a wealthy slumlord.
I’m ashamed to admit this but the people that live in Harlem have no title to the area’s development if they don’t own any property. That is just how the shit breaks down. Poor people are relegated to their skyward reservations. This is what I call high rise housing projects. Instead of sticking folks on vast, undeveloped acres like they did the native americans, they stacked acrea on top of acres until you had twenty-five floors. The arrangement is much easier to secure with police as well.
I found myself in Harlem on 125th Street the other evening and I almost didn’t recognize my surroundings. I imagine that this will be the same transformation I see on Fulton Street in another few years. I don’t mind upscale retail at all, just as long as I can find a spot to cop a pair of Dunks for $40 or less.
