by Jan Vroegin

Created on: March 12, 2008   Last Updated: May 21, 2008

Rezoning Harlem's Main Street

The hustle and bustle of Harlem's residents in the recent past has been to the whispers and subsequent shouts of revitalization, but now another word has the Harlem streets astir. Rezoning. Just last Monday, a city commission approved a massive rezoning plan for Harlem. Historically, municipal rezoning means restructuring of land use. The rezoning of Harlem's Main Street requires a plan from the city's Planning Commission and a vote by the City Council. But plans by the land hungry developers eyeing expansion have elicited heavily opinionated conversation from every vendor, resident, and even tourist in Harlem. From culture to architecture, from tourist dollars to resident worries, Harlem's rezoning plans are being discussed by New Yorkers around the clock.

Ask tourists what they want to see in Harlem and chain stores are not on the list. No skyscrapers either. Harlem, some would say, means Sylvia's Restaurant, with the best soul food north of the Mason-Dixie Line. Yet Harlem, with its all its history and imagery, is not a tourist Mecca. But does every resident condemn rezoning? No. Read hundreds of on line blogs, editorials, and man in the street interviews. Rezoning is being welcomed by more and more people including many Harlem residents.

Planning Department spokeswoman, Rachaele Raynoff, offers assurances from the government sector, "People used to come here to be entertained. We are trying to have more Apollos." In that statement lays the conflict. How can new skyscrapers or other venues, despite multi million dollars, top of the line construction efforts, ever compete with the venerable history of the Apollo? Duplication of any landmark and its cherished stories is a nearly impossible feat. But, with the new rezoning plan, guidelines will be in place to help protect the Harlem historical factor and neighborhood identity.

Now, baseball, something as dear to Americans as apple pie, has entered the rezoning issue foray. Recently, the Major Baseball League's cable network announced plans to move its headquarters to the famous 125th Street in Harlem. However, its headquarters would not mesh into the current Harlem look as it would be housed in a proposed 21 story building planned by Vornado Realty Trust. Before the Harlem rezoning even got to its City Council vote, exceptions to it were already on the table. The 21 story height of this building alone would alter the skyline of Harlem which has not seen a new office building built

• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• Next Page >>