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popping up. Radio Shack, Old Navy, Starbucks, and Staples threaten to erode the character of Harlem. The rezoning has been in the works for nearly four years. The promise of taller building and the addition of 2,600 apartments is the goal of developers.

Community Board 10 which represents central Harlem, voted against the rezoning last year. The community board says the proposed twenty-one story building for Major League Baseball will be too high and will cause cultural fixtures like the Apollo Theater and Studio Museum to be dwarfed. Franc Perry, the community board chairman said, "Harlem is one of the few places left in the city where you can see the sky. You're able to get some fresh air and see the sun, and it's not blocked by high rises."

Residents call Harlem a village. 125th Street is its Main Street. The man who owns the Record Shack is originally from South Africa. "If you leave Africa and come to America, when you go back home they say, Have you been to Harlem?' And if you say no, they say Go back. You haven't been to the United States." Shang has owned the Record Shack for thirty-six years. He may not own it for much longer. His store is across from the Apollo Theater and is one of the small locally owned businesses facing commercial rezoning. The chair of Central Harlem's community board, Frank Perry believes the residential development will drive out small retail businesses. At least 71 small businesses will be forced to close and 975 workers left without jobs.

Locals living in Harlem are worried that the rezoning is an attempt to relocate African-Americans to an off-site location. Sharifa Rhodes-Pitts has been in Harlem for nearly six years. She attended a community meeting of V.O.T.E. Voices OF The Everyday People
"Their plan basically says that working-class people don't have the right to live here. It's a bare-faced attempt to change this electorate," she said. "The soul of the city is being drained out of veins."

The city has said it will not require any residents to move out however the area may become more expensive. The strongest opposition is against new residential development. Residents worry that the twenty-percent of the new condos set aside as affordable will still be out of reach for the average resident. The average income for residents in Harlem is $26,000 a year. Local Community Board 10 is against the luxury residential developments. Franc Perry the groups chairman says, "the concern is that people are being displaced and there will

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