‘Emergency’ meeting set for May 23 to brief Harlem on proposed DOT plans for 125th St. bus routes

Plans call for addition of bus lanes, subtraction of some stops, signals set to speed buses and parking restrictions to be altered

M60 buses are stopped along 125th St. more than 60% of the time, according to city statistics; at times, they crawl along as slowly as 2.7 mph. That’s slower than the average pedestrian. Proposed changes would make the route 10-15% faster from end-to-end, the city Department of Transportation says.

SOME BUS stops could be eliminated along 125th St. in Harlem. Dedicated bus lanes could be added, commercial loading could be restricted and signals could be set to help buses spend less time idling at red lights.

Those are just some of the changes being proposed by the city Department of Transportation to ease congestion along Harlem’s busiest corridor as the strip braces for the large scale redevelopment that’s in the works from river to river.

Residents and business owners are being asked to attend an “emergency town hall meeting” next Thursday, where they will be briefed on the proposed changes by DOT Borough Commissioner Margaret Forgione.

“We are having this meeting to make sure the community fully knows what’s at stake,” said state Sen. Bill Perkins, whose office is holding the meeting along with Community Boards 9, 10, 11 and 12 and the 125th St. Business Improvement District.

“We want to make sure this is properly vetted by the constituents,” Perkins added. “ . . . decisions are being made, and your input is needed. Your daily life will be better or worse.”

Among the proposed changes are modifications to the M60 line, the area’s busiest route.

The M60 bus line would be “upgraded” to Select Bus Service, which would add off-board fare payment and dedicated bus lanes, limit the number of stops and introduce transit signal priority to reduce the time buses stop at a red light.

More than 9,700 of the 32,000 daily riders along 125th St. use the M60, making it the busiest route along Harlem’s main east-west thoroughfare.

Ridership statistics provided by the city also show the M60 buses are stopped more than 60% of the time; at times, the bus crawls along as slowly as 2.7 mph. That’s slower than the average pedestrian.

The changes would be make the route 10-15% faster from end-to-end, and 15-20% faster from 125th St. and Lexington Ave. to LaGuardia Airport.

Residents queried by the Daily News said they’d more than welcome any change that improved the speed of their commute.

Ruth Rayford, 82, who was waiting for a bus Thursday on W. 125th St. near Lenox Ave., agreed that Harlem’s most traveled strip can be a headache.

“It is congested,” said the Washington Heights resident. “I remember years ago, it wasn’t congested like this. There could be some improvements made.”

Shawnette Scott, 39, who was also waiting for the bus, questioned whether the proposed changes to the bus service would completely alleviate the congestion.

“That’s not going to stop the traffic,” the Harlem resident said. “I don’t think the bus stops are the problem. . . The buses stop where they are supposed to, and keep it moving.”

She said the congestion is just the result of 125th St. being heavily traveled and booming with businesses, comparing it to 34th and 42nd Sts. in midtown Manhattan.

Other proposed changes include cameras to capture vehicles illegally traveling or standing in a bus lane; changes to parking in the area; and limits on commercial loading.

The meeting will be held at the United House of Prayer for All People, located at 2320 Frederick Douglass Blvd. (between 124th and 125th Sts.) at 6:30 p.m. People are asked to RSVP by calling (212) 222-7315.

mfeeney@nydailynews.com

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LGBTQ youth center relocates to Harlem

The famed Ali Forney Center (AFC) now calls Harlem home. The center, which serves homeless LGBTQ youth, moved to its current location on 125th Street near St. Nicolas Avenue in December after its Chelsea drop-in center was ruined by Hurricane Sandy.

The center is named after the late Ali Forney, a Black gay and transgender youth who was murdered in 1997 in Harlem at age 22. His murder remains unsolved. Forney was an advocate for homeless gay youth, having been homeless himself at one time. His murder was one of several that remained unsolved among transgender people in Harlem.

The nonprofit AFC was started in 2002 by Carl Siciliano in the basement of a church. The center previously operated branches in Chelsea and Brooklyn. The Brooklyn location was closed to free up funds to build the current location on 125th Street.

LGBTQ youth come to the center for food, counseling, employment and housing assistance during the day. The center is also widely known for its health services, especially HIV/AIDS and STI services.

The director of drop-in programs, Jack Bethke, said that many of the young people who come in are living on the street after being thrown out of their homes due to their sexuality. A majority of youth who come to AFC are Black and Latino.

“Intolerance and bigotry are terrible things,” he said. “As there has been more mainstream acceptance of homosexuality, there are still pockets in our community where it is not accepted. When they end up on the street, young people are at risk for HIV and other STDs and are easy prey for sexual predators.”

AFC helps LGBTQ youth age 16 to 24. Upon arrival to the center, they are interviewed to assess their needs. AFC operates housing units across the five boroughs for nearly 90 people, for which there is a waitlist. Clients can stay in the housing until age 25.

“Many of the people who come to the center are trying to get the lives that were stolen from them back,” Bethke said. “Some people who come here are sex workers, and they are participating in ‘survival sex’ and some are doing ‘survival stealing’ just to have money. They can come here and we can help.”

Getting major support from the Department of Health, federal government and the city, AFC also relies on private donations. Major donors include the Calais Foundation and the MacFarlane Foundation. Time Warner is currently building a computer lab for those in need of GED and employment help.

In the near future, Bethke said that the center will operate 24 hours. For more information, visit www.aliforneycenter.org.

By CYRIL JOSH BARKER Amsterdam News Staff New York Amsterdam News 

Dreams of a Harlem Jazz Rebirth

As another evening falls, the Lenox Lounge sits dim and lonely. Commuters pour out of the 125th Street subway station and onto Lenox Avenue, past its padlocked door. At Ginny’s Supper Club across the street, a mostly black crowd of men in suits and women in heels sips and sways as a band turns out a haunting rendition of John Coltrane’s “My Favorite Things.”

It is said that Coltrane once blew his sax at the Lenox Lounge, which kept regulars, downtowners and tourists coming back for 70 years, even through the neighborhood’s bleak times. Now, with Harlem resurgent, only its remains are on display: its Art Deco finishes, familiar red paneling and famous sign have all been stripped away.

Developers Are Making Bets on a Rising East Harlem

Sharon Kahen and his partner Haim Levi are making a multimillion-dollar bet on East Harlem. The developers recently closed on a vacant parcel at 119th Street and Third Avenue where they plan to build a 60-unit market-rate rental building.

The developer Sharon Kahen at the CL Tower on East 121st Street in Harlem. He and his partner just bought another Harlem parcel, on 119th Street.

“In the next five years, we will invest $75 million to connect East Harlem to the Upper East Side,” said Mr. Kahen, who, along with Mr. Levi, built the CL Tower at 203 East 121st Street in 2011. “We started at 121st Street; now we are doing a project at 119th Street, and we plan to continue moving south.”

Demand from students who attend Hunter College’s newly opened Silberman School of Social Work at 119th Street, along with residents displaced by increasing rents on the Upper East Side, are driving developers to build more housing in East Harlem.

After 200 years, 125th still Harlem’s ‘main street’

When 125th Street was signed into existence 200 years ago, Harlem was a nondescript country village, a day’s trip north of New York City. The story of the street is the story of Harlem: its shifting economic fortunes, demographics, and popular image.

This article is the first in a two-part series exploring the past, present, and future of 125th Street, Harlem’s main street. Read part two here.

When 125th Street was signed into existence 200 years ago by surveyor John Randel Jr., Harlem was a nondescript village in the countryside, a day’s trip north of New York City. The street was intended to be the village’s major thoroughfare.

National Urban League back in Harlem big time

Since its founding in Harlem in 1910, the National Urban League (NUL) and the legendary community have had an intimate and productive relationship. Those ties will soon be deepened because plans are underway for a huge building project on 125th Street that will be the future home of the NUL.

The plans for the project, which is another key piece in the ever-increasing building boom in Harlem, were announced by Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Michael Bloomberg on Tuesday.

American Eagle Joins Whole Foods in Harlem

American Eagle will be expanding in Harlem.

The preppy teen retailer has signed a deal for an 8,500-square-foot lease at 100 West 125th Street, the brand’s most northern location in the city. American Eagle will join Burlington Coat Factory and Whole Foods in the soon-to-be-built development on the corner of Malcolm X Boulevard and 125th Street.

The project is a venture of Jeff Sutton-led Wharton Properties. The prominent retail developer is behind many prime locations in the city such as 724 Fifth Avenue, 720 Fifth Avenue, 1551 Broadway, 15 West 34th Street, and 747 Madison Avenue, among many others.

100 West 125th Street is the latest to come to Harlem and will span the entire block between 124th and 125th Streets on Malcolm X Boulevard, otherwise known as Lenox Avenue. The development will feature 180,000 square feet of retail space in which Whole Foods will take 39,000 square feet on the ground and lower levels and Burlington Coat Factory will take 70,000 square feet on the top three floors.

Construction is expected to start in May with store openings in 2015. Not only will American Eagle be opening their first location in Harlem, but it will be Whole Foods’ first as well. The grocery store is on expansion mode, opening two locations in Brooklyn and crawling up Manhattan island with a location on the Upper East Side at 87th Street and 3rd Avenue and now Harlem.

The asking rent was $160 per square foot and the 15 year lease should bring in $30 million, the Post reported.

New York City Prime exclusively represented American Eagle in their expansion. Jeff Sutton represented himself on behalf of his development company.

By Michael Ewing 3/01 4:00pm

First NY civil rights museum to be built in Harlem

NEW YORK — Plans are underway for New York State’s first civil rights museum to be built in Harlem.

The plans were announced Friday by Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Michael Bloomberg. The officials said the museum will be built on a stretch of 125th Street between Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard and Lenox Avenue/Malcolm X Boulevard. Officials say the Museum of the Urban Civil Rights Experience will use Harlem as a lens through which to view the wider civil rights experience in cities across America.

The museum will be housed on a 42,000-square-foot stretch of property that will also contain a new national headquarters for the National Urban League.

Mixed-income housing and multi-level retail space will also be provided for after groundbreaking occurs in 2015.
—Copyright 2013 Associated Press

The Gap Will Bring Discounted Basics To Harlem’s 125th Street

Harlem’s 125th Street retail scene is set for an influx of khakis and jeans, as the Gap will open a Factory Store there on February 8th. Arriving on the same block as sister brand Old Navy, the Gap will take over the spot once occupied by Lazarus for Kids at 264 West 125th Street.

The 53-year-old store underwent a $500,000 renovation in 1999, and according to one Yelper, was the best place to buy packs of Disney Princess Tiana panties. In addition to that, it also once boasted former Mayor Giulianias a shopper.

The announcement follows the news that Whole Foods is coming to Harlem, and more recently, that Lenox Lounge lost their lease to the Myriad Restaurant Group, the company behind Nobu.—Cambrey Thomas

Wednesday, January 9, 2013, by Racked Staff

http://ny.racked.com/archives/2013/01/09/the_gap_to_bring_discounted_basics_to_harlems_125th_st.php

Sarku Japan Hits the Streets of Harlem

Sarku Japan, the largest and most successful Japanese quick-service restaurant chain in the United States, will take its sizzling teriyaki and made-to-order sushi from mall food courts to the streets of Harlem, New York.

The store, which is launching on 125^th Street between Seventh and Lenox, is part of a major expansion of the brand’s franchise program into the metro NYC area, including locations in Queens, Brooklyn, Yonkers, and Long Island.

Traditionally located in mall food courts nationally, Sarku expanded its brand in 2008 with the launch of freestanding restaurants in major metro markets across the country.

“I am thrilled to be opening a Sarku Japan Teriyaki and Sushi Express in the Harlem community,” says Harlem franchisee Vinny Vig.