Paler face of Harlem

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Author Message   Tonya "Cyniquian" Level Poster Username: Tonya Post Number: 127 Registered: 07-2006 Rating: N/A Votes: 0 (Vote!) Posted on Monday, September 18, 2006 - 06:55 pm:        Paler face of Harlem causes concern By Daniel Trotta Nick Bunning represents either the greatest threat or the greatest hope for Harlem, New York's famous, predominantly black neighbourhood. Bunning is an architect who restores Harlem townhouses to their former grandeur. His work is part of a construction boom that is remaking Harlem, now one of the more desirable places to live in New York's hot property market. But many Harlem residents say soaring property values may price poorer and mainly black people out, and deprive Harlem of its heritage, which goes back to Harlem's jazz clubs of the '20s and '30s. For Bunning, 47 and white, no matter how many wealthier people move in, Harlem will retain its character. "Harlem's always going to have a gritty quality to it," says Bunning, whose tattoos snake out from beneath the collar and sleeves of his New York Yankees jersey. According to the 2000 census, blacks outnumber whites 82 750 to 2 189 in Central Harlem. The original Cotton Club may be gone, but the Apollo Theatre remains. "It's never going to be polished. There's going to be wealthy families mixed in with much less wealthy families." Still, the trend is clear. From 2000 to 2005, an estimated 32 500 blacks moved out and some 22 800 whites moved in to the congressional district that includes Harlem and other neighbourhoods in the north of New York City. "A lot of white folks have come through here and really changed the complexion of the neighbourhood," says Bernard Moore, (51), an unemployed black carpenter who says he cannot find work in Harlem because contractors bring in their own crews of largely immigrant workers. "The cost of rent is so high, even churches are selling their buildings as prospective apartment buildings that are out of reach for most black folks," Moore says. Housing prices on the open market in Harlem have soared 247% in the past 10 years. In the middle of the transformation, former US president Bill Clinton opened an office on 125th Street; the centre of Harlem. Gentrification of Harlem is not as simple as black and white. There is construction on almost every block, which some neighbours welcome for improving blighted areas. Although working-class families have been forced out, so have the criminals. Substandard housing has also been improved. But some say safeguards for the poor are under attack by landlords seeking to bring in white-collar tenants. "This is the last bastion of affordable real estate in Manhattan and there is an effort to force people out," New York State assembly man Adriano Espaillat says, citing eviction notice data. "It devastates these cultural enclaves which are so much a part of the city." The districts of East, West and Central Harlem have 145 368 housing units. Some 51 216 are designated "affordable" and reserved for people of moderate to low income. A further 24 207 are public housing, or "projects." Raymond Russell, a retired corrections officer, remembers when "rib joints" and black Muslim "steak-and-take" restaurants typified Harlem businesses, unlike the sneaker stores and gold shops of today. "What made Harlem Harlem is no more," says Russell (54). "The old-timers can't live here anymore. The culture is eroding. Old people, they held it together as a community." His musical tastes, too, are in the past. "You could walk down the block hearing jazz all the time. You don't hear that anymore," he says. "I'm a jazz man. Hip hop's got to go. Harlem was not always predominantly black. It changed from farming villages in the 1700s to upper class redoubt in the 1800s to a magnet for blacks migrating from the south during the last century. Architect Bunning has lived in Harlem for 10 years, patrolling the streets as a police officer for part of that time. He's still trying to fit in. He tells how once when he was walking through the neighbourhood a black man called out: "There's a real light-skinned brother over there." "I thought, that's a cool thing. Maybe I'm fitting in," Bunning says. Later, coming back, "A different guy says 'You might have all those tattoos, but you still ain't nothing.' And I thought maybe I'm not fitting in." - Reuters Published on the web by Star on September 15, 2006. © Star 2006. All rights reserved. http://www.thestar.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=3439733   Renata "Cyniquian" Level Poster Username: Renata Post Number: 1341 Registered: 08-2005 Rating:  Votes: 1 (Vote!) Posted on Monday, September 18, 2006 - 10:02 pm:        LOL ....."Always going to have a gritty quality.....never going to be polished." TRANSLATION: I don't care how much better the housing looks or how high the rent is raised, there's still too many black folks here for it to be as nice as other neighborhoods.