Harlem Pleads for Responsible Rezoning
The City Economic Development Corporation’s four years of careful engagement with Harlem’s local civic organizations around plans to rezone most of 125th Street for new retail and housing development appeared to yield results on Wednesday morning, as the City Planning Commission held a hearing on the proposal.
One group that weighed in, Voice Of The Everyday People (VOTE People), disapproves of the plan entirely and urged EDC to go back to the drawing board, with a larger and more inclusive advisory body from the community. But for the most part, Community Boards 9, 10, and 11 have gotten behind the plan, expressing specific reservations but supporting the overall goal of rezoning and revitalizing Harlem. Accordingly, much of the testimony at the hearing centered on ideas for making a rezoned 125th Street work for Harlem and its residents and businesses. Of special concern was the inevitability — acknowledged by the City in its own Environmental Impact Statement — that rezoning will displace existing businesses.
