Been a little while since we spent a day above 96th Street, so following up on last week's post seeking intel about development in East Harlem, we're digging into the neighborhood today. Tips and correspondence welcome on the subject to tips@curbed.com.
First, a bit of a primer, by way of a commenter in last week's thread who sets the stage: "There's a difference between gentrification and making a neighborhood liveable... In the case of [Central Park North], it's been a fairly yuppified neighborhood for quite some time and I doubt anyone is being "forced out" by the new condos, many of which are new construction. For true East Harlem, the so-called gentrification began with city-subsidized housing, mostly clustered along Madison Ave., that encouraged working-class families to stay in the neighborhood rather than flee to the suburbs the minute they could afford to. Much of the current condo development in the area has come from reclaiming burnt-out buildings and you hear of relatively little complaints about forced evictions, etc. This obviously is unlikely to remain the status quo for long, and soon people will face a real possibility of no longer being able to afford neighborhoods they grew up in."
· East Harlem: Here Comes the Neighborhood [Curbed]