WEST HARLEM — While 125th Street is filled with retail stores, restaurants, banks and a movie theater, economic development has been slow to spread west of Morningside Avenue, according to a local group trying to revitalize the area.
The sidewalks are dark at night, one third of the stores are vacant, and perceived fears of high crime keep potential customers away from the area roughly spanning from Morningside to 12th avenues, said Barbara Askins, CEO of the 125th Street Business Improvement District.
“The economic activity stops at Morningside and picks up again on Broadway, then you have a deep hole on the west side of Broadway,” Askins said. “In order for economic activity to flow it has to be continuous.”
Askins' comments came as part of a Thursday night meeting between business owners, reps from the departments of Sanitation, Buildings, Transportation, Health, Parks, as well as members of the NYPD, the Grant Houses, and chairs of community boards 9 and 10.
The meeting was hosted by Borough President Gale Brewer as part of a mission to find out what everyone can do — from installing more lights and benches, to reducing crime, to attracting consumers to the area — to revitalize the west side’s 125th Street corridor.
“We see this as a time to grow upon the past, the history that has been rich for this community, as well looking for new ideas and visions for how we can improve and revitalize the area,” said Athena Moore, director of the Borough President’s Northern Manhattan Office.
Business owners said the most immediate priority should be to address parking and lighting issues on 12th Avenue, where customers complain about how dark it is near restaurants like Dinosaur BBQ and BTH.
A nearby streetlamp lightbulb has been broken for nearly a year and a lightpost that was removed during construction has not been replaced, said Fernando Reynoso, the owner of BTH.
“I feel like we are going backwards from a year ago,” he said. “If you take a walk from the McDonalds to the Cotton Club it’s pitch black.”
Violent incidents have decreased in the area, including at the Grant and Manhattanville houses, according to the Commanding Officer of the 26th Precinct.
Crime went down 40 percent during the last 28-day period and down 6.5 percent, amid a precinct-wide focus on the two NYCHA developments, Capt. Gilbert Morales told the meeting.
“It’s been great working with Grant and Manhattanville,” he said. “They’ve done a tremendous job, they are down on shootings. We are just continuing to build and improve the quality of life.”
There have been six shootings in the precinct so far in 2015, one less than during the same time this year, he added.
Moving forward the 125th Street BID will keep coordinating with various city agencies to find ways of revitalizing the area. They’ve already begun reaching out to local businesses to find ways of offering customers incentives to visit the area, they said.
On Nov. 19, as part of the Parade of Lights, CB 9 will host a Children's Village with free activities at 361 west 125th St. and a Spiritual Village with choir music and dancing at 1351 Amsterdam Ave.
