Harlem gears up for reopening and a major
comeback after COVID-19 damage
BY TODD MAISEL
As Harlem prepares to reopen
for business, 125th
Street Business Improvement
District President Barbara
Askins is optimistic in spite of
the hardships that local stores
have suffered at the hands of the
economic shutdown caused by the
COVID-19 pandemic.
Harlem endured some of the
highest rates of infection and
deaths in the city, with some businesses
operating at the margins.
While the BID area was thriving,
the shut-down was especially
diffi cult for both retailers and
property owners with no income
for nearly 100 days.
Askins, with 27 years at the
BID, says many of the problems
of the community are more
about “perceptions” than reality.
She looks forward to businesses
opening their doors under Phase
1 of the Governor’s reopening
plan — but she says it is premature
for people to say how many
businesses actually are able to
reopen. She is especially keen on
those businesses located in 219
properties in her district from
Fifth Avenue to Morningside
Drive to the west.
“I’m eager to see and I myself
will be out there on opening day
to see who comes back,” Askins
said as she understands the challenges
businesses have had to stay
An art wall at Old Navy provided a canvas for people to express
their thoughts. They and store next to it, Rainbow, will
open Monday.
afl oat with no income. “There are
many new build-outs, Starbucks is
in a new location on Lenox, there
is a build-out of Krispy Krème.
From St. Nicholas Avenue to
Frederick Douglass Boulevard,
at the old subway location, that
long time vacant long time-space
is now being gutted and preparing
for it to come in.”
She said some landlords
are facing hardship because of
COVID and she hoped they
would be patient enough to fi nd
the right tenant for their space:
PHOTOS BY TODD MAISEL
“They haven’t been able to generate
revenue for so long, they will
fi ll those stores up with whatever
tenants they can.”
There have been other setbacks
and challenges to the community.
The eastern end of 125th Street
is plagued by a cluster of drug
treatment facilities installed by
Mt. Sinai. She said the city has
failed to account for fair share and
in many cases, just dump people
in drug addiction programs on
125th Street.
Askins said however her
Protective plywood provides a canvass for expression on Old
Navy.
district does not include anywhere
east of Fifth Avenue, and but she
understands the impact that the
more rundown sections have on
her area that she has worked hard
to bolster.
She is concerned as the community
is fi ghting against Mt.
Sinai citing yet another facility
on 124th Street, further clustering
drug-addicted people in one area
and overtaxing the community’s
ability to handle those people with
social services. She said there
are already three facilities on
one block of the eastern portion
125th Street alone – outside of her
district, but having a profound
perceptional impact.
“We are starting to push fair
share — we feel the city needs to
spread out those facilities,” she
said. “The people are dropped
here and they don’t have a place
to go — they are being sent to
us — treatment centers from
all over the city. This destroys a
community and we are just trying
to keep our business district
together. There is a perception
that is not true because we are
doing great work, but we can’t
control the result of government
policy. Why does Harlem have to
be the place to handle all of this?”
During the George Floyd
protests, Askins and other leaders
got together to stop looters
and vandals from destroying the
stores that have been closed. She
said many of the protestors, 85%
white, were kept from causing
serious damage to the strip by
groups like 100 Black Men, the
Black Fraternity – ‘we were calling
people and we said we would
be out there.”
“The community was mobilized
— everyone was our eyes
and ears, we were not going to let
you burn us down,” said Askins
adding, “we are not going to allow
someone from outside loot and
tear up our stuff.”
Getting past COVID-19, a
fi re, and the protests, Askins is
now optimistic that Harlem will
emerge okay.
In the meantime, the BID has
been working to improve the cityscape
through art, create a street
expo, and to make the street attractive
to shoppers.
“I’m not worried yet, we’ve
come through worse,” Askins says
referring to the Great Recession
and further back to the 70s when
poverty reigned in the neighborhood.
“We worked through times
when we had nothing. But we
need to do this and fi gure out how
to do this.”
People mull about on the eastern portion of 125th Street, many from nearby drug treatment
programs.
4 June 11, 2020 Schneps Media