Harlem March/Rally Against Displacement & Gentrification June 20, 2008

Time & Location:
10 AM - Main Gathering: Marcus Garvey Park: Enter at 124th and Fifth Avenue.

After decades of public policy neglect, redlining and disinvestment Harlem now stand at the brink of losing its historic status as Black America's cultural Mecca for more than a century. Although development is a welcome relief from abandoned buildings, neglected open, few service amenities and crime the 'revitalization' of Harlem is displacing tenants, driving out local businesses and will impact Harlem's ethnic, political and socio-economic makeup.

Projected developments will create nearly 5,000 units of mostly luxury housing within Harlem's 125th Street commercial corridor from river to river. The scheme includes high rise office tower, hotels and space for giant retails, in some cases with millions in public subsidies such as Columbia University, the city's second largest landlord, that was given city streets, sidewalks and the below surface land.